Bepanthen Tattoo – the truth about the popular ointment for tattoo healing
Hello friends,
my name is Alexey — I’m a tattoo artist, painter, and the owner of Tattoo in Prague studio. Today I’d like to share with you my personal experience and insights I’ve gathered over 12 years in the tattoo industry.
The topic of today’s article is Bepanthen Tattoo ointment. You might not fully agree with me, or some things may surprise you — but my goal isn’t criticism. I simply want to share the truth and some useful information openly, both for clients and fellow artists.
A bit of historyI first came across Bepanthen back in 2013, when I was working in professional tattoo studios.
This product is manufactured by the German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG, and it was originally created to help regenerate skin affected by dryness, cracks, irritation, scrapes, or minor burns.
Around the same time, tattoo artists began recommending this ointment for healing fresh tattoos.
Interest in the product grew rapidly — and so did the price.
While in 2013 a tube cost about $1.50, by 2015 the price had already risen to $10.
This raises a question: did the price increase because of higher production costs?
Of course not. Bayer AG never commented on the price hike, but it’s obvious that the company simply took advantage of the growing demand and a new market opportunity.
It’s business — and walking away from profit wouldn’t make sense.
How Bepanthen Tattoo was created
When the company realized that their product had become very popular in the tattoo world, they decided to create a separate line — Bepanthen Tattoo, marketed specifically as “for tattoo healing.”
However, if you take a closer look at the ingredients, you’ll find that there’s almost no real difference between the regular Bepanthen and Bepanthen Tattoo.
The only things that differ are the packaging, name, and tube size:
- Regular Bepanthen – 100 g for about $20
- Bepanthen Tattoo – 30 g for about $8 (as of 2025)
In other words, you’re mostly paying for marketing and the word “Tattoo” printed on the box.
Do you even need this ointment?Let’s be honest — modern tattooing technology is quite advanced.
Most professional artists now use healing films (membranes) that protect the skin and create ideal conditions for regeneration.
If you have a small tattoo, your skin isn’t heavily damaged, and the tattoo was done properly, you don’t really need any special ointment.
It’s enough to:
- keep the healing film on for 3–4 days,
- after removing it, gently moisturize the skin with a simple cream such as Nivea, Dove, or coconut oil.
The key is not to let the skin dry out or scratch it during healing.
When can ointment make sense?If we’re talking about larger projects — sleeves, backs, legs, or full-body tattoos — where the skin is more stressed, some additional hydration can be useful.
But even in these cases, there’s no need to buy expensive “special tattoo creams.”
There are plenty of similar products on the market today — it has become a multi-million-dollar business.
Unfortunately, behind all the nice words often stands nothing more than marketing.
My conclusionIf your tattoo was done professionally, the skin wasn’t overworked, and you give it proper care, you don’t need any special ointments.
All you really need is:
- a healing film for the first few days,
- clean and moisturized skin afterward,
- and a bit of attention and patience.
This approach works especially well for small tattoos (around 1–15 cm).
I’m not discouraging anyone from using ointments like Bepanthen Tattoo — if it works for you, feel free to keep using it.
But as a professional, my goal is to tell the truth, not to sell clients creams of my own brand or push famous products.
Thank you for reading — Alexey
2025