Get rid of Stretch Marks

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
  

Prevent stretch marks {DIY}

An after-effect of pregnancy is always the ugly stretch marks. You might follow any number of cures but they never seem to go. The reason for their occurrence is that the skin is not elastic enough that it can take that change easily which occurs during pregnancy. So, the cure lies in increasing the elasticity of the skin which has to be followed from a long time before pregnancy or since you have become pregnant. Some home remedies to avoid stretch marks:

• Mix turmeric and milk cream in equal proportions and apply to your belly. Start this application as soon as to know about your pregnancy or better, as soon as you think about conceiving. The mixture increases the elasticity of the skin.
• While taking shower, make it a habit to change the water temperature many times. Pour hot water then switch to cold then to warm and so on. The more you make changes in the temperature, the more the elasticity of skin would improve. Always end you shower with cold water. Set the temperature of water to hot and cold according to your tolerance. Do not use ice cold or too hot water. This treatment increases the elasticity of the skin.