What are Stretch Marks?
Stretch Marks not only appear due to pregnancy but are very common among teenagers too. They can be red, purple or white in color, distorted in shape, long or short, wide lines and instantly recognizable. And, they can be present anywhere on the body but specially concentrated where you might accumulate a lot of fat like shoulders or upper arms, breasts, belly area, fat on the back just above and including the buttock region and thighs front or back. They can occur on anyone at any time.
Why do Stretch Marks appear?
During teenage, there are a lot of physical changes in the human body. One of the changes is sudden growth hence consequent stretching of the skin. Thus, these sudden stretches can tear the collagen and make the skin thinner in certain areas. The places where the collagen has torn and has become thinner are prone to appearance of stretch marks.
Stretch Marks can appear due to sudden height increase, sudden weight gain and weight loss, muscle growths, excessive exercising using improper equipments and also due to hormonal changes in the body.
How to prevent Stretch Marks?
A proper balanced diet is always best. A balanced diet ensures proper collagen production and maintainence, hence reducing the chances of collagen tear. Crash Diets and weight loss programs should be avoided. I have already discussed the ways to increase skin elasticity which is one of the ways to prevent stretch marks.
How to treat Stretch Marks?
- Coconut oil repairs the inner lying tissue structure of the skin
- Almond oil is rich in vitamin E oil so helps with regeneration of collagen
- Lavender oil (if you can get hold of original and pure lavender oil) is good for healing stretch marks or lavender flower masks are also good for the purpose though you can not find lavender in India
- Cocoa Butter and Shea Butter (if you get hold of unrefined cocoa or shea, mostly found in African stores) have lot of important nutrients for the skin
- Aloevera gel is again great for stretch marks, mix the aloevera gel with almond or coconut oil and it is great as a moisturizer for dry skin too
I have stretch marks on my buttocks and knees when I scratched during my first period!will apply cocoa and shea butter!I get them unrefined straight from Africa as my father has business there!
Oh don’t ask y i didn’t comment earlier!got a new pc today!Previous one sucked!
hey humaira..good to see you again..wow..you can get the unrefined one straight from Africa..lucky yaar..wish I had someone with business there 🙂
Hey I have recently developed stretch marks just above my elbow and have had stretch marks on my knees for about 2 years. I began to use cocoa butter to lighten my elbows and thats when the stretch emarks appeared. Do you know what I should do? Should I stop using the cocoa butter and begin to use almond oil?
no, stretch marks would never appear due to use of cocoa butter. stretch marks appear due to just one reason – the skin gets stretched on the area and collagen breaks thereby the skin is not able to heal itself causing weird marks on the place. its often impossible to get rid of stretch marks so I would suggest you to continue using cocoa butter or any oil you like but do not expect to see any improvement in the skin. stretch marks don’t generally get healed!!!
sorry for a depressing reply 🙁
Thanks for your answer. I’ve been using almond oil for like 2 days like once a day. Could I use both cocoa butter and almond oil. If I could, would I have to apply them on different times or both at the same time? Which would be more effective because the cocoa butter has vitamin c in it just like the almond oil?
Thank you
you can use them individually whenever you need mositurization…no need to mix them and btw, none of them have vit C.
i have stretch marks all over my body .. at my shoulders, at my underarms, at the side of my breasts, at my arms, at my stomach and at to my thighs and as a teenager(17 yrs old) , it lessens my self confidence .. when i went to a doctor she said that those are fat marks (i admit i’m 70kg girl) what’s the difference between stretch marks and fats marks?
Great read!! I was delighted to see that you are promoting the use of Aloe Vera for healing stretch marks. It really is an awesome little plant that provides so much in the way of natural health care. If used regularly it can really reduce the appearance of stretch marks and discoloration of the affected part of the skin. It is also a quite inexpensive treatment, if you make your own Aloe Vera oil from a plant at home with just a few other ingredients. It can save a ton of money instead of store bought creams.
I have a lot of Stretch Marks and now I’m pregnant. I will aply this tip to avoid new marks