Like many others out there I have stretch marks and like many, many other people in the world I refuse to believe that there is no cure for them and that we are just stuck with these scars forever.
Although stretch marks are not hazardous to our physical health it does come with some psychological damage and stretch marks can be very detrimental to self-esteem. There is a shame associated with having stretch marks that is very hard to describe. Many ignorant people out there think that they are just a result of weight gain or pregnancy; this is not true as many of us get an excessive amount of stretch marks during puberty (I have always been extremely thin and still have many of them). I think we can safely say that it is down to your genes whether you get them or not.
Anyway this is not meant to be some rubbish article trying to sell you anything or to explain stretch marks to you and why they occur because if you have come across this post you are probably aware of all of that already. This is about the best techniques that I have found that one can use in order to minimise the appearance of stretch marks and maybe get rid of them completely.
For the time being I am not going to sing the praises of this current method because I have only been doing it for 2 weeks and while I do see some improvement it is not enough yet to be able to say if it does work or not.
Most people have by now heard of the Jean Wu method, if not it is basically this:
- To create the scrub for exfoliation: Mix together 2 teaspoons of St.Ives Apricot Scrub with a few drops of Olive oil or Safflower Oil (I use the latter because it is higher in Vitamin E) and buy some proper Aloe Vera gel (the real deal from a health food shop or squeeze some out of a live plant) .
- Take a shower for at least 10 to 15 minutes to soften you skin and prep it for the vigorous exfoliation. Make sure you already have the scrub prepared before the shower.
- Pat dry and with the skin still moist scrub vigorously for 2-4 minutes in clockwise motions using a wooden or plastic massage brush, with 1/4 pegs attached to a flexible rubber.
- Rinse scrub off and polish with a loofah and pat dry and apply MSM lotion mixed with Aloe Vera gel.
The schedule is to scrub one day and have 2 days off (to allow the skin to heal). Apply the creams every morning and night. Do this for 2 or 3 months and then after that exfoliate once every 5 to 6 days.
I do this in combination with taking a few supplements to help the process along. I take about 2 teaspoons of pure MSM crystals (dissolved in water) and a vitamin C tablet (helps the MSM work) along with fish oil.
This exfoliation technique is meant to emulate what something like the Fraxel laser would do to your skin ( removing the damaged top layer of skin to reveal healthier skin underneath) without the associated risks like more scarring, red blotches, burning or discoloration and not to mention the assault of such methods on your bank balance.
Google university has taught me that this method should work given time. We will see. Two weeks going and so far there has been somewhat of a fading occurring and the overall skin texture is nicer, smoother and more even. But my friends the stretch mark are still there. I know I am impatient so TIME is the critical component and no getting bored of doing this!