Tattoo Covers! Do they work?

8 comments

1. Why not go somewhere tattoo friendly? I have covered mine with tape or risked it and been okay. But when swimming in pools, I covered my torso completely and it was so uncomfortable. I couldn’t imagine trying to relax in an onsen with a lot of tape or a large portion of my body covered. Just a suggestion. Some onsen might scoff at having too much covering.

2. There’s a company called Tat2X that makes tattoo cover up sleeves. I have light colored one that matches my skin (more or less) to cover my half sleeve. It generally does a good job staying on even while wet and dries quickly too. Might be an options to cover some of theirs.

3. I once tried those things, but gave up. Those are tiny. If you want to cover up an entire arm, you’ll need quite a few.

   Try private onsen, a lot less hassle.

4. I’ve used something similar a few times. For context, I have a medium size tattoo on my back. However, I’d look for something bigger.

   The short version to “Do they work” is yes…ish. for anything they completely cover up, they’re fantastic. If your tattoo is small enough that it can be covered by just 2-3, they’re still pretty effective.

   The biggest advantage they provide isn’t that they’re perfect, mind you, but that they cover it up enough and people aren’t really looking at you anyway (all of the onsen I’ve visited seem to have an unspoken rule of, ‘Don’t really look at me, I won’t really look at you, and now it’s not weird for anyone’).

   With this in mind, your friend with full sleeves probably… won’t look great, but it will *probably* be enough that people won’t notice since they aren’t paying that much attention.

   But! Make *absolutely sure* your apply them correctly and there are no air pockets; water can get in and swell it from the inside and then it looks like a weird growth.

   Also, it helps tremendously to not have hair on the area you apply it to.

   On a final note, in the times I’ve forgotten to bring any, I’ve gotten by by just being strategic. Go when there are fewer people (late at night is my go- to, but I’ve also seen mornings where they were completely empty), position yourself so you’re not very close to people, keep the tattoos areas under the water, etc.). I haven’t had any issues yet.

5. For fun, I bought a set of these and I put them all over my body. I had to cover a half sleeve, my calf, a shoulder piece, and an under breast tattoo. I think I had to buy three boxes to do it https://amzn.asia/d/6WJKLsR) to do it. One of the matched my skin tone exactly and the other looked kind of funny, but as long as people are minding their own business they probably won’t see. I couldn’t peel it from the paper perfectly or set it perfectly on my own so even though it stayed put when I went in the onset a bunch of water got underneath it. I did the shower and onsen and I didn’t notice any of it coming off though.
   I’ve decided that I would like to use it again but I would probably just put it on my leg and wear a rash guard to the beach or water park cause it was expensive and a lot of work.

6. Why do they need to cover up their tattoos at all? If they are only visiting it won’t be an issue. I’ve never been anywhere that didn’t allow me in because of my tattoos, 2 sleeves. Maybe only an onsen, but some allow tattoos. Kinosaki onsen town in Hyogo is tattoo friendly.

7. Why not just go someplace with reservable private baths? There are places that you don’t have to stay at the ryokan and can still do a reservable bath.

8. My tattoo artist in Japan said he goes and to any hot spring he wants without problem, it’s bath centers you’ll get kick out of.