Pour alcohol into a folded piece of paper towel and wipe down the tattoo immediately after it is finished to prevent infection. Your tattoo artist will do this part for you, but it is important for you to understand the procedure.
Place a bandage pad over the tattooed area, leaving no portion visible.
Place generous amounts of bandage tape around the edges of the pad to keep it firmly locked against your skin.
Remove the bandage as soon as you get home, the earlier the better. No bandage should stay on for more than two hours. Once the bandage is removed, your tattoo should never be bandaged again -- it needs to be in direct contact with air in order to heal.
Wash the tattoo immediately after removing the bandage. Use warm water to clean the tattoo, but instead of holding the tattooed area under running water, shovel it onto the area using your hands. Dab antibacterial soap on the area and shovel more water to wash it off.
Allow the area to dry, either by air or by softly dabbing the area with a soft towel. Never rub the area to wash it or dry it.
Apply protective ointment to the area. You only need a thin layer over the area, so use the ointment sparingly. Your skin can only absorb so much ointment; if you use too much it will just stay on the surface and stick to everything it comes in contact with.
Clean and spread ointment on the tattoo two to three times a day for three to four days. After that time you should continue to wash the tattoo as described but begin to spread regular moisturizing lotion on the area in place of healing ointment.