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Women and Stretch Marks

STRETCH MARKS ARE NOT A FUN THING TO HAVE.

I’ve had many conversations with women who look at their beautiful babies and couldn’t love anything more, and then they look down at their scar ridden stomachs and cry because they will never have that beautiful skin they once did.

No more bikinis, no more t-shirts that show that tiny bit of skin, it’s an instant ager.

The first question I always get asked is;

CAN STRETCH MARKS GO AWAY?

YES, I am here to tell you that it is possible!

They might not ever go away 100% to your nice youthful skin, but you can get rid of them to where you can barely notice them unless you're taking a really close look.

Being someone who has suffered from severe belly stretch marks due to pregnancy, I understand feeling gross and instantly old. My stretch marks were very deep and dark purple; I didn’t feel confident enough to show my husband – the love of my life – any part of my stomach.

I would never trade my baby for anything and would gladly keep the ‘love tattoos’ (as I call them) for her, however I did want to regain my confidence and looking the way I did I thought it was impossible.

During my pregnancy I used 3-4 types of creams daily, along with Vitamin E serum, massage techniques and just about anything I could find that promised to keep them away. Nothing I tried worked, not even in the slightest.

I started reading the back labels of products in the store, and of the products I had been using. I realized that my little 8 ounce bottle of lotion held about 50 different items, half of which I wasn't even able to pronounce the names of.

I thought; "No wonder nothing works! With all of this stuff in there, if any ingredient was beneficial at all, it wouldn't be in enough of a quantity to actually do anything."

Especially since the first ingredient was generally water. I thought, "Why am I paying to rub thickened water on my skin? I could just do that in the shower!"

This is when I began my journey into natural health products, and trying to see what raw and organic items were able to do for me. I ordered the first few ingredients that I thought would be most beneficial to reducing stretch marks. Within a few weeks I noticed they went from a dark purple color to a light pink and even a faded silver. I was so excited that I decided to share with other people the success I had.

No matter what the reason you have stretch marks is...

Pregnancy

Weight Gain

Weight Loss

Growing tall quickly

There is a way to significantly reduce - and even make them vanish.

Prevention and Treatment

Step 1: Exfoliate The Skin

This is an important part of the process because it helps to eliminate dead skin cells and even out the scarring with the rest of the skin. There are a thousand ways to exfoliate your skin, but here are just a few;

Dead Sea Salt Baths - a great way to exfoliate the skin and draw toxins out, this type of bath will help tighten and tone the skin as well, giving you a more firm over-all look.

Dead Sea Mud - You use it as a mask wherever your issues are. It has many minerals that help to exfoliate and repair skin, causing firming action, cellulite reduction, muscle relaxation and reduces the color and size of stretch marks over a period of time.

Essentially it tightens and tones the skin, reduces pores and creates a 'smaller' look to the stretch marks.

Sugar Scrubs - take a little bit of sugar and some olive oil to make a sweet treat for your skin!

A few of my new favorite products are from Yes To Carrots ™ , their body scrubs contain dead sea mud and daucus carota (aka carrot seed essential oil), the carrot seed essential oil is actually known to help repair damaged skin.
Giovanni D:Tox System which contains volcanic ash and activated charcoal to super cleanse the skin and draw out all the toxins and bad stuff while leaving you with a sweet smelling treat due to acai and goji berry extracts.

Dry brush your skin: this helps to improve the lymphatic system, getting rid of toxins, and tightening the skin. Dry brushing also helps reduce cellulite, and lift the skin!
Visit T-Tapp for more information regarding skin brushing.

Do exfoliate the skin using dead sea salt, dead sea mud, or a sugar scrub at least twice a week (when doing a salt bath or dead sea mud mask, make sure you soak or leave the mask on for 20-25 minutes then rinse off).

Step 2: Stay Hydrated!

The human body is made up of mostly water, without drinking enough water, your skin is the first to suffer and moisture is pulled from it.

Without the moisture your skin's elasticity suffers and promotes stretch marks. The average person loses 1 liter of water per day, just by doing nothing. If you exercise or do any kind of activity you lose more, so you need to drink 8-10 glasses minimum per day.

Drinking plentiful amounts of water will keep your skin soft, supple, and more able to stretch.

Not only will this make your skin look great, but drinking a good amount of water can help flush your system of toxins and help you lose weight!

Step 3: Moisturize

While this may seem like a fairly obvious answer, it is important to know the best kinds of moisturizers to use.

Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Emu Oil, Vitamin E, and Coconut oil - I created my own body butter using these ingredients, it moisturized my skin, reduced the appearance of the marks, and faded some completely.

Raw Cocoa Butter for Stretch Marks is a very effective moisturizer for your skin. It's a highly concentrated fat that melts into the skin, leaving it hydrated. It also creates a thin barrier over the skin, protecting it from harsh elements such as; UV rays (Not an SPF), radiation, herbicides, and pollution. The protective layer allows the skin cells to rebuild. I loved using raw cocoa butter, it smelled like chocolate and melted right in.

It's important to note that raw cocoa butter isn't what you would typically find and buy on the shelf of your local store. What you find in the most popular stretch mark creams are highly refined products. When a product is highly refined, it is no longer the natural healer that it would be so you don't get all of the benefits.

Another great moisturizer;

Raw Shea Butter It is very similar to cocoa butter, but it has a lower melting point which makes it more easily absorbed into skin. Just like cocoa butter, shea butter provides a protective layer on the skin. It also holds a high content of Vitamin A and Vitamin E, which allows the skin to preserve its elasticity.
I love shea butter for dry skin of any type, I've found that it works better at healing dry skin and evening out skin tone. I typically mix raw shea butter with raw cocoa butter, because I'm not too fond of the way raw shea butter smells (it has a smoked nut smell).
One thing I've done recently was added shea butter, cocoa butter, and tea tree oil - the smell isn't the best, but it seems to be doing a great job at reducing the look of my stretch marks.

Olive Oil is also highly beneficial to the skin, because it acts as a carrier oil. This means when it is mixed with other products it can make them more effective by allowing the nutrients to really soak into your skin. On its own olive oil has been in recent news showing that it works as an anti-aging moisturizer. My original thought was that if it worked for wrinkles, it should work for stretch marks as well. While it's nice and highly moisturizing it doesn't reduce the appearance as much as cocoa butter and shea butter.

Another oil that I love is;

Emu Oil. This oil has a ton of vitamins and provides a protective layer over the skin allowing the skin to heal itself and restore its vitality. It is becoming more and more popular among anti-aging products and in some expensive stretch mark formulas. I bought the product straight from a manufacturer, unrefined - because remember unrefined means all nutrients in tact. The way it feels is great and I did notice a difference in the color of my stretch marks when using it.

Sweet almond oil and
Pure Unrefined Virgin Coconut Oil are also very beneficial for helping with the treatment/prevention of stretch marks because they also provide protective layers over the skin so that it can naturally heal itself.

EFFECTS OF THE SUN:
Don't lay in the sun for long periods of time - this will dry the skin out more, and make it harder for the skin to heal.

A FINAL NOTE ON MOISTURIZERS:
Don't use moisturizers with a bunch of chemicals that you cannot pronounce. If you can't pronounce it, then why put it on your body?
Most of the time these additives actually harm the skin and cause them to dry out and become brittle.

Step 4: Essential Oils for Stretch Marks

I've found that essential oils are one of the most important things to create fading stretch marks. I created an oil using the following ingredients and used it twice a day. It took 2 weeks for me to notice any results with it, but then once it started happening my stretch marks faded quickly. Some of them started growing new skin on top of the stretch marks making it blend in that much more - talk about awesome.

Here's the formula;

1oz Carrier oil - I use sweet almond or avocado, they are my favorite. But you can use whatever kind you want.
1 drop patchouli oil - now if you like a musk smell you might get more benefits by adding more of this oil because it's great for skin renewal. I however hate the smell of musk anything, so I couldn't handle having more of that scent.
5 drops daucus carota (carrot seed essential oil)
5 drops of tea tree essential oil
2-3 drops of lavender essential oil

The essential oils should total about 1/8 of a teaspoon for every 1oz. If you put more than that in, it's going to be a very very strong smelling combination and you probably wouldn't want to use it!

IN SUMMARY:

Remember to keep your skin exfoliated, hydrated and to drink plenty of water.

If you are going to use any type of lotion or body butter make sure you can pronounce the names of the ingredients, what goes on your body goes in your body!

Keep in mind the more ingredients that are included, the less nutrients you'll be getting because no ingredient will be in a concentration high enough to do any good.

This is the most effective way to reduce stretch marks naturally and apart from tummy tuck, which can cost a fortune. Or expensive rounds of laser surgery, is the best alternative for natural healing. Hopefully you'll be able to see results with this as much as I have!

A NOTE ABOUT RAW AND UNREFINED PRODUCTS

Why do we recommend raw and unrefined body butters and oils? When a product is raw or unrefined it means it has been extracted without the use of chemicals and no chemicals or preservatives have been added.

This leaves the product in its natural state, full of minerals and benefits that will leave you with very satisfying and healthy results.

Not only will it leave your skin happy and healthy, but it tends to work faster than unnatural or highly refined/processed body butters or lotions. Homemade lotions with high quality ingredients are much safer for your body and the environment.

Remember; what goes on your body, goes in your body. If you treat your body well, it will treat you well!

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