With the spring slowly coming, the weather reminds us that it’s time to think about spring and summer when we wear less clothes that show some of our skin. But let’s be honest, most women lose their confidence when it comes to their skin, because of unpleasant problems like cellulite or stretch marks.
Stretch marks are not only a problem to pregnant women. More than 90% of women in the world have to deal with this issue and all of them agree that fighting stretch marks is really hard and they are really hard to cover or get rid of.
Causes and How to Get Rid of Stretch Marks
What causes stretch marks?
Your skin is elastic. If you try to pinch it or pull it up and then you let it go, it’ll return to its place in its original condition. Unfortunately, that doesn’t usually happen when it’s stretched too much.
Stretch marks can occur for different reasons. Their occurrence may be due to physical stretching of the skin (bodybuilding, pregnancy, fast weight gain, fast growing and developing in puberty etc.) and hormonal changes in the body (pregnancy, puberty etc.). However, there are women who don’t fall into these groups, but again they get stretch marks for some other reason.
While the skin stretches, the elastic fibers and collagen stretch and break in its middle layer, i.e. dermis and thus it loses its elasticity. At a result of that, stretch marks occur in varying sizes. Stretch marks have an appearance of scars with wavy lines. When they first appear, they are red or pink, but over time they can become white or pearly white. In some women, stretch marks can be white as soon as they appear. They often appear on the belly, lower back, chest, biceps and thighs.
A great role in the appearance of stretch marks have the genes and type of skin. Women who have dry skin are more likely to get this unpleasant problem.
What you can do to prevent stretch marks?
Although there are many different products and cosmetic procedures to remove stretch marks, the safest and most effective way to have a body without stretch marks is prevention.
Prevent rapid weight loss or weight gain. If you want to lose some weight, don’t choose extreme diets that can make you lose many pounds in a short amount of time. These types of diets can affect badly not only to your skin but also on your overall health. Also if you’re trying to gain weight, make sure that you do it slowly so that your skin will have time to stretch properly as you gain wight.
Take care of your skin. Pay particular attention if you’re in puberty, or if you’re pregnant, because this is the time when your skin suffers physical stretching while your body is under hormonal changes. Use moisturizing creams, natural oils (like extra virgin olive or coconut oil) or special creams for stretch marks.
Exercise regularly, but sparingly. Excessive training with big dumbbells may contribute to the appearance of stretch marks. Start with the smallest weight, then gradually increase it so that your muscles will grow little by little.
Exfoliation and massage. Massage and exfoliation can improve blood circulation. Use a dry brush or massaging glove for a better effect. Apart from being good against stretch marks, massage is also great against cellulite.
Consume foods rich in protein, vitamins C and E and zinc. Such foods can stimulate the formation of collagen, which is essential for your skin’s elasticity. In your everyday diet, be sure to include eggs, fish, raw nuts, carrots, citrus fruits and milk.
What you can do to cover and get rid of stretch marks?
Sometimes stretch marks can fade away and become almost invisible over some time. But most of them can remain on the skin in the form of white lines. Here are some tips that can help you to reduce stretch marks or even get rid of stretch marks, or how to cover them:
Use tanning lotion. Getting a natural tan from the sun won’t help you to make the stretch marks less visible. Quite the opposite, it’ll make your stretch marks more prominent, because that skin area remains white. It is best to use tanning cream or lotion. This way you’ll balance the color of your skin and it’ll hide the stretch marks.
Use a concealer. Choose a concealer in the same color as your complexion and apply it carefully with a brush on your stretch marks. Then blend everything so you won’t have visible lines. If you’re going to the beach, use a waterproof concealer.
Protect your skin from the sun. Use cream with high SPF, because the sun rays can further damage your skin.
Moisturize your skin with cocoa butter. Many experts recommend cocoa butter as a natural way to reduce or even get rid of stretch marks. However, the effect of this treatment doesn’t come overnight and depends on many factors such as age and skin type. Besides cocoa butter, you can moisturize the stretch marks with some extra virgin olive oil or your favorite natural oil.
Use natural creams with vitamin C & E. It’s actually proven that natural creams that contain vitamin E and vitamin C can reduce the visible stretch marks. There are tons of products that contain vitamin C and vitamin E, so choose the one that’s best for your skin type.
