Palm tattoos are a unique and intriguing form of body art that stand out due to their distinct placement and the skill required to create them. Specialising in palm tattoos takes time and dedication, and I understand the many questions that come with this particular style. Whether you’re drawn to the idea of a hidden tattoo, fascinated by the challenge, or simply curious about the process, this guide will provide you with all the information you need before booking your appointment.
Palm tattoos have seen incredible innovation over the last few years, with a couple of artists beginning to take on palm tattooing as a specialty, offering stunning palm tattoos that stand the test of time.
I’ll address common questions and concerns about palm tattoos, including their longevity, pain levels, and potential impact on your professional life. To gain insights into the care and maintenance of palm tattoos to ensure they look their best for as long as possible, check out my palm tattoo aftercare guide.
Common questions about palm tattoos that I’ll be answering
- Do tattoos on the palm last?
- How painful is a tattoo on your palm?
- Will my palm tattoo need touch-ups?
- What is the aftercare for a palm tattoo?
- How do I book a palm tattoo?
Do tattoos on the palm last?
One of the most common—and important—questions about palm tattoos is their longevity. Palm tattoos can be incredibly striking, but their permanence depends on a few factors unique to this area and to tattoos on the sole of the foot.
Skin Characteristics:
The skin on your palms is thicker and has more sweat glands than other parts of your body. Both of these make it more challenging for the ink to be placed at the correct depth into the skin, which is crucial to the tattoo’s final result and overall longevity. Skin on the palms is also thicker in certain places over others, which means that the depth the ink needs to be placed varies wildly from one line to the next with a palm tattoo. It’s therefore imperative that your artist knows how to tell if the ink is being placed at the correct depth, and will use a specialist tattoo machine to help achieve this while minimising damage to the skin, risk of blowouts, while creating a tattoo that will stand the test of time. Moreover, since hands are used constantly, this contributes to potential ink loss.
Fading and Wear:
Palm tattoos have a tendency for ink to drop out more than with other areas. Some may say that the tattoo will fade over time due to wear and tear on the hands, which isn’t possible if the ink is placed at the correct depth within the skin’s layers. Tattoo ink is placed into the dermis layer of the skin and, once healed, form a layer in the epidermal-dermal junction. The epidermis protects the layers of the skin beneath it, including the dermis, meaning that once your tattoo has fully healed, what you see is the final result. Obviously any deep cuts or burns to any tattoo can cause ink loss, but fading past the six month mark would not be due to the application of the tattoo. Due to the difficulty of getting this ink placement right with palm tattoos, it’s normal to need a touch-up session, which is something I offer free of charge if booked within six months of receiving your palm tattoo with me.
Healing Process:
The healing process for palm tattoos is also different. Due to the high usage and exposure, healing can be more complicated. The healing process for palms also takes longer due to how thick the skin is in the area. Proper aftercare is essential to ensure the best possible outcome for your palm tattoo. This includes keeping the area clean, moisturised, and protected from excessive friction. The hands are also constantly in use, which can make the healing process longer and more uncomfortable. There’s also the challenge of keeping the area clean and avoiding infection since the palms come into contact with many surfaces.
Expertise Matters:
As with any tattoo, choosing an experienced artist is important, and this is especially important when choosing an artist to create palm tattoos for you. The only way to really tell whether you’ve found the right artist for you is to check our their healed work. Without healed work, you’ll never get a good gauge for what the tattoo will actually end up looking like, especially with a palm tattoo, which can often look great when first done regardless of whether or not it’ll look good once healed. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out – I’m here to help you make an informed decision about your palm tattoo journey.
How painful is a tattoo on your palm?
Palm tattoos are incredibly painful – some say it’s the most painful area of the body to get tattooed. This is due to there being a lot of nerve endings in the palms (in particular the fingertips), which contributes to how painful the palm is to be tattooed. The texture of the skin on the palm is difficult to work with and changes quite a lot throughout the palm, meaning some parts will hurt a lot more than others. The skin on the palm is also very thick, making it much harder to tattoo and to get the ink to the correct layer of the skin, which is what ensures any tattoo’s longevity; too shallow and it’ll fall out, too deep and it’ll blow out. However, despite the thickness, the palm’s dense concentration of nerve endings contributes to the heightened sensitivity during the tattooing process.
People describe the pain of palm tattoos as more intense, often a sharp or burning sensation, rather than the dull pain associated with tattoos on fleshier areas like the arms or legs. You may also feel a stinging or vibrating pain as the needle goes over the bones and tendons.
Will my palm tattoo need touch-ups?
While it’s common for most any tattoo to need a small touch-up, almost all palm tattoos will definitely need touching up. The skin on the palms regenerates more quickly than in other areas, as palms are constantly in use – the constant stretching and friction in the palm area can cause the ink to blur or fade as this disturbs the ink during the healing process. Therefore, it’s always recommended to get your palm tattoo touched up, which is something I offer free of charge.
What is the aftercare for a palm tattoo?
Palm tattoo aftercare is a little different to other areas of the body. Immediately after your tattoo is finished, I will wrap your tattoo for you to head home without risking cross-contamination – sometimes a glove works best for this.
When you arrive home, you can remove the bandage and wash your tattoo. Make sure to use anti-bacterial soap and that your other hand is clean before touching the tattooed palm. Wash as you would any other tattoo. Pat dry with clean kitchen towel, and allow it to begin drying out.
If you have a baby, young children, animals, need to do cleaning, etc, you need to wear a clean disposable glove on the hand every time. Any time you may come into contact with germs of any kind, this process needs to be followed of washing your hands, popping on a glove, and then removing and washing the hand again afterwards. Ideally you will not do this kind of work at all after having a palm tattoo for at least the first 5 days, but that can often be difficult. It’s important not to allow your hand with the tattoo to come into contact with any contaminants, and you need to keep both hands clean because we quite often touch our hands together absent-mindedly. Don’t open doors with your tattooed hand for two weeks after the tattoo to really be careful.
If you work with your hands a lot, specific aftercare may be required but it is generally best to have time off work for a minimum of 5 days if you use your hands a lot for work. This will be discussed on an individual basis.
The rest of the healing will be in accordance with standard tattoo aftercare, although palms take a lot longer to fully heal.
Something to note is that after the first day or so, you may notice a milky grey halo around the lines of your tattoo. This is completely normal with palm tattoos (and the sole of the foot), but it can be surprising to see for those new to palm tattoos after having had tattoos in other areas of the body. This is the excess ink sitting in the upper layer of your palm’s skin. The ink in all tattoos sits just below the epidermis layer of the skin and within the dermis. Palms have a very thick epidermis, as well as an additional layer of skin within the epidermis called the stratum lucidum. Excess ink remains in the epidermis and will be visible for anything from a month to around three months. The skin on the palms takes an incredibly long time to fully regenerate, so when you see this milkiness, what you are seeing is in the layers above your tattoo, and is not the same as what is known as a “blowout” which is where too much ink is inserted into (and sometimes below) the dermis, causing the ink to pool within deeper tissues. If you feel you need a bit of reassurance during this stage, by all means drop me a message with a picture of how things are going and I’ll be happy to chat to you and keep you informed.
After the first week or 2, scabs will form. You don’t want to lose any ink from your tattoo. It helps to keep your tattoo moisturised from day 2-3 onwards, to keep it from drying out too much. If it’s itchy, pop on some moisturiser, but please don’t pick your tattoo. From the 4 week mark, it can help to gently massage your tattoo for 5 minutes twice a day for the next couple of weeks. This stimulates blood flow and accelerates healing. Do not do this if you still have scabs, as this can pull ink out. So it’s important only to begin massaging after the scabs have completely come away, though a bit of peeling skin is fine.
When you get to the 4 week mark, pop me a message with a photo of your tattoo and I will assess the need for touch-ups. A bits of a heads up though, most palm pieces do need a touch-up, and I’m known to be a perfectionist so there’s a good chance I’ll say “come on in, let’s get this piece touched up for you!” It’s absolutely not a problem for me to do this for you, and I offer a free touch-up for all of my clients if booked within 3 months of the original tattoo, and I always loved to see my healed results.
How do I book a palm tattoo?
Well, I’m glad you asked! All you need to do is fill out my booking form and I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can (usually within 1-2 working days).