Can I Drink After Getting a Tattoo? Or Will It Show Aftereffects?

Tattooing is physically tedious for your body to heal after getting a tattoo. You may wonder does alcohol interfere with the healing process. Here’s whether you can drink after getting a tattoo.

No, You shouldn’t drink before or after getting a tattoo for at least 48 hours. Tattoos are like open wounds and they need time to heal properly. Drinking prolongs this healing process. When you drink after getting a tattoo, the alcohol molecules trim down the red blood cell count and make it harder for your body to supply oxygen to the damaged skin cells.

Also, you cannot drink before getting a tattoo as drinking may dilute your blood which interferes with the ink setting process.

In this article, we will discuss how drinking affects your body while it is healing from getting a tattoo. We will also talk about other foods that should be avoided during the tattoo healing process. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

Can I Drink After Getting a Tattoo

While drinking is a fun and widely-accepted social practice, you cannot drink after getting a tattoo. Drinking after a tattoo can prolong the healing process while also leaving the body’s immune system weak and battered. It can also affect how the final appearance of the tattoo turns out to be.

A tattoo is like an open wound. Like any wound, it needs time to heal properly. Just think about the whole process, you are repeatedly penetrating your skin with a needle to introduce a foreign and chemical product to your skin.

This whole process is quite traumatizing for your skin and sort of batters up the whole condition of your skin. Your body needs to work overtime to make sure that the wound heals properly and oxygen is supplied efficiently throughout the body.

Here’s what can be the consequence of drinking after getting a tattoo.

Alcohol Thins Your Blood

A new tattoo wound will ooze blood and other bodily fluids for 24 to 48 hours. This is a normal bodily reaction after getting pierced in the same spot several times. This bleeding usually subsides and creates no problem for the tattoo wearer.

But, alcohol changes the game. Alcohol has a thinning effect on your blood. It trims down the viscosity of blood and creates a bucket list of problems such as:

• Your body cannot effectively grow new skin over the tattooed wound.
• Scabbing and drying become a troubling process due to thinning of the blood.
• .The wound becomes a hotspot for germs and bacteria due to being constantly wet
• Excess bleeding can also ruin your tattoo’s appearance.
• Excess bleeding also greatly increases your chance of getting an infection.

It Can Weaken Your Immune System

Alcohol introduces powerful chemical compounds to your system to give you temporary relaxation. These chemical compounds remove themselves from the human body after a while. But, this removal process comes with a costly hangover.

Alcohol delivers a great blow to your immune system. it makes your body weak while your immune system goes into overdrive. the healing process gets prolonged and troublesome.

It May Cause Your Skin to Get Less Oxygen Supply

The chemical compounds of alcohol bond with the red blood cells of your body. This bond creates a vacuum for oxygen which in turn makes you feel lightheaded. This makes you ‘drunk’. But, alcohol-bonded red blood cells cannot supply or carry oxygen to your body.

It just makes you drunk. But, the tattoo wound needs oxygen to heal properly. Without oxygen, your tattoo wound doesn’t get to breathe which is essential for your body to heal from a tattoo wound.

Can I Drink Before Getting a Tattoo?

No. You should refrain from drinking before getting a tattoo. Drinking before getting a tattoo thins your blood. Thinning blood may cause excess bleeding which may cause visibility issues for your artist. It can also cause mood swings, and poor judgment and it can also ruin the appearance of your tattoo.

Doing anything while you are under the influence of alcohol is socially frowned upon. It is also illegal to do some activities such as driving, operating heavy machinery, etc.

Your tattoo artist can also reject you if he/she thinks that you are under the influence and he/she has every right to do so as drinking before getting a tattoo can cause a lot of serious issues.

Be prepared to accept these if you want to get drunk before a tattoo session.

Excess Bleeding and Visibility Issues

Alcohol is a known blood thinner. It reduces the blood’s viscosity and disrupts the blood clotting process which is natural. This allows your blood to leak extensively and totally eliminates any visible mark that your artist may have designed beforehand as a sketch.

Also, excess blood makes your skin slippery and makes it difficult for your artist to properly use his Inkpen.

Mood Swing

Alcohol influences people’s minds and it sort of interferes with your logical reasoning. The chemical in alcohol influences your brain chemistry. This results in a decrease in mental activity and one loses their judgment quality.

This often results in tattoo misplacement and tattoo errors because artists follow their client’s wishes. So, It’s better to be sober when the tattoo appointment is near.

Ruined Tattoo Appearance

Same reason- alcohol thins the blood. This results in your blood losing its clotting ability and viscosity. Tattoo ink penetrates the skin and sets with the scab formation process. Thinned blood cannot format scabs. This results in a ruined tattoo with a botched appearance.

Food and Drinks To Avoid After Getting a Tattoo

Alcohol is not the only culprit that delays or interferes with the tattoo healing process. There are also some other foods that can also have alcohol-like effects on the tattoo wound. You should be careful to avoid these foods to make sure your tattoo heals properly.

• Coffee, Tea and other caffeinated drinks.
• Dairy Products such as cheese, cottage cheese and butter.
• Overly salty foods.
• Foods with artificial sweeteners and flavour enhancers.
• Medications that have blood thinning effects such as ibuprofen and aspirin. If you are taking heart medicines, consult your artist for guidance.
• Energy Drinks such as Red bull, Monster etc.

Last Thoughts

Long story short, You shouldn’t drink alcohol for 48 hours after getting a tattoo. You should also refrain from drinking even before getting a tattoo. Tattoos need a long time to heal properly. Alcohol disrupts and prolongs this healing process. Alcohol thins your blood and makes it difficult for your body to get its share of oxygen.

Drinking before getting a tattoo is also discouraged as it dilutes your blood which disrupts the ink-setting process.

We hope this article helped you with your quarries and guided you in making some decisions. Now, Call your tattoo artist and make sure to get inked up properly.