We get asked this a lot, especially by tattoo artists deciding what to stock at the shop. Hustle Butter and Mad Rabbit are the two most-recognized tattoo aftercare brands in North America, and InkLube is the small natural-formulation brand trying to earn shelf space alongside them. Here’s an honest, ingredient-by-ingredient comparison — including the categories where the bigger brands beat us.
Heads up: we’re obviously biased. We make InkLube. We’ve tried to be fair below, but if you want a totally unbiased take, the best one is to grab a small jar of each and try them on your own skin. All three brands offer travel sizes for under $15.
The 30-Second Verdict
- Hustle Butter Deluxe — The longtime industry standard. Vegan formula. Excellent for use during the tattoo session itself (most artists use it as a glide). Good but not great for take-home aftercare.
- Mad Rabbit Tattoo Balm — The DTC darling. Beautiful packaging. Solid plant-based formula. Marketed heavily on Instagram. Slightly thinner consistency than the other two.
- InkLube — 13 plant ingredients, all listed. Made in small batches in the USA. Built specifically as a take-home aftercare cream. Contains beeswax (not vegan).
Ingredient Comparison
All ingredient counts and orders are pulled from the manufacturer websites at time of writing. Each brand updates formulas occasionally, so check current INCI lists if you’re concerned about a specific ingredient.
Hustle Butter Deluxe
Base: Shea, mango, and aloe butters with coconut, sunflower, rice bran, papaya, and green tea seed oils. Other actives: rosemary, lavender, and ylang-ylang essential oils.
What’s good: Vegan. Lots of butters and oils, no petrolatum or lanolin. Decades of artist trust. Excellent slip during the tattoo session itself.
What’s worth watching: Coconut oil can be comedogenic for some skin types. Papaya is a relatively niche ingredient with limited skincare research.
Mad Rabbit Tattoo Balm
Base: Shea butter and grape seed oil with coconut, sunflower, jojoba, and broccoli seed oils. Other actives: hemp seed oil, vitamin E, eucalyptus essential oil.
What’s good: Vegan. Strong DTC brand experience. Modern packaging. Hemp seed oil is a high-omega-3 plant ingredient with growing research support.
What’s worth watching: Eucalyptus essential oil is more sensitizing than tea tree or lavender for some skin types. Grape seed oil can have a slightly drying feel.
InkLube
Base: Mango seed butter and shea butter with sweet almond, jojoba, and sea buckthorn oils. Other actives: vitamin E, beeswax, tea tree, lavender, rosemary, calendula, chamomile, and aloe extracts.
What’s good: Plant-only formulation, no petrolatum, no lanolin, no synthetic fragrance. Sea buckthorn oil is unusual in the category and rich in omega-7. Calendula and chamomile extracts pair well with the soothing role aftercare needs to play. Made in small batches in the USA with batch codes on every jar.
What’s worth watching: Contains beeswax, so not vegan. We’re a smaller brand than the other two — you won’t see us in big-box stores yet.
Price Per Ounce
Pricing changes, but as of this writing:
- Hustle Butter Deluxe — ~$15 for 1 oz, ~$22 for 5 oz tub
- Mad Rabbit Tattoo Balm — ~$22 for 2 oz
- InkLube — $12 for 1/2 oz, $20 for 1 oz, $32 for 2 oz
InkLube is roughly mid-pack on price-per-ounce. We’re more expensive than buying a tub of generic Aquaphor, less expensive than the most-marketed brands, and roughly priced based on what the ingredients actually cost to source in small batches.
Where Each Brand Wins
Pick Hustle Butter if: you want a vegan formula, you’re an artist looking for a multi-purpose product (works as glide during the tattoo and aftercare after), and you’re loyal to the longest-running brand in the category.
Pick Mad Rabbit if: you want a vegan formula in beautifully designed packaging, you appreciate the DTC brand experience, and you like the lighter-weight feel of a thinner balm.
Pick InkLube if: you want a plant-only formula with full INCI transparency, you don’t mind beeswax, you appreciate the small-batch USA-made approach, and you want a cream specifically designed as take-home aftercare rather than session glide.
What All Three Get Right
None of these three brands use petrolatum or lanolin. None use synthetic fragrance. All three are massively better than the A&D + Aquaphor routine many tattoo artists were stuck recommending in the 1990s and early 2000s. If you’re choosing between any of these three, you’ve already made a good choice for your tattoo.
What All Three Could Improve
Honest answer: every brand in this category, ours included, could push harder on transparent supply-chain documentation. Where exactly is the shea butter sourced? Which co-op? What’s the carbon footprint? These are the questions that mature cosmetic brands answer in detail, and tattoo aftercare hasn’t fully caught up. We’re working on this on our end.
The Bottom Line
If you’ve already got a brand that works for your skin and your wallet, stick with it. The worst thing you can do for a fresh tattoo is switch creams mid-aftercare. If you’re starting from scratch or your current brand isn’t working, try a small jar of one of these three based on the criteria above.
Curious about InkLube? Try the half-ounce travel size for $12. Free shipping over $35.