The Best Time of Year to Get Tattooed
I get asked this a lot, usually by someone who's been sitting on an idea for months and wants permission to finally book it in: "Is now actually a good time to get tattooed, or should I wait?"
Honestly? There's no single right answer, but there are real trade-offs depending on the season, and I'd rather you know them than find out the hard way three days into healing.
Winter: probably the easiest season for healing
Winter tends to be the quiet favourite among tattooers, and for good reason. You're covered up naturally, so there's less temptation to show off a fresh tattoo in the sun. You're not sweating into a new piece on a packed tube. And you're not spending your evenings in a chlorinated pool undoing a week of careful aftercare. If you're getting something large or in a spot that needs to stay covered and protected, winter gives your skin the calmest environment to do its thing.
The only downside is dry central heating, which can leave healing skin a bit tight and flaky. A bit of extra moisturiser sorts that out.
Spring: good if you plan around it
Spring sits in a nice middle ground. It's not yet hot enough to be sweating through healing, but the days are getting longer, which is genuinely useful if you want to get a few sessions in before summer social plans, holidays, or beach trips arrive. If you've got a big trip booked for July, spring is when I'd get the groundwork done.
Summer: doable, but you have to be honest with yourself
Summer is the trickiest season, not because tattoos heal worse in warm weather exactly, but because it's the season where people are most likely to sabotage their own healing. Sun exposure, swimming, sweat, sunscreen on unhealed skin, festivals, holidays abroad — all of it works against a fresh tattoo. I've written before about tattooing in summer and how to look after a tattoo in hot weather, so I won't repeat myself here, but the short version is: it's absolutely possible, you just need to plan your calendar around it rather than the other way round.
One thing worth flagging: I can't tattoo over skin that's freshly tanned or peeling from sunburn. If you've just come back from holiday, give your skin a week or two to settle first.
Autumn: the sleeper pick
Autumn is underrated. The heat's dropped off, you're back in long sleeves, and you've usually got a stretch of normal routine ahead of you without holidays or heatwaves to navigate. If you're after a big piece or the start of a sleeve, autumn gives you a good long run at it before the party season kicks off in December.
So what's actually the best time?
If I'm being straight with you: the best time to get tattooed is when you can actually look after it properly, not when the calendar says so. A rushed tattoo squeezed in before a festival will heal worse in winter than a well-planned one will in summer. Think about what's coming up in the weeks after your appointment — travel, swimming, manual work, a wedding — and work backwards from there.
If you've been putting off a piece "until the right time," that time is usually just whenever you're ready and your diary's clear enough to let it heal.
Good Times Tattoo is based at 8 Lower Clapton Road, Hackney, London E5 0PD. We don't take online bookings — every tattoo starts with a proper consultation, so get in touch through the contact form and we'll go from there.
Tattooing East London since 2009.
