Fresh tattoo: Which cream is good for what? A self-experiment
2/6/2025
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Anika Schulz
Which product helps better against unruly itching and tight skin? I tried Balea and Tattoomed. Here are the results.
Every spring, it hits me: the desire for a new tattoo. I quickly make an appointment with my favourite tattoo artist. A motif is quickly found. The only question that remains is: how do I look after the freshly inked body art?
My arms and legs are already adorned with seven images. I have already tried out a correspondingly large number of after-care creams. After all, a fresh tattoo «resembles an abrasion on a sunburn», as I like to describe it - and needs to be well cared for. However, no product has really convinced me so far.
Reason enough to try out two tattoo creams that I hadn't had on my radar before: the «Tattoo skin-soothing care ointment» from Balea and the «after tattoo» from Tattoomed. Which one is better? Find out now.
Initial situation
This time I went all out and got two tattoos. A feather in a light bulb on my wrist and a poppy on my leg. Before you ask yourself what the hell a feather is doing in a light bulb, let me relieve you of the emotional stress. The motif has absolutely no meaning. I now have so many tattoos that I only choose according to «I think it's pretty» and no longer according to «The picture reminds me of my neighbour's deceased hamster et cetera, sniff».
So that's the starting position. My tattoo artist applies a protective film to the very fresh motifs, which stays on for two to three days. Then the creaming and product testing begin
Application
In order to make the test reasonably fair and not to mix the creams, I apply the Balea cream to the feather and the Tattoomed product to the flower.
First impression.
First impression: Tattoomed's cream is incredibly rich. It forms a firm white film on the skin, which I can still feel hours later. Even when the white has long been absorbed. Even after showering, the cream has not completely disappeared from the skin. I am thrilled. Not only is my new tattoo reasonably safe from soap, shampoo and the like, I also have to reapply less cream.
Balea's skincare doesn't blow me away as much. It feels less nourishing and moisturising from the very first application. It is absorbed super quickly, but I have to reapply a second or third layer much more often, so the small 50-millilitre tube is empty quite quickly and I buy a second one.
Healing process
If you are now asking yourself: «Why does freshly tattooed skin need so much care anyway?», here is a brief summary of the healing process. Immediately after getting inked, the tattoo weeps. This is a very messy process and you should protect your clothes, towels and bed linen from the ooze. It will never come out - not even in the boil wash.
After a few days, scabs form and the most unpleasant part begins: the itching. New tattoos rival any killer mosquito for me. And this is where I experience the second major benefit of Tattoomed cream: it curbs the irrepressible urge to scratch. And it does so sustainably. An absolute game changer, because the itching phase drives me crazy every time. After all, scratching new tattoos is taboo. Unless you want to get ugly and, above all, colourless scars. Re-stitching included, which means the whole game starts all over again.
Admit it: The DM product does help with the itching at first because it moisturises the skin. But after just an hour it starts again and I just want to ... Grrrrrrrrmpfffff.
In total, I use both creams for about two weeks - more or less relaxed, of course. Then the scab is off and soft, new skin has formed over the tattoos. On my wrist it even goes a little faster, but I don't attribute this to the Balea cream, but to the fact that the tattoo is not as deep as the one on my leg. After all, the skin on the inside of the arm is much more delicate than on the lower leg.
So, why do I rate Balea worse than Tattoomed? A look at the ingredients provides the answer.
Ingredients
As I am not a scientist, I ran the list of ingredients of both after-care creams through ChatGPT and asked for a categorisation. Before you start doubting the credibility of the AI: My colleague Anna Sandner, a biologist by training, checked ChatGPT's results and found them to be correct.
Balea
At first glance, the ingredients don't look bad. The cream contains anti-inflammatory and moisturising ingredients such as panthenol (five per cent), allantoin, bisabolol and shea butter. But according to Anna, there is also less good stuff in the product. Depending on the concentration, urea and lactic acid can act like a chemical peeling. A peeling? That's really counterproductive for freshly tattooed skin. No wonder the cream seems less nourishing to me.
Tattoomed
Tattoomed's after-care cream performs better in terms of ingredients. It even contains seven per cent panthenol and other skin-soothing substances such as tocopheryl acetate. «This is a synthetic substance that is converted into vitamin E by the skin, which in turn protects against free radicals and is supposed to support healing», says Anna. The cream also contains paraffinum liquidum, a mineral oil product that forms a protective film on the skin. Aha! So that's what I can feel on my new tattoo after showering.
By the way, neither my colleague nor ChatGPT found any really unfavourable ingredients in the product.
A look at the packaging reveals another difference: unlike the Balea competition, the Tattoomed product has a German PZN, an eight-digit code number for pharmacy products. In other words: Tattoomed's skincare is a medicinal or pharmacy product in Germany, whereas Balea's is not. Which is why I can get the Balea cream in any DM drugstore in Hamburg. I have to order the Tattoomed cream. In Switzerland, by the way, the cream from Tattoomed is only «» declared as a cosmetic.
Price
And finally, where can you get more for your money? 50 millilitres of the Balea cream costs just under CHF 5 or EUR 3. Tattoomed charges significantly more. For 100 millilitres you have to calculate around 13 CHF or euros. However, as I need two tubes of the Balea product, the price saving has shrunk by the end of the test.
Result
So, let's get to the most important question: Do I see any differences in the quality of the tattoos that can be attributed to the creams? Honest answer: No. Both designs look good (to my eyes) and the colours come out nicely on the leg. Nothing is reddened, flaky or itchy. From this point of view, both the cheap product from Balea and the expensive counterpart from Tattoomed have fulfilled their purpose. Only the way to get there was different.
The cream from Tattoomed is the clear winner for me. It's a little more expensive, but it doesn't matter. It's the first cream that has helped me with the annoying itching and even protects my skin in the shower. What's more, if I'm already spending 450 euros on two tattoos, I don't mind spending 10 euros more or less on a skincare cream.
In the end, however, everyone's skin is different and you might get on really well with the cream from Balea. Now in stock and online at DM, it has many good reviews.
By the way: I now only use a fragrance-free body lotion to care for my new tattoos until they have healed completely in about six weeks. I particularly love this one:
Body lotions
dm Balea Balea, Med Ultra Sensitive, body lotion with panthenol, 250 ml
Body lotion, 250 ml
In a nutshell
Tattoomed? I'll buy it again!
As the Balea cream didn't help with the itching, the Tattoomed product wins the after-care comparison. I also like the fact that it leaves a protective film on the skin, which for me justifies the higher price. In the end, I even have some cream left over, which I now use to treat my feet to a summery softness. I'll probably use Tattoomed again for my next tattoo.
Pro
- Protective film stays on even after showering
- puts an end to the annoying itching
- 100 millilitres is easily enough for medium-sized motifs
Header image: Anika Schulz
Anika Schulz
Teamleader Editorial
Anika.Schulz@galaxus.deAs a child, I was socialised with Mario Kart on SNES before ending up in journalism after graduating from high school. As a team leader at Galaxus, I'm responsible for news. I'm also a trekkie and an engineer.
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