Thanks! pictures dont do it justice, looks really good in person.

His work is so clean, how long did it end up taking?

it was just a bit less than 6 hours. considering that he is rather expensive lol. he really like vancouver so he will definitely be back sooo if you still want work from him its possible without going to LA

Good to hear he likes Van, will prob get a photo of my grandfather done by him. Best man I have ever known in my life.

Yea portraits would be right up his alley, he is in victoria for a few more days maybe he still have spots open if you are willing to take a ferry there? much easier than flying to LA and you don't have to wait for him to come back to van lol.

When do you guys start showering the tattoo'd area after getting it done? I just got my tattoo wet for the first time in a week, and it started peeling/rubbing off like crazy after applying moisturizer lol. Seems to have faded a bit too. This normal?

Have you not been washing and moisterizing ?, it will look "waxy" after it peels and that is normal , may take a few weeks for the new skin to grow over it and to look normal at this point that is ass good as its going to look
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Gotta wash it the next day if it is wrapped... Can't imagine the smell after leaving it for a few days without washing :heckno:

Didn't your artist give you an aftercare sheet? Hope you don't scab up like crazy.. if you do, don't pick!

Every artist have different healing regime, I have heard of some artist that actually recommend not washing it for like 2 days but a week is too much.

I always heal my tattoo now by leaving it wrap for at least 3 hour, sometimes even more so the initialize oozing i done while bandage and than I unwrap it and immediately take a shower and wash off all the wet stuff to the best of my ability. And than I just dry heal it till it get to the flakey stage, thats when I will put regular lotion on whatever it get too dry so its more comfortable for me.

To clarify, yes I did thoroughly wash it with lukewarm water and mild soap after I removed the wrap. My care instructions told me to air dry the tattoo for 8-12 days so I assumed that meant not getting it wet at all. Also, have been moisturizing 2x a day since I got it. Anyways my question was weather it was normal for it to peel/shed more after the first full shower (if that makes sense). It seemed to fade a bit so I got a bit concerned.

Air dry means don't down scrub it with a towel after u shower just air dry it. Doesn't mean u can't get it wet. Anyways it's normal as u probably wash in hot water so that drys out the tattoo
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LOL I think your ink is ruined if you dont get it wet and clean it often.

I rub the shit out of my fresh ink with water after i get home. dont ever let it scab.

wash it often, keep it clean. last thing you want is an infection.

dont worry the peeling/sheding/fading is normal

You can wash the tattoo after 5 hours or best 24hours
and dont use the lotion in the first 4 days of healing

and yah avoid as much scabbing as possible cause when you scratch that shit it will ruin the tattoo

my routine has been to wait 4 - 6 hours to take off the wrap then clean it with soap and luke warm water, just using my hand to rub it gently. I use i really light coat of lotion on it(aveeno) and continue to shower everyday patting it dry with paper towels (since they are disposable they just feel more hygienic). I only have tattoos on my torso so for the first week i wear a t shirt to bed just to make sure i don't stain the sheets(wife would bitch). All my tattoos still look good but them not being exposed often to the sun is probably a big part of it. I think for my back piece i was putting lotion on it 3 times a day, and keeping the lotion really light.

^ pretty much the same .. But i use really warm water for the first few days when i wash, like as hot as you can handle and then a quick cold rinse, it has made i deference in healing, how its done in japan , been told tjat it draws out all the "plasma" and stuff, so less scabing and faster healing , if u havent tried it then i would say give it a shot , im convinced !
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I checked again this morning and it seems like the tattoo didn't fade all that much, rather just a lot of dead skin coming off. I did scab up a whole lot in the first 4-5 days but the scabs came off clean, so maybe I'm lucky? I guess anything that may have faded will get touched up in my next session anyways.

after peeling the ink obviously wont look as "fresh" as it did when it was JUST inkd. give it time to heal (1 month to fully heal) and keep it out of sun light.

sun light does cause fading but I love my summer days.. so because of that my 3 year old ink needs a touch up already.

Is there anything special you guys do with back tattoos? We've all seen pics of some guy who couldn't reach his whole back with suntan lotion and got a wonky burn, I'd be slightly worried about it healing/fading/scabbing unevenly.

honestly the lotion and cream you put on during the healing period doesn't actually affects how the tattoo heals, it just make you feel better so its no so dry. I have dry heal tattoo and I have put lotion and cream to heal it, it heals exactly the same. Ask tattoo artist if they themselves follow the aftercare advice they give you on their tattoos, if they are honest they would tell you they just wash it and keep it clean and maybe some lotion if it get really really dry and irritating.

so in short don't worry about not getting lotto of some parts of your tattoo

I've never done anything out of the ordinary for tattoo care. Wash my body with unscented soap, every day, at the same time. Fresh ink or none its the same regardless, never had a healing issue. Maybe I'm lucky.

Just a heads up for all the Japanese tattoo lovers on here. Horitsuki (Dust Wu) from galaxy tattoo 3 in Hong Kong will be doing a guest spot at Black & Blue Tattoo in Nanaimo from Oct 28 to Nov 1. Contact Black & Blue Tattoo shop if interesting in making an appointment. Check out his work on facebook instagram etc.

They do solid work at Galaxy III

https://www.facebook.com/GalaxyTattooIII/photos_stream

Guys - trying desperately to find somebody locally that has experience with traditional Arabic cursive.... not having much luck....

You might have to travel to where they speak the language maybe. Or find someone who can make a stencil out of some caligraphy