How we research.
Short version: our product pages are research roundups, not lab reports. We read the ingredient list, the label directions and what the manufacturer claims, check them against published guidance from dermatologists and regulators, and tell you which product we'd pick and why. We have not run controlled tests on our own skin, and no page on this site should tell you otherwise. If one does, it's a bug: report it.
What we cover (and what we don't)
Our scope is products for the person getting tattooed, not the person doing the tattooing. That means: aftercare balms and ointments, second-skin adhesive bandages (Saniderm, Tegaderm), tattoo-safe soaps, maintenance moisturizers, mineral sunscreens, and numbing creams. We do not review artist equipment, ink pigments, or machines. Those require a practitioner's perspective we don't have.
Where a recommendation comes from
- The ingredient list. Fragrance, petrolatum, lanolin, common allergens and what each base ingredient is generally known to do on healing skin. This is the part of a product you can check for yourself, so it carries the most weight.
- The label and the manufacturer. Directions, warnings, size and price. Brand claims are attributed to the brand ("Mad Rabbit says…"), never repeated as our own finding.
- Published guidance. The American Academy of Dermatology, the FDA and similar sources for anything that touches safety: numbing agents, sunscreen, infection and allergic reactions. Where a guide makes a medical point, it links the source.
- Buyer reviews, labelled as such. The star rating and review count on each product card are Amazon customer aggregates, shown as crowd signal and kept separate from our editorial pick.
How we pick
An "Our pick" label is an editorial judgment: the product we'd reach for given the ingredients, the price per ounce, how easy it is to use correctly, and what the published guidance says. We say plainly when a cheaper product is good enough that the premium isn't worth it, and when there's no meaningful evidence that one product heals better than another. For most fresh-tattoo care there isn't: a clean, fragrance-free product used thinly and consistently matters more than the brand.
None of this is medical advice. Your artist's aftercare instructions come first, and anything that looks like infection or a spreading reaction is a job for a doctor, not a balm.
If we ever test something
If we do put a product on real skin in the future, the guide will say exactly what was tested, on how many tattoos, for how long, and show the evidence. Until a guide says that, assume it's research.
Corrections
Found a factual error, an outdated price, a product description we got wrong, or a claim that sounds like first-hand testing? Email hello@reviewtattoo.com with the page and what's off.
What we will not do
- Accept "sponsored" rankings.
- Take free product in exchange for coverage.
- Claim a product test that never happened.
- Invent reviews, testimonials, reviewers or credentials.