Can You Drink Caffeine After Getting a Tattoo?

Unfortunately, the same applies to after getting tatted. During the healing period, your body is reliant on the blood to clot to help with skin repair. Since caffeine increases blood pressure, you should refrain from caffeine until your tattoo has healed.

Keep in mind that caffeine is also present in many other common foods and drinks, some of which you may not be aware of:

What to Do Before a Tattoo

It can be really hard to prepare well for a tattoo, especially if you’re focused on the procedure and nothing else. Try and think long-term, though, and incorporate these things so that your pain is reduced the tattoo heals fast:

Get Plenty of Rest

Even though sleep and anxiety can be likened to the chicken and egg scenario, sleep can help reduce anxiety.

Building up to your tattoo appointment, try and get as much as rest as possible, especially the night before — go to bed early!

To help get to sleep early and make sure you get into a deep sleep, try as many of these things:

Avoid Alcohol and Energy Drinks — It’s Not Just Coffee!

Energy drinks are also known to contain copious amounts of caffeine, so steer clear of them. 

Not only will alcohol and caffeine thin out your blood, but its effects could also make you jittery. The last thing a tattoo artist needs is a client who cannot sit still during inking. Your time at the tattoo parlor is limited, and your tattoo artist may be booked back to back.

Eat Well

Most people seem to understand the impact that tattooing will have on their bodies. It will cause stress to your skin and overall to your body; therefore, you should have enough energy and vitality to counter this.

Avoid foods that normally make you feel sluggish and bloated. Also, don’t eat too close to your tattoo appointment but, if you have to, eat a light meal.

Eating high-energy meals, with lots of vegetables and fruit, will go a long way in helping your tattoo to heal faster. Include foods rich in vitamin C as it’s known to help with wound healing.

Don’t overload on the carbs and sugar, but keeping some candies close for a quick energy boost during the tattooing is encouraged.

Stay Hydrated

Drinking lots of water isn’t only beneficial to your body but helps the ink to be plump and moisturized, which will mean it can absorb the ink better.

Water also helps your skin to stay flexible and bounce back with every puncture of the needle. Avoiding dehydration also helps to maintain blood flow, allowing for immune cells to travel to the tattooed area for healing, as well as general health.

Don’t drink too much water too close to your appointment, and make sure your bladder is empty. If you’re in for a long tattoo session, you, nor your artist, will want you going to the bathroom in the middle.

Exercise

Some light cardio on the morning of your tattoo can help to keep you refreshed and alert for when the time comes for your sitting. Avoid anything heavy, and if you did want to pump some iron or go for a long run, do it the day before.

Whatever exercise you do, be aware of getting injured to the point that you can’t make the tattoo session. If you’ve paid a deposit, you likely won’t get it back.

Be Sensible and Avoid Caffeine

Any tattoo artist will tell you how much harder it is to tattoo with excessive blood getting in the way. Too much blood will affect the visibility of the tattoo as the artist works on it. More blood than usual could also thin out the ink, leaving you with an unsatisfactory tattoo.

While caffeine may give you a short term boost for your frayed nerves, the negative consequences far outweigh this one. Go into your tattoo session armed with this information, and the process will be smoother for all parties involved.