ELANCYL STRETCH MARK CREAM
After you start using this cream once or twice a day from the third
month of pregnancy until one month after delivering, 82.5 per cent of
new moms said they had no stretch marks at all.
This special cream contains marine tissue extracts, which are used to
stimulate cellular activity and promote protein synthesis, which aids
in preventing connective tissues that cause stretch marks from getting
damaged in the first place. The cream actually has safflower oil in it,
which is rich in fatty acids and really helps in increasing your
skin’s suppleness.
Let me tell you thought that the cream works best when it is used to
help prevent them from forming in the first place, the formula contains
a nice complex mixture that contains hydroxyproline, an amino acid, and
organic silicon, which are used to repair already damaged collagen
fibers. You can get it for around $25 at local drug stores.
DERMAGLOW
STRETCH MARK BALM
This product is great for those of you who prefer natural products
because this one is 100% natural. This is a Canadian product that
contains two key ingredients: rosehip oil, which is a form of fatty
acid that repairs damaged skin, prevents scar tissue and helps to thins
scars; and tocopherol, which is a form of vitamin E that helps to get
rid of the redness, which can make stretch marks more noticeable.
It also contains coconut and olive oils, beeswax, cocoa butter and
lavender flower condition the skin and locks in the moisture. For the
best results, you should use the balm twice daily, particularly if you
are gaining weight or loosing it so that it can help to rejuvenate the
skin cells as they stretch
If you want to see results after 10 to 12 days use that method above.
If you are planning to use it as a prevention tool, the balm helps the
skin maintain its moisture level, which gives you the elasticity that
prevents stretch marks.
STRIVECTIN-SD INTENSIVE CONCENTRATE FOR EXISTING STRETCH MARKS
J.Lo and Charlize Theron both love this product to help them diminish
their wrinkles. But did you know the cream was originally developed to
combat stretch marks? That’s what it does best. The main
ingredient for this great item is striadril complex, which stimulates
collagen synthesis and restores skin’s elasticity and reduces the
length, depth, surface area and texture of existing marks.
CLINIQUE CX STRETCH MARK CREAM
This product is made prevent and minimize stretch marks, and it is also
the latest stretch cream to hit the market contains palmitoyl
oligopeptide, hydrolyzed collagen and acetyl hexampeptide-2, which we
all use to stimulate collagen production.
It’s got Mimosa tenuiflora bark extract in it as well which helps
maintain natural collagen levels, there is sucrose, caffeine and
sandalwood extract in this product to help your skin repair itself as
soon as stretch marks are formed, and it also has shea butter, muru
muru butter and linoleic acid which will increase suppleness and help
bolster the lipid system within the skin’s surface, helping to
smooth the skin, and stop new stretch marks from forming.
VICHY COMPLETE ACTION
ANTI-STRETCH MARK CREAM
The two main ingredients that you will find in Vichy’s cream that
repair damaged tissue are silica, which is a form of silicon dioxide,
and Indian pennywort. In this product you will also get,
hydroxyporline, an amino acid, rebuilds collagen fibers, while shea
butter, borage oil and glycerol which help moisturize and nourish the
skin.
This cream helps to prevent stretch marks from forming. What’s
even better about it is that for the women who have stretch marks on
their stomach and thighs, most women find their stretch marks had faded
after three months of use.
So the point here is that if you want to avoid stretch marks you need
to maintain a diet that is rich in vitamins A, C, E, and zinc. The
creams mentioned above are good to combat them but these are by no
means the only methods used for this. The next section will cover the
ever popular area of herbs to combat and prevent stretch marks.
HERBAL STRETCH MARK GEL
There is a lot of hype surrounding herbal stretch mark gels these days.
This product is mostly pushed toward those who would prefer a natural
or organic method for treating their stretch marks, rather than
resorting to surgery and skin peels. There are many different herbal
stretch mark gels out there and I will offer you the most common list
of ingredients that you can find in them and what makes them so potent.
Herbs play a huge role in dealing with just about everything these days
so you can’t really be surprised to see it listed here. In some
people, using herbal gels helps to deal with existing scarring but it
may not be totally removed, however, these herbal gels will improve
your stretch marks with continued use.
Recent studies have shown that you need vitamin C in your body for
collagen to be formed, and I would suggest that you intake daily
amounts of it included in your herbal gels along with vitamin e if you
want the best overall results. I would also suggest that you take them
in pill form at the same time as when you apply herbal gels.
For now let’s look at some of the most common ingredients that you will find in herbal gels:
- butcher's broom,
- calendula,
- centella,
- chickweed,
- ginseng,
- green tea,
- hibiscus,
- horsetail,
- ivy,
- lady's mantle
- marshmallow.
Right now I will try to explain each of these herbs separately because
understanding their properties will help you to best decide if these
herbal gels are right for you. If you want to get more information on
each individual ingredient, you can easily look it up. I am merely
providing you with a summary.
Butcher's broom
This herb has excellent anti-edema and anti-inflammatory effects, with
thanks to the a-adrenergic stimulation of the blood capillaries. When
you use it you will help stimulate the cutaneous circulation in your
system, which makes it a good herb for dealing with water retention and
a slow lymph flow is present, and it can also be used on
ultra-sensitive skin.
This herb offers vaso-constricting properties that are further enhanced
when the noradrenalin is released in the adrenergetic terminations of
the blood vessel walls. This basically means that it increases the tone
of the venous and lymphatic wall and improves the venous return. This
is great for dealing with problem skin.
Calendula
This is a special botanical compound that is often used in herbal
stretch mark gels because it has excellent properties for skin care and
helps with cell rejuvenating, healing, reducing inflammation and it
also sooths and softens the skin.
Calendula is particularly helpful with cracked and damaged skin and has
a humectant action on the skin, which helps with dry and dehydrated
skin, while the cell rejuvenating properties are most useful in older
as well as damaged skin.
Not to mention that it has a slightly antiseptic and bactericidal
effect and also helps with the mineralizing the skin because of the
oligoelements that are contained in the compound.
Centella
One of its main functions is in increasing circulation, but it is also
known for centuries for its great wound healing properties. It
stimulates the fibroblast and collagen in the skin, but it also
prevents excessive proliferation of fibrous tissue in wound healing.
Centella is extremely helpful in healing damaged and injured skin and
maintaining healthy skin tone and elasticity. The triterpene components
are the most effective ingredient for fixing amino acids onto the
collagen’s structure.
Chickweed
It is high in saponins which have a healing and soothing effect on the
skin that is not unlike aloe vera and is used with great success for
treatment on rashes, itchiness, eczema, psoriasis, hemorrhoids,
varicose veins, inflammations and other skin issues.
Ginseng
One of the main properties of this popular herb is to prevent
collagenase (which is the destruction of the collagen) in the way it
stimulates protein synthesis and inhibits proteic enzymatic degradation
in the fibroblasts.
This particular plant is also used for increasing phospholipids
synthesis in the blood. Studies have shown that it also has a
strong anti-oxidant effect which is used in neutralizing free radicals,
which is more concise in pieces of protapanaxatriol than in other bits
and pieces of the plant, and it works by optimizing the cutaneous
metabolism of the whole body.
It is specifically useful in capillary products, to stimulate growth and increase tensile strength.
Green Tea
This plant offers you three major benefits. First of all, it is a
powerful antioxidant, which helps to lower free radical damage in the
skin. Secondly, it is a very potent anti-inflammatory agent, which
reduces inflammation in the skin. And thirdly and perhaps the most
important aspect of this plant is that it, it helps prevent an
enzymatic action in the skin where the collagen is broken down which
usually gives you more firm and elastic skin.
The flavonoids and catechols that you will find in green tea provide it
with vitamin P properties. The tannins in its chemical make up give it
astringent properties too but it also protects the skin, and brings
about vasoconstriction, which decreases inflammation. You can
also see cell regeneration that can help heal wounds. Another benefit
is that it can be used to help you maintain your weight as well.
Hibiscus
This herb contains many different compounds, but in essence it acts on
the layer of the skin to help decrease the cohesion between the
corneocytes, which directly affects how thick your skin is and also
increases skin moisture.
When this happens you will see an improvement of skin flexibility and a
higher moisture level. Hibiscus also contains anthocyanocides, which
have astringent, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant traits as well and it
also inhibits the enzyme that causes elastase, meanwhile it enhances
the retention of the skin’s hydric content.
Horsetail
This is awesome for mineralizing the skin and has haemostatic
properties, which places silica in the skin. The flavonoids and
saponins that you will find in horsetail have great cell rejuvenating
qualities and also have a stabilizing effect on the surrounding tissue,
which will add the firmness and elasticity of the skin.
Ivy
Extracts of the wood of this plant are mostly used in makeup but it
also gets used for healing skin, treating burns, warts, impetigo, skin
eruptions, neuralgia, swollen joints, and cellulite. Talk about
benefits.
It has anti-fungal, anthelmintic, molluscicidal, anti-mutagenic, and
even anti-inflammatory properties. It can be used as a topical action
that creates a circulatory compound,that is good for helping to get the
other ingredients to be absorbed into the skin, as well as assisting
with the removal of waste products from the skin.
Lady’s mantle
This plant has about 6-8% tannins in it that is mainly oligomeric
gallotannins, and flavonoids, which are the parts that are responsible
for its anti-elastase and free radical scavenging activity. Not to
mention that it has an astringent effect on the skin, and helps to
protect the elastin fibers.
Elastin as I’ve mentioned before is need if you want your skin to
maintain its elasticity, and it acts as a protein in the skin, which
when it is combined with collagen and glycosaminoglycans, make up the
connective tissue. It is a very specialized herb, and is used
specifically where elastin needs a boost and the tensile strength
increased.
Marshmallow
Believe it or not marshmallow is very beneficial to the skin and in
dealing with its problems and diseases and helps in healing wounds,
burns and irritation.
Marshmallow not only has good anti-inflammatory properties, but it also
seems to boost your skin’s immunity at cellular level.
It can inhibit hyaluronidase, which is an enzymatic action in which the
hyaluronic acid and other muco-polysaccharides in the connective tissue
are degraded. When this happens it results in better moisture levels in
the skin, as well as boosting the skin’s overall structure and
wound healing processes, while at the same time decreases your
skin’s aging process.
As you can see, herbal stretch mark gels can be a great soldier to use
in your battle against these unsightly marks. This product is great for
those who want to tackle them in a more natural way. Believe me the
gels work and they are far less painful than peels and lasers.
HOME-MADE NATURAL STRETCH MARK REMEDIES
For the purposes of this book, I have asked around
to see what methods people were using for dealing with their stretch
marks and there were some pretty good methods out there. I decided to
include them in this section for you. Let’s look at them now!
- This method is a natural remedy to prevent the
onset of stretch marks and scarring if it is used as directed. It's
called ElastiSkin Oil. It gives your skin the elasticity it needs in
order for your skin to expand during pregnancy and during fluctuating
weight gain/loss. This is good for teens and growing toddlers too,
because they experience rapid weight gain and growth. This product is
all natural and has no negative side effects. Your skin will be soft
too. You can get it from elastiskin.com.
- You can also try massaging the body with aroma oil
during pregnancy which helps to reduce chances of getting marks
- Try mixing this body scrub mix a little olive oil,
cod liver oil, vitamin E oil/cream and aloe vera gel. Be sure to
exfoliate first, always make sure that you are scrubbing towards the
heart because this stimulates more blood flow and is great for getting
rid of cellulite.
- Apply aloe vera gel, cod liver oil, or vitamin E
oil to stretch mark areas to help speed up the healing process.
Home made Stretch Mark Cream
1/4 cup Cocoa Butter
1 Tbsp. wheat germ oil
1tsp. light sesame seed oil
1tsp. Apricot kernel oil
1tsp. Vitamin E oil
2 tsp. grated beeswax
1 tsp Vanilla extract (optional)
Yield: 3 oz.
Mix together all ingredients except vanilla extract. Heat the gently
until the cocoa butter and beeswax have melted. Remove from the heat
and stir in the vanilla extract, if desired. Allow to cool completely
before use. Store this mixture in a clean jar with a tight fitting lid.
Massage into your skin.
- Mixture of 1/2 virgin olive oil, 1/4 cup aloe vera gel,
and liquid from 6 capsules of vitamin E, and liquid from 4 capsules of
vitamin A. Put them in a blender and store this mixture in the
refrigerator. Use daily.
- Rub Vaseline intensive care on your stomach every morning and every night the minute you find out you're pregnant.
- Vitamin K can be used topically to help the skin
heal from wounds including stretch marks. Apply Vitamin K cream
directly to stretch marks or other scars and Depending on how bad they
are, your skin type and activity levels, you will see results in as
little as 8-14 days to 6-8 weeks when used twice daily.
Major food sources for Vitamin K include green leafy vegetables, such
as spinach, green cabbage, kale, Swiss chard, turnip greens, broccoli,
tomatoes, liver and lean meats and dairy products.
- Putting Lavender Essential Oil directly on
scars will help them fade. You can also heal your wounds faster with
the application of this oil