Once your tattoo is completed, your artist should disinfect the area by wiping it with a mild soap/water mixture (and sometimes an antibacterial ointment). This process ensures that the area of skin is completely sterile and free from harmful germs and bacteria that can cause nasty infections if you're not careful. Once the artist is happy with the cleanliness of the area, they will proceed to wrap the tattoo with one of a variety materials depending on the artist’s personal preferences. This is the beginning of the healing stages of your new tattoo. As the skin was nice and clean when the wrap was added, the wrap itself should now act to keep out any bacteria whilst your tattoo is still effectively a large and vulnerable wound (until it has grown a new protective layer of skin over the area) . his is where many people start to get confused, and this confusion is mainly caused by the fact that there are so many different opinions with regard to the most optimal time in which to keep a tattoo wrapped for after leaving the studio. What may help to alleviate some of this confusion is to begin understanding what the main purposes of getting a tattoo wrapped actually are. As already mentioned - the main goal of having your new ink wrapped and covered is to help keep harmful germs and bacteria out of your new open wound. These germs are nasty and can pose a serious risk to not only your tattoo, but also your general health by causing unpleasant infections if you’re not careful. Generally speaking, the wrap is mainly there to keep your ink germ-free up until the point where you’re able to clean the area yourself. Once you’re home from the studio, there’s no reason why you cannot remove the wrapping as long as you’re able to give the tattoo a good clean in lukewarm soapy water straight away.