Treatments For Your Skin

Trialling skin products and treatments with honest and fair reviews.

Posts Tagged ‘Stretch Marks’

Stretch Mark and Exfoliation Method – 1 Month Later

February 2nd, 2009

I have been testing out the skin exfoliation method from our dear friend Jean. I do the routine once every third day. I apply creams everyday morning, noon and night (sometimes I forget the noon, but I don't really think it matters).

I have made my own cream lotion concoction to apply to the treated skin. I use a standard collagen and Vitamin E skin firming cream mixed with MSM flakes and almond oil and I mix this with pure Aloe Vera gel. I take MSM flakes in my water along with fish oil and evening primrose oil and vitamin C plus a general women's multi vitamin. I have cut back to 1 teaspoon in the morning of MSM as the other day I upped the dose to two teaspoons and felt very jittery and anxious. I am trying not to have any MSM close to bed time becasue if I have too much my dreams are so vivid it sometimes feels as though I wasn't even sleeping.

Here is a recipe for making your own basic MSM and Aloe Vera Lotion.

Stretch Marks Improvement

After I do the exfoliation method the stretch marks always look worse than ever (which makes my heart sink as you would imagine).
Two days after the exfoliation treatment the overall skin texture seems much improved, the skin is softer and the marks appear lighter and to blend in better with the rest of the skin.
The marks are still there, all of them, not one has disappeared or even reduced in size or anything, they just seem lighter.
Sometimes it feels as though I am making progress in reducing the stretch marks and then I catch a glimpse of them in some of those unflattering artificial lights they love to stick in some change rooms and BAM! Hideous... and it seems almost like nothing happened.
I am also somewhat discouraged by some posts in forums that state that this does not work and is a scam. But I am willing to see it through for 6 months and to be completely honest about it here.

Please leave your comments regarding your experience with this exfoliation method. What was or is your routine? what improvements did you see? Did it work for you even in the slightest?

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Posted in Do It Yourself Skin Treatments, Stretch Marks

Tags: Aloe Vera exfoliation jean wu method MSM Stretch Marks

Stretch Marks and Exfoliation Method – Let’s Try This

January 18th, 2009

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!