Ok I know this has been covered before but I've had some people ask me what to use.
I see artists swear by any rash cream for babies. Vaseline. Bacterial ointments. Lotion as in skin cream.
Question is. What really should and should not be used?
Personally I've tried nipple cream and it works.
Vaseline and petroleum based products I read is a no-no as the skin can't "breath."
What about anticeptic ointments like betadine. Would this be a suitable substitute for the rash creams?

Just thought I'd put this out there. Sorry if it's a bit too many questions and not the traditional one or two.

ok diablo mate you ready for this.
the choice of creams and after care products changes every 10 years as a rule of thumb, way back in my early days my mentor used to use iodine which made the whole area yellow then cover with a tissue ( how times have changed but this did work) then the craze for a while was vaseline, true vaseline stops the skin from breathing but what everyone seems to have forgotten is that vaseline was not so much used as a healer but as what it was A BARRIER CREAM as everytime someone gets a new tat all there mates just have to touch it, in todays market nappy rash cream works well and would be my advise to you.

saying that like andy i now swear by cling film and i will tell you why, I had the whole of my back redone 2 years ago in China the area was the entire back shoulder to shoulder and down to the arse, very yakusa style and was done the old fashion way tebori not machine now when finished my old mentor put goo on it and stretched cling film over it about 2pm in the afternoon, i did not have time to shower it properly as was flying from hongkong at 10pm that night, when i got to the airport i was delayed by weather for 12 hours then had a 13 hour flight then 4 hours to get home from heathrow. so this cling film had made my back sweat for 36 hours and had not moved or bathed for 36 hours, when i got back and took the cling film off it stank rotten and worried me a little, the next morning the whole area was soft totally unscabbed and completly painless and no discomfort of any kind and the healing process was well advanced and it healed almost completely in 5 days with never making any part of my skin tight, it was uncanny and can only be put down to my own body fluid had excelled the healing process because it was trapped behind the cling film in heat, not something i would recommend to anyone as it was a one off, but it doea prove that cling film does work .

Thanks for the reassuring me about the cream. And the extra info. I saw a program on tebori and it looks very err..rough. For the lack of a better word. Just googled it and found it very interesting.
I'll skip the cling film at first though :D

Tebori is the original and most widely used method around the world , You need to buy my new book ` the ultimate book of tattoo truths ` its packed with a lot of unknown or forgetten knowledge mate

If it's available I'll need to find get it :D

its not published yet still doing the finishing touches, this one will not only have all the history but addresses of good makers of equipment from machines to inks

Excellent. Sounds like one of the must haves.
Please let me know when it'll be available around here when it is. Can never have enough information I believe.