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Hi all,
I suddenly thought about starting up a routine now to prevent getting stretchmarks. All i had suitable at home was Palmers cocoa butter cream. I'm thinking i'll get some of the Palmers stratchmakrs cream soon.
Just wondering if anyone else has started or is/has used something they can reccomend? my BF did this everyday & was lucky enough to avoid any stretchmarks.
Sorry to tell you - the tendency to stretchmarks is genetic. Nothing you put ON your skin can penetrate to the layers which tear and form stretchmarks, they are too deep. Even laser treatment after the fact just disguises the tear, it doesn't fix it.
Bio-oil is a product which can reduce the appearance of scars and stretchmarks but again, it can't prevent them. Stretchmarks tend to come in red/purpley and then over time fade to silvery pink (so you can't see them from many angles). I believe bio-oil can hasten that process.
LOVE your lines mama's - its the map of your journey to motherhood!
Bx
I used palmers tummy butter. It kept them away for the entire pregnancy but they appeared a week or two after I gave birth. Wish I'd kept using my tummy butter after the birth, it just might have helped. My marks are very minor and only are on the very lower part of my belly. I think I did pretty well seeing that skin at my age (42) is not supposed to be elastic. I have a cousin who had her kids in her early 20's and ended up with the most horrendous stretch marks which she still has. She did not use what I did (wasn't available back then).
Hey girls sorry to have to agree with hoobley but she's right, nothing we slather on our skin can prevent stretch marks!
I have some lovely ones on the top of my thighs and the side of my waist! :rolleyes:
Ah well!
I was going to say the same as Hoobley.
Unfortunately its genetic & nothing will prevent them. Does your mum have them? That's probably the best indication of weather you will get them or not.
Sorry to say but I had an obsessive daily routine with stretch mark cream, to no avail. I thought I was doing so well too, until about 34 weeks!!! If you're gonna get them, you'll get them regardless unfortunately. Just another part of being a mumma!
On the other side of the coin, i did nothing, as i kept forgetting, and i didn't get any. Clever marketing by the cream companies, but mostly a waste of time and money. ;)
Yeah, I did nothing & didn't get any. Well not on my belly, but I got them on my boobs. :(
Just like my mum (TMI!)
Well I used Happy Event, about $5.50 from the chemist, on Mum's recommendation. She used it through 3 pregnancies, no stretch marks, and it worked for me with DS. So far so good at 32 weeks now with Number Two. Each time I started using it about 3 months along. On the tube it says to keep using it till a month after giving birth which I didn't do with DS, but after reading Satya's post I'll make sure I'll do that this time...(thanks!)
I'm superstitious now and wouldn't dream of NOT using it! Granted, there might be a genetic factor there but I have stretchmarks before from weight gain as a teen so it's not like I'm not susceptible to them. I hate cocoa butter, think it's completely overrated.
Even if it doesn't work it is good for comfort, you may find that your skin gets itchy as it stretches and moisturising is good to help alleviate this. I also use skin friendly shower gels (like Alpha Keri, QV etc) because I find my skin gets very sensitive and dry during pregnancy.
When do you start to notice stretch marks? I haven't had a lot of itching but my skin does feel tight and pulling. I use Vasaline Intensive Care (vitamin A, E and Alo) as well as baby oil on thighs, bum, bump and boobs twice a day after shower. I like the special time with my bump so even if it doesn't work its nice to have a special moment at the begining and end of each day with my bump.
I used the Palmers one last pregnancy and didn't get any but then again I don't really have many anyway so I was probably just lucky. I agree though that it really does help with moisturising and preventing he itchiness you can get.
Sorry to disagree with the genetics theory but my mum didn't get stretch marks but I did (only slight ones after birth). The cousin I mentioned earlier who has the really bad stretch marks and I share the same grandmother as our mums are sisters so if it was genetic my mum should have had them.
I also know someone else who has bad stretchmarks but her mother doesn't. Her mum used something every day of her pregnancies and didn't get them, yet her daughter didn't bother use anything and got them.
That's not how genetics work though, unless you are a clone of someone you don't have the exact same genetics, just strong tendencies, and even then if your mum got none after gaining 4kg all up you might still get them if you gain 40kg suring your PG. Do you not have a father? Don't you have half his genes? Did HIS mother not get them? Are your mum and aunt identical twins? Google it - it's strongly linked to genetics. Or just google on the structure of the skin. In order for any substance to reach the layer that tears and forms stretchmarks you would have to be injecting it either under your skin or into your bloodstream.
The only thing which can potentially make any difference is weight gain - i.e. if you have quite resilient skin which wouldn't have a tendency to stretchmarks and you gain 6-12kg during a pregnancy you're less likely to get them than if you gain 40kg. If the tendency is there all bets are off, i only gained 6kg and i got them, but then all my family get them.
Bx
dont get pg or put on any weight EVER :rofl:
Seriously, Hoobley is right, if your Mum (or sister, aunty or grandma) had them bad, you are more likely to... I got stretches in the last few weeks in exactly the same places as Mum - boobs and hips.
There are only a few and they have faded over the last 6 months.
I used palmers stretch mark cream too, more really for the moisture as your skin gets really dry and itchy as it starts to expand