Tattoo numbing creams are necessary for both during your ink session as well as for proper after-care of your tattoo. There are many different numbing products on the market today and I’ll go over a few of the better ones in my opinion.
Wouldn’t it be great to get ink, and not feel the pain? Now you can with one of the best tattoo numbing creams! Tattoo numbing creams basically provide a painless procedure when getting tatted, and basically numbs your pain receptors, so you don’t feel a thing.
And given that you can get a tattoo anywhere on your body, where some areas of being more sensitive than others, a tattoo numbing cream can really help ease the pain and distraction, resulting in a more comfortable experience.
Buying the best tattoo numbing cream can however be a tricky task, given not all creams are built equal, and that there are myriad options to choose from. But we’ve diligently researched this segment, and bring you the lowdown on the 5 best tattoo numbing creams that will provide a pleasant experience at the tattoo parlor.
5 Best Tattoo Numbing Creams
H2Ocean Ultimate Tattoo Care (UTC)
- 3 step system
- Water based (petroleum free)
- Aftercare tip card included
Slotting in at the #1 position on this list of best tattoo numbing creams is the Ultimate Tattoo Care (UTC) by H2Ocean and for several good reasons.
For starters, this multifaceted tattoo numbing cream is designed to work miraculously through all stages of the tattoo creation process right from the time you sit in the chair to even after your tat.
Specially designed for sensitive skin, the H2Ocean is a water-based tattoo numbing cream that accelerates tattoo healing, keeps your tattoo looking fresh for many years to come, and best of all prevents infections.
Recommended by professionals worldwide, the H2Ocean tattoo numbing cream is infused with several different key ingredients including jojoba oil, aloe, and rosehip seed oil.
Jojoba oil possesses several healing antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, and moisturizes your skin, allows it to breathe, and protects against infections. Rosehip seed oil is basically an essential oil that makes your tattoo look vibrant and bright.
Aloe is the magical ingredient responsible for numbing your body and provides a short-lived, yet highly effective numbing effect. The H2Ocean tattoo numbing cream comes with a daily aftercare tip card, which provides you with detailed information and tips on how to use it.
Pros:
- Accelerates tattoo healing
- Antibacterial and antimicrobial properties
- Three key ingredients — jojoba oil, aloe, and rosehip seed oil
- Aftercare tip card included
Cons:
- Skin may feel tight and dry after applying the included foam
Mad Rabbit Tattoo Cream Review
- ENHANCE & MAINTAIN YOUR INK - Your tattoos represent a significant investment of time, money, and body real-estate. Make them look their best, while taking care of your skin. Eye-popping vibrancy from the first use.
- FOR NEW OR EXISTING TATTOOS - Enhanced depth, clarity, and contrast for all your body art. Keeps your tats healthy while also preventing ink discoloration. Maintains and restores the vibrancy you remember, now and for years to come.
- NATURAL ORGANIC INGREDIENTS - Made from only 7 all-natural, vegan, cruelty-free ingredients that will soothe, protect, and moisturize. No harsh ingredients, Parabens or Sulfates.
- GREAT FOR SENSITIVE SKIN - Whether you have sensitive skin, or you’ve had a tattoo applied to a sensitive area of the body, trust Mad Rabbit.
- WORKS ON ALL SKIN COLORS AND INK COLORS - Great for bright colored art or monochrome blacks and blues. The perfect solution, no matter how much melanin you’ve got!
Mad Rabbit Tattoo cream was seen on the TV show Shark Tank in March 2021. They got an investment from Mark Cuban so their product must be good. I have yet to try it but there are 1000’s of customers that are using this lotion for aftercare to keep their tattoos lively looking.
So check out Mad Rabbitt Tattoo Salve to keep your tattoos looking fresh.
Medterra Pain Cream Review
The Medterra pain cream is perhaps the best tattoo numbing cream available, most notably because it contains some of the most powerful ingredients that collectively provide proven results.
Medterra is one of the leading names in the CBD industry and offers a superior quality range of CBD isolate and broad-spectrum CBD products.
But what makes these products a hit is the fact that they are entirely free of THC, and are created with non-GMO industrial hemp, and never marijuana.
The non-GMO industrial hemp used by the company is grown under stringent quality standards on legal farms in Kentucky. Further, Medterra hemp is certified by the U.S. Hemp Authority, meaning it does not contain any glyphosate and is evaluated by regulatory bodies to ensure adherence to meet certain growing practices.
The Medterra pain cream contains the same aforementioned premium quality CBD, along with two other primary ingredients — menthol and arnica oil. These three ingredients work collectively to numb the area of the tattoo, so you don’t feel any pain during the tattoo creation process.
Starting with menthol, it is made from mint extracts, and provides a cooling sensation, resulting in twofold benefits — numbness of the area, and relief from minor pain. Menthol is regarded as a counterirritant and works by causing the skin to feel cool and warm, causing you to detract from the feeling of pain when you’re getting inked.
Arnica flower is a tried and tested, age-old true anti-inflammatory that provides great relief for muscle soreness, joint issues, pain, and much more. When combined with menthol, arnica works overtime to calm and soothe the tattooed area.
Apart from the three primary ingredients, Medterra contains myriad inactive ingredients including jojoba oil, peppermint oil, and aloe, which together enhance the soothing and numbing effect of the Medterra tattoo numbing cream.
Available in strengths of 500mg and 1000mg, Medterra has been carefully formulated with all the right ingredients to provide a painless and soothing tattoo experience.
Pros:
- Contains non-GMO industrial hemp
- Provides relief for muscle soreness, joint issues, pain, and much more
- Also contains inactive ingredients including jojoba oil, peppermint oil, and aloe
- Menthol and arnica oil primary ingredients
Cons:
- Only available in 500mg and 1000mg strengths
Hemp Bombs Tattoo Numbing Cream
The Hemp Bombs tattoo numbing cream is sort of an all-rounder in this category because it not only provides numbing properties but also keeps your ink vibrant and moisturized.
Formulated with natural oils, premium quality CBD and botanicals, Hemp Bombs offers unmatched soothing properties and contains vitamin E oil, which considerably reduces redness and irritation during the healing stages of your tattoo.
When applied properly, Hemp Bombs create a protective barrier between a new tattoo and irritants, which triggers your body to recover at an accelerated pace.
Unlike other tattoo numbing creams that contain unnecessary additives that can aggravate and inflame your tattoo, Hemp Bombs is rich in only beneficial ingredients that are proven to calm and soothe irritation stemming from tattoos.
But that’s not all, Hemp Bombs also provides relief from flaky skin that can cause your tattoo to crack or warp, thanks to the inclusion of compounds that help with dehydrated skin.
Hemp Bombs is a federally legal product and contains less than 0.3 percent THC. Even though it contains several different ingredients, it doesn’t smell medicinal, but emits a pleasant aroma, owing to the mix of botanicals in the ingredient list.
The CBD in Hemp Bombs reacts with your body’s ECS (Endocannabinoid System), and numbs the area, as well as reduces discomfort in the area where applied.
For a tattoo numbing cream that works effectively and quickly, you really can’t go wrong with Hemp Bombs.
Pros:
- Federally legal
- Contains just 0.3% THC
- Provides relief from flaky skin
- Provides quick tattoo recovery
- Doesn’t smell medicinal
Cons:
- A little higher price tag than the competition
Flower Child CBG and CBD Tattoo Balm
https://flowerchildcbd.com/product/cbd-tattoo-balm/
If you’re looking for both tattoo healing and numbing properties, the Flower Child CBG and CBD tattoo balm is hard to beat.
It is crafted and extracted from 100 percent natural ingredients, and offers all the benefits you’ve come to expect from CBD and CBG salve along with Bacitracin Zinc. To explain briefly, Bacitracin Zinc is an antibiotic that helps treat cuts, and other skin wounds, scrapes or burns.
Bacitracin Zinc in the Flower Child tattoo numbing cream helps prevents bacteria in tattoos, which is caused mostly by contaminated ink, and can lead to rashes, and lesions with red spots.
The Flower Child CBD and CBG tattoo numbing cream is available in a 1/2oz container — each containing 90mg full-spectrum CBD, and 90mg full-spectrum CBG for a total of 180mg cannabinoids.
Along with the CBD and CBG, Flower Child contains certified organic herbs sourced from Mountain Rose Herbs — a leading grower and distributor of essential oils and herbs in the United States.
You’re probably already aware of what CBD is, but not CBG (Cannabigerol). CBG provides great health benefits, and relief from depression and anxiety. Furthermore, it possesses powerful neuroprotective qualities, which protect nerve cells against damage.
Apart from CBD and CBG, there are several other key ingredients in Flower Gold, starting with Paraffin to make the skin soft, and helps it retain moisture, comfrey to speed un new tissue growth, and arnica to provide excellent relief from pain, swelling, and bruises.
All the tattoo numbing and healing compounds in Flower Child are extracted using food-grade alcohol, which after being processed results in pure CBD extract rich with all the plant’s natural terpenes, cannabinoids, and flavonoids.
Pros:
- 180mg total cannabinoids
- Moisturizes tattoo and prevents bacteria
- Contains both CBG and CBD
- Offers powerful neuroprotective qualities
- Pure CBD extract
Cons:
- Not approved by the FDA to treat, cure, or prevent any disease
Ebanel Laboratories Lidocaine Topical Numbing Cream
Made in the USA, and doctor recommended, Ebanel Laboratories lidocaine tattoo numbing cream just as the name would suggest contains 5 percent lidocaine — a local anesthetic that reduces pain or discomfort caused by skin irritations, etc.
It contains maximum strength lidocaine, and numbs the body area within two to three minutes, and lasts for approximately an hour after its peak (20 – 25 minutes). Apart from lidocaine, Ebanel Laboratories tattoo numbing cream contains vitamin E, aloe vera, so it not only provides numbing benefits but also soothes and protects the skin.
Adding to this, Ebanel Laboratories tattoo numbing cream is safe to use on all skin types and is easy to apply with no messy removal. It is cGMP certified, is non-addictive, and doesn’t contain any harsh chemicals.
- Contains 5% lidocaine
- Quickly numbs the area and lasts an hour or so
- Contains vitamin E, aloe vera to soothe skin
- Reduces pain or discomfort caused by skin irritations
- cGMP certified and non-addictive
- Does not affect the color of the tattoo
Cons:
- Repeat application may be needed for larger tattoos
Benefits of Tattoo Numbing Creams – Are they Worth it?
Many people in the tattoo community have come to believe that tattoo numbing creams just don’t work!
But fact is that some tattoo numbing creams may work better for some than other, given that not all humans are built the same.
Then there are a small group of people who claim tattoo numbing creams last for around 10 minutes of getting a tattoo.
And this could be true, due to the plethora of cheap tattoo creams available in the market. This is one of the biggest reasons it is highly important to read tattoo numbing cream reviews to understand the ingredients in a respective tattoo numbing cream and decide it will work for you.
Tattoo Numbing Cream Buying Guide
Short answer is “Yes”, tattoo numbing creams do work, owing to the proven, active ingredients in the mix. Most of these ingredients fall into one of three categories — nerve deadeners, nerve blockers or vasoconstrictors.
Lidocaine is a good example of a nerve deadener, and basically prevents nerves from feeling any pain. Even though nerve deadeners work effectively to numb the body area, they fail to sink completely below the skin, so they aren’t going to offer long time results.
Tetracaine is one of the most common nerve blockers used in tattoo numbing creams, and calm your nerves down, so you still feel pain, but not as much as you would without applying the tattoo numbing cream.
Vasoconstrictors are billed as one of the most powerful numbing agents, and cause the blood vessels to constrict, resulting in less bleeding. Vasoconstrictors also slow down absorption, and their effect lasts longer when combined with other numbing agents.
Is CBD a Good Tattoo Numbing Agent?
CBD is the new kid in the numbing cream segment, and is a plant based, all-natural solution that provides both numbing and pain relief benefits. CBD tattoo numbing creams are specially formulated with an effective blend of pain relieving compounds that work in tandem to soothe, relieve pain, and numb the area where applied.
Adding to this, CBD tattoo numbing creams also contain one or more essential oils, which provide additional anti-inflammatory properties.
While chemicals such as tetracaine calm your nerves, they can also cause nerve damage, but CBD being a therapeutic compound fixes and prevents nerve damage.
The best CBD tattoo numbing creams contain small amounts of THC, making them legal, and other key ingredients such as arnica — a flower that offers both anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.
Final Thoughts
Getting a tattoo can be a painful addition to your body. Tattoo numbing creams have been around for a while, and are used by many to get some relief while they’re being inked.
Even though there are several chemical based tattoo numbing creams, CBD tattoo numbing creams contain all-natural ingredients and essential oils, hence numb the area for a longer period of time, as well as soothe the area, and prevent bacteria infections.
CBD Tattoo Numbing Creams
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