You've walked out of the studio, the artist has said "keep it clean and keep it moisturised," and you're standing in your bathroom holding a $6 pump bottle of sorbolene wondering if that counts.
Fair question. It's in almost every Australian bathroom, it's fragrance-free more often than not, and it's a fraction of the price of anything sold as tattoo aftercare. So let's actually answer it - and then go through everything else in the cupboard, because sorbolene is never the only bottle sitting there.
We make tattoo aftercare, so read this with that in mind. What we're not going to do is tell you the chemist stuff will wreck your tattoo. Most of it won't. The differences are real, but they're smaller and more specific than the internet suggests, and you deserve the actual detail rather than a scare.
The short version
Sorbolene is a general-purpose body moisturiser. It was designed for dry skin on healthy, intact skin - not for a fresh tattoo, which is an open wound for the first several days. It's usually fragrance-free, which is the single most important thing, and that's why so many people get away with it.
Where it falls short is what it doesn't have, not what it does. Most sorbolene is water, glycerin and a light emulsifier base. That's it. It puts moisture on the surface and not much else.
What's actually in sorbolene
Most Australian sorbolene creams are a cetomacrogol base with around 10% glycerin. Glycerin is a humectant - it draws water into the upper layers of skin and holds it there. It's a genuinely good ingredient. We use it in both Stand Fast Aftercare Cream and Line Work Tattoo Wash.
Three things worth knowing:
Not all sorbolene is fragrance-free. This is the one that catches people out. Plenty of supermarket sorbolene has added perfume, and some has it without a big call-out on the front. Turn the bottle over and look for "parfum" or "fragrance" in the ingredients. If it's there, put it back for now. Fragrance is the most common cause of contact reactions in skincare, and freshly tattooed skin has lost the barrier that normally keeps that in check.
It's very light. For dry legs in winter, that's ideal. For skin that's raw, weeping slightly, and losing moisture faster than usual, a thin water-based lotion needs reapplying a lot. Not harmful - just more work than you might expect.
It's a moisturiser, full stop. No soothing botanicals, no antioxidants, nothing formulated with the specific state of tattooed skin in mind. It moisturises. That's the whole job description.
Stand Fast is also lightweight and fragrance-free, which is the part sorbolene gets right. The difference is what's built around that: shea butter and sunflower seed oil for richer emollience, witch hazel bark extract, and vitamin E - chosen for skin in that first fortnight rather than for dry shins.
Verdict on sorbolene: if it's fragrance-free and it's what you've got at 11pm on a Tuesday, it's a reasonable stopgap. It's not the thing we'd pick for the first two weeks.
Paw paw ointment
Lucas' Papaw Ointment is an Australian institution and it turns up on fresh tattoos constantly.
Here's the bit most people don't clock: the papaw is a small fraction of it. The base is petroleum jelly. It's a heavy occlusive - it forms a seal over the skin and stops water escaping.
That makes it very good at what it does. It also makes it thick, and thick is generally not what you want on fresh work. A heavy seal over a tattoo that's still weeping traps moisture and warmth against the skin, and most artists will tell you the same thing they've been telling people for years: thin layers, let it breathe.
There's also a plain question of timing. Once your tattoo has settled - past the first fortnight, skin closed over - an occlusive is genuinely useful. That's the job Hold Fast Tattoo Balm does, and it's why we made it a separate product to the cream rather than selling one tub for everything. Different stages, different needs.
Hold Fast does it with sunflower seed oil, beeswax, candelilla wax, castor oil and squalane instead of petrolatum, and there's no fragrance in it. Worth saying plainly: it contains beeswax, so it isn't vegan. Line Work Tattoo Wash is.
Verdict on paw paw: heavy for fresh ink, and check whether your tube has fragrance in it - some variants do. Better suited to settled skin, if you're using it at all.
Nappy rash creams - Bepanthen, Sudocrem
These come up constantly because they're marketed for irritated skin on babies, and people reasonably conclude that's gentle.
Bepanthen ointment is dexpanthenol in a base that includes lanolin and petrolatum. Dexpanthenol is a real ingredient with real evidence behind it for skin repair, and Bepanthen has been the default artist recommendation in Australia for a long time. The two catches are that it's an ointment, so you're back to the heavy-occlusive problem, and lanolin is a reasonably common contact allergen. Most people are fine with it. Some aren't, and finding out on a fresh tattoo is a bad time to find out.
We've written a full piece on this one - Can You Use Bepanthen on a Tattoo? - because it deserves more than a paragraph.
Sudocrem is a different story. It's zinc oxide in a base that includes lanolin, benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate and benzyl cinnamate. Those last few are fragrance-family compounds and known sensitisers. It's also opaque and white, which means you can't see what your tattoo is doing under it. We wouldn't put it on fresh work.
Verdict: Bepanthen is defensible if your artist recommended it and you know you're fine with lanolin. Sudocrem, we'd skip.
Vaseline
Pure petrolatum. Nothing else in it.
It seals moisture in and contributes nothing of its own. On a fresh tattoo it's the heaviest option on this list with the least going on underneath. It's the one most artists actively steer people away from, and that reputation is largely earned.
Verdict: no.
The wash is the part everyone forgets
All of the above is about what goes on. Half the aftercare question is what you're cleaning with, and this is where the cupboard usually lets people down hardest.
Bar soap is alkaline and strips more than you want. Most body washes are fragranced - often heavily, because that's the point of them. Hand soap by the sink is generally the harshest thing in the house.
If you're going to substitute one product in this whole routine, don't make it the wash. A fragrance-free, soap-free cleanser is the least glamorous part of aftercare and the part that quietly matters most. Line Work Tattoo Wash is built for exactly that: mild, fragrance-free, no added colour, vegan, and it lifts away excess ink and surface build-up without leaving skin tight afterwards.
There's more on the timing side in How Long After a Tattoo Can You Wash It With Soap?.
So what should you actually use?
If you take one thing from this: fragrance-free matters more than brand. Whatever you reach for, turn it over and check.
Beyond that, the case for a purpose-made routine isn't that cupboard products are dangerous. It's that a tattoo goes through two distinct stages with two different needs, and no single general-purpose product covers both:
- First fortnight — wash gently twice a day, then thin layers of a lightweight moisturiser. Line Work Tattoo Wash and Stand Fast Aftercare Cream. Both together in the Fresh Ink Kit.
- After that, for years — a richer balm that seals moisture in and holds up through heat, humidity and chlorine. Hold Fast Tattoo Balm.
- The lot — The Full Ritual Kit.
All three are fragrance-free, free from parabens, petroleum and fillers, and made in Australia. Every ingredient is listed and explained on our ingredients page, including the ones that sound like they need explaining - because we'd rather you check than take our word for it.
Whatever your artist told you, follow that first. They've seen your work and your skin, and we haven't.
FAQ
Is sorbolene bad for tattoos? No. It's a light, usually fragrance-free moisturiser and plenty of people use it without issue. It just wasn't formulated for freshly tattooed skin - it's thin, it needs frequent reapplication, and some versions contain added fragrance, so check the label.
Can I use paw paw ointment on a new tattoo? It's petroleum-jelly based and quite heavy, which is generally not what you want on fresh work. It's better suited to settled skin, and some variants contain fragrance.
Can you use nappy rash cream on a tattoo? Bepanthen is commonly recommended by Australian artists, though it's an ointment and contains lanolin, which some people react to. Sudocrem contains fragrance-family compounds and is opaque, so we'd avoid it on fresh work.
Can I use Vaseline on a tattoo? It's pure petrolatum - it seals the skin without adding anything. Most artists advise against it on fresh tattoos.
What's the most important thing to look for? Fragrance-free. Freshly tattooed skin has temporarily lost its barrier, and added perfume is the most common trigger for contact reactions in skincare.
Can I just use my normal body wash? Most body washes are fragranced and bar soap is alkaline and stripping. If you substitute one thing in your routine, don't make it the wash.
