Chances are your artist sent you home with antibacterial soap, or you grabbed one yourself because it sounded like the safe choice. In 2016 the FDA actually reviewed antibacterial soap and found no evidence it prevents infection better than plain soap and water. Here's the part almost nobody explains: those same antibacterial agents disrupt your skin microbiome, the layer of good bacteria your body relies on while it's healing.
Antibacterial Doesn't Add Protection
The FDA's 2016 ruling found no manufacturer could prove antibacterial agents worked better than plain soap and water. Most people never heard this update, so the old advice just stuck around.
It Disrupts Your Skin's Own Defense
Your skin microbiome, a layer of good bacteria, helps protect and support your skin while it heals. Antibacterial agents can't tell the difference between harmful and helpful bacteria. They wipe out both.
A Cold-Process Bar Delivers What Liquid Can't
Foam and liquid washes are mostly water and rinse off in seconds. A solid, cold-process bar holds onto natural glycerin and delivers nourishing fatty acids straight to your skin while you wash.
This isn't a claim that Day 1 Bar heals your tattoo. It's a soap built to clean healing skin without working against it. Always follow your artist's specific aftercare instructions.
"I didn't start this company to melt down another tin of beeswax and call it a revolution. The industry has enough balms. Soap is the hero here, and it deserved a real look. I spent a year getting the wash right, because you deserve better than a decade-old ingredient list the FDA already flagged, not a repurposed general-use formula with a tattoo label slapped on it."
I've been getting tattooed for over 20 years. Every artist handed me the same bottle of antibacterial foam and told me to use it three times a day. Nobody had actually rethought it. Soap is the hero. The balm is just the support. That's the thesis behind every bar we make.
Colby Colquitt, Founder
20+ years collecting tattoos, still getting worked on.
Working against your skin
Working with your skin
Day 1 Bar is a cleanser, not a treatment, and it doesn't replace your artist's aftercare instructions. It's built to work with your skin's biology instead of against it.
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