It's kind of a silly question to ask, but I need to know
Former Member
ok...this is kind of silly...to me.
I was gonna get a tattoo on my back,
But do you know if there are any rules against having visible tattoos in master's swimming? I know for high school swimming, I wasn't allowed to wear caps or speedos bearing another team logo other than my own team..so is it possible that they don't allow the tattoos? What about USA swimming? Are the rules the same?
David
Parents
Former Member
If you get a tatoo you will have to stay out of the pool for a couple of weeks.
When a tatoo is done, you are using a needle to push different colored inks into your skin tissue. Notice I said "pushed", not injected. This is not like getting a shot where the syringe is filled with fluid and jabbed in your arm. The tatoo needle is much like a regular sewing needle and is solid. The needle is dipped in the the ink, like an old feather pen and the the ink is "appied" to the tatoo area.
Having stated that, the process of getting a tatoo is basically getting stuck with a short needle a few thousand times. Which leaves a bunch of tiny holes in your skin. If you get this area wet during the healing process, you will literally wash out the ink, thereby ruining your tatoo. You can still lightly wash the area after a couple days, but you have to leave the area pretty much alone, except for applying the antibiotic ointment the first week and moisturizing lotion for a few weeks after that.
Besides the time out of the pool, another consideration is that tatoos DO NOT do well in SUNLIGHT. The brighter and more vibrant the colors the worse they will fade in sunlight. If you do most of your swimming in an outdoor pool and the tatoo is in an uncovered portion of your body - it's going to fade, even with the use of powerful sunscreen.
I have tatoos, do all of my training swimming indoors, but swim open water courses. When I swim open water I just put on TONS of sunscreen, etc and hope for the best.
If you get a tatoo you will have to stay out of the pool for a couple of weeks.
When a tatoo is done, you are using a needle to push different colored inks into your skin tissue. Notice I said "pushed", not injected. This is not like getting a shot where the syringe is filled with fluid and jabbed in your arm. The tatoo needle is much like a regular sewing needle and is solid. The needle is dipped in the the ink, like an old feather pen and the the ink is "appied" to the tatoo area.
Having stated that, the process of getting a tatoo is basically getting stuck with a short needle a few thousand times. Which leaves a bunch of tiny holes in your skin. If you get this area wet during the healing process, you will literally wash out the ink, thereby ruining your tatoo. You can still lightly wash the area after a couple days, but you have to leave the area pretty much alone, except for applying the antibiotic ointment the first week and moisturizing lotion for a few weeks after that.
Besides the time out of the pool, another consideration is that tatoos DO NOT do well in SUNLIGHT. The brighter and more vibrant the colors the worse they will fade in sunlight. If you do most of your swimming in an outdoor pool and the tatoo is in an uncovered portion of your body - it's going to fade, even with the use of powerful sunscreen.
I have tatoos, do all of my training swimming indoors, but swim open water courses. When I swim open water I just put on TONS of sunscreen, etc and hope for the best.
