Getting inked with a permanent tattoo on your body is a bold form of personal expression. Your tattoo design may have been selected for its artistic, spiritual, or personal style symbolism, yet it’s useless if the tattoo doesn’t always appear at its best in terms of colors, brightness, and sharpness.
To get the best tattoo results during and after the tattooing process, you need to have a comfortable inking session followed by appropriate aftercare. For this, keep the tattoo area clean, pain-free, and healthy — using the best antibacterial soap for tattoos — for faster healing and vibrant-looking tattoos.
The right soap ensures you don’t experience skin irritation, infections, or pain. Moreover, the tattoo heals faster and looks vibrant as the tattoo ink can be injected with higher precision once the skin area is washed adequately with the best antibacterial soap. In this article, we’ve narrowed down to the 4 best soap for tattoos for you to consider.
How To Wash Tattoos Properly?
Properly washing a tattoo is a crucial part of the aftercare procedure. You have to take it seriously if you want a long-lasting and vibrant tattoo. Luckily cleaning tattoos is something that you can easily do.
- Always wait for at least 24 hours after getting the tattoo to wash it
- It would be best if you used a mild, unscented soap to avoid skin irritation
- Use lukewarm water and apply soap
- Rub the soap on the tattooed area using your fingers
- Rinse the excess soap with lukewarm water and then pat it with a dry towel
Best Soap for Tattoos Reviews
Caring for a new tattoo is extremely important. Whether you’re looking for the best soap for tattoo aftercare or the best antibacterial soap to be used during the tattooing process, the search can be daunting.
Through extensive research, we’ve shortlisted the top 4 soaps that are great for the entire tattoo process, including for the aftercare. Each of these soaps is incredible at safely aiding the preparation, healing, upkeep, and vibrancy of your tattoos.
| IMAGE | PRODUCT | FEATURES | PRICE |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Cosco Pure Tattoo Green Soap Bottle | • Made With Natural Vegetable Oils • Made In USA | CHECK PRICE |
 | Dr. Numb Topical Anesthetic Foaming Soap | • 4% Lidocaine • 24% Benzethonium Chloride | CHECK PRICE |
 | Ink Oil Tattoo Aftercare Products ‘Ink Soap’ | • Infused With Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils • Cruelty-Free | CHECK PRICE |
 | Essential Values Tincture Green Soap | • 60-Day Money-Back Guarantee • Made In USA | CHECK PRICE |
 | Pirate Face Tattoo Cosco Green Soap | • Use for the whole body • Available in spray form | CHECK PRICE |
1. Cosco Pure Tattoo Green Soap Bottle
Cosco Green Soap is our top pick among the best soap for tattoos shortlisted here. The 1-gallon bottle contains pure concentrated green soap made of essential natural elements. These natural elements like glycerin and vegetable oil work incredibly to remove impurities from your skin while leaving your skin hydrated and smooth. The soap, due to its wonderous ingredients, also rids you of itching and irritation to a great extent.
Tattoo artists strongly recommend Cosco Green Soap. It’s common to find them stacking this useful item on their tattoo shop shelves. Professional tattoo artists trust this product so much that the tattoo industry has coined this product to be the most trusted sanitation product.
The soap is helpful at various stages of the tattoo process. Just before getting inked, this soap is useful in preparing the skin area to be tattooed. Further, it’s the ideal soap for tattoo stencil application. Moreover, for post-tattoo cleansing, the antibacterial properties of this pure green soap ensure proper and safe cleaning.
The fact that it’s called “Green Soap” implies it has natural, safe ingredients that are quick to effectively cleanse and heal your skin. The soap, made with natural vegetable oil, has a fragrant lavender scent and is biodegradable and safe for the environment. The product is made in the USA, making it a trusted, high-quality soap you can use confidently. Using this concentrated solution is a breeze. To get the best results, simply dilute 4 parts water to 1 part of the soap concentrate.
Pros
- Made with natural vegetable oils.
- Fragrant lavender scent.
- Most trusted sanitation product in the tattoo industry.
- Biodegradable & environmentally safe product.
- American made.
- 1 gallon concentrated green soap solution; doesn’t run out fast.
Cons
- Some customers have complained of receiving the bottle in a slightly damaged state.
Final Verdict: Editors Choice
2. Dr. Numb Topical Anesthetic Foaming Soap
This expertly formulated product by the famous ‘Dr. Numb Foam Store’ is a topical disinfectant foam soap that treats the pain and itching caused by a tattoo. Not only is this one of the best antibacterial soap for tattoos, but it also works magically at facilitating tattoo aftercare. So if you’re worried about the itching and burning that usually happens during and post the inking session, here’s the perfect remedy for minimizing that.
This foaming soap has 4% Lidocaine, which temporarily numbs tattoo pain by blocking nerve signals for an extended period of time. Another key ingredient is 0.24% Benzethonium Chloride, which through its anti-infective properties aids in eradicating germ build-up on the skin. Furthermore, this foaming soap is FDA approved, leaving you no chance of experiencing side effects.
The fact that ‘Dr. Numb Topical Anesthetic Foaming Soap’ is one of the best antibacterial soap for tattoos on the market, doesn’t make it cheap. The slightly high price is commensurate with the great value this numbing soap for tattoos offers.
Pros
- FDA regulated extra strength skin anesthetic & antibacterial formula.
- 4% Lidocaine offers immediate tattoo pain relief.
- This is a great numbing soap for immediate tattoo pain relief.
- 0.24% Benzethonium Chloride removes germs on the tattooed skin.
- Safe & easy to use.
- Doesn’t smell bad.
Cons
- A bit pricey.
- It’s a bit sticky, but not exactly greasy or messy.
3. Ink Oil Tattoo Aftercare Products ‘Ink Soap
‘Ink Soap’ is an all-natural castile soap made for you to experience natural tattoo healing. The soap is infused with therapeutic grade essential oils, which aids the tattooing process by reducing burning, risks of infection, and itchiness, etc. Using it is easy. Simply dilute the soap in distilled water and apply on the tattooed skin. Besides being incredible at healing the tattoo, this soap is also effective in keeping your tattoo colors vibrant.
Oil-infused soaps keep the skin moisturized and hydrated as essentially required for accelerating the tattoo healing process. The product is cruelty-free, eco-friendly, and sourced responsibly. It also carries a satisfaction guarantee, whereby you’re eligible for a replacement or a full refund in case you’re not satisfied with the product for any reason.
Overall, you can’t miss out on such a great soap, especially if you’ve just gotten yourself a new tattoo. It’s a must-have for new tattoos, to drastically reduce swelling, pain, the chance of infections, and scabbing. The company’s claim to fame, as stated on their website, is that “Ink Oil shortens the time needed for healing by up to 50%”.
The outstanding online customer reviews are a further testament to how astounding this soap is at getting the job done.
Pros
- Made with all-natural ingredients.
- Cruelty-free & eco-friendly.
- Smells great.
- Excellent customer service with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
- Infused with therapeutic grade essential oils to aid the tattoo healing process.
- Reduces tattoo healing time by up to 50%.
Cons
- Some people don’t prefer the fragrance of essential oils, while others love it.
4. Essential Values Tincture Green Soap
The main purpose of the ‘Essential Values Tincture Green Soap’ is to protect new tattoos from germs and infections. The soap works well when diluted in clean water, hence, making it the ideal soap for large-sized tattoos as well. Professional tattoo artists love using this soap for preparing the skin area to be tattooed as well as for tattoo aftercare.
This soap helps the tattoo heal relatively faster as it efficiently removes dirt and bacteria. Alongside maintaining the tattoo area clear of dirt, debris, and infections, the Tincture Green Soap also ensures the tattoo looks remarkably sharp and vibrant. Furthermore, the safe ingredients ensure your skin doesn’t feel irritations while healing.
Essential Values Tincture Green Soap is made in the USA and backed by a 60-day money-back guarantee. This is an offer you can’t refuse as you’re getting a safe, natural ingredient product (with alcohol content) made in a country known to manufacture products with the highest quality standards.
Pros
- You’re getting a quality product without breaking the bank.
- Protects fresh tattoos from germs, bacteria, and infections.
- Suitable for use by professional tattoo artists as well as enthusiasts.
- Washes away blood and dirt easily, and also prevents irritations.
- Heals the tattoo faster, while maintaining tattoo vibrancy and sharpness in the aftercare stages.
Cons
- Some users reported liking the product primarily for the price.
5. Pirate Face Tattoo Cosco Green Soap
Pirate Face Tattoo is a name that needs no introduction in the tattoo community; renowned for its high quality offerings, Pirate Face Tattoo has provided its users with a premium solution for their needs at highly affordable prices. And that is the case with the Cosco Green Soap 1 pint with squeeze bottle as well.
Now a soap and squeeze bottle kit is not something that one might consider at the top of their priority when it comes to looking for tattoo inking equipment. This is why it is crucial that one get their hands on a reliable and effective soap and squeeze bottle for their procedure. And while they might not be the first equipment that would come to one’s mind, there is no arguing that they are extremely crucial in the tattoo inking process.
Pirate Face Tattoo understands the importance of even the little products like soap and squeeze bottle in the tattoo inking process, and that is why you will find high quality cocoa green soap with squeeze bottles at affordable pricing with Pirate Face Tattoo. In addition, the Cosco soap contains 30 percent alcoholic contents, making it suitable to be used for personal care as well as kitchen cleaning as well.
Pros
- An inexpensive solution for one to get their hands on
- The perfect alternative to the use of spray bottles
- A multipurpose product
Cons
- It contains 30 percent alcohol in the mix.
Using A Tattoo Soap – The Steps Involved
Step 1 – Using lukewarm water, wash the gunk off your skin on the tattooed area.
Step 2 – Take a generous amount of the soap and gently rub it over your tattoo, particularly focussing on areas that have dried-up ink and blood. Follow the package enclosed instructions and warnings carefully, so as to apply the correct parts of water to the soap or solution, especially if it’s a concentrated solution.
Step 3 – Once you’re done cleaning the dirt and debris with the soap, wash away the excess soap with lukewarm water.
Step 4 – Gently pat dry the tattoo area using a clean paper towel.
Step 5 – If required, apply a tattoo moisturizer to avoid further dryness and irritation.
Step 6 – Repeat the process 2 to 3 times a day for 2 to 3 weeks.
Why Choose An Antibacterial Soap Over A Regular Soap For Your Tattoo?
It is very important to prefer an antibacterial soap over a regular soap for several reasons. The main reason is that new tattoos are open wounds that are prone to infection if not cared for properly. Regular soaps can’t fully clean the skin to a level that prevents infection. As the above reviews reveal, antibacterial soap is needed to prevent irritation and infection and to heal and protect the newly inked tattoo faster and safely.
Things to Consider Before Buying Soap for Tattoo
Do you need clarification on buying the best soap for your tattoos? Here is a buyer’s guide that is sure to help you massively.
- Ingredients: You must opt for a soap that contains natural and gentle ingredients. Some of such natural ingredients are aloe vera and tea tree oil.
- Look for antibacterial properties: Opt for a soap that contains natural antibacterial properties. It would ensure you do not suffer from infection and even promote the tattoo’s healing.
- pH Level: The standard pH of human skin is 5.5. Choose a soap that is somewhere close to this level.
- Choose a reputable brand: If you are still deciding which product you should go for, opting for a brand with a good track record in the market is always better.
- Price: Opt for a soap that is well within your price range
FAQs
It is considered optimal if one washes their newly inked tattoo at least after a 24-hour interval of getting them inked. This period allows for a formation of a protective layer on the tattoo which will prevent the healing process to disrupted when washed.
No, it is not wise for one to use a moisturizing soap. These soaps often contain ingredients that clog the pores, which prevent the tattoo from healing properly.
No, it is best if you avoid using anything abrasive on the tattooed surface, and that includes the sponge as well. It is better to use your fingers to wash the tattoo gently.
It depends on the tattoo’s healing process, but one is generally recommended to wash their tattoo for 2 to 4 weeks.
Conclusion
It should be considered a priority task to select a high-quality antibacterial soap to be used for protecting your skin from any sort of infection. Such soaps further work wonders at maintaining the overall vibrancy of your tattoo. Skin dryness causes irritation, itchiness, and may well lead to infections. When you use the best soap for tattoos, you’re in effect ensuring your skin is getting moisturized appropriately and prevented from becoming dry again. By selecting one of the antibacterial soaps listed in this article, you can rest assured your tattooing experience will be a joyous and safe one.
By
