Active peel · Days 7–14
Day 13: the last flakes
The final flakes are coming off and the surface underneath feels smoother. The tattoo will still look dull. That is the new skin layer, which isn’t fully transparent yet.
What to do today
- Moisturize, still thinly
- Wait for the last flakes to fall off
- Hold off on swimming until it’s fully closed
Normal in the active peel stage
Thin flakes come off, often tinted with ink, and the tattoo looks patchy and dull. Itching usually peaks. The pigment sits below the peeling layer and is intact.
- Thin, translucent flakes like a sunburn peel, tinted with your ink color
- Patchy, dull or "missing" looking spots
- Thin, soft, light amber scabs over linework or dense color
- Peak itch, often somewhere around days 6–10
Care for this stage
- Do not pick or pull flakes. Let them come off in the shower or under moisturizer
- Keep moisturizing thinly
- No swimming, no shaving the area
Go deeper: Tattoo healing stages