I love seeing all of the pictures of beautiful bellies (pre- and post-, all shapes and sizes) with stretch marks. I tried using the cocoa butter that so many women seem to swear by, and as you can see it didn’t help. I used to joke that our baby would be a little demon-child, because of the little horn-like marks that came up out of where I used to have a navel piercing, and then the ones at the bottom looked like flames, esp. at the peak of itchiness when they were very dark. Happily, our now two-year-old is no more demonic than any two-year-old. :) Anyway, I’m 4 weeks pregnant again, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens this time around. Amongst the mothers I know, I feel a bit alone in having such extensive stretch marks, so thank you to everyone for sharing yours!
I love this photo. It’s truly honest. You’d be surprised at how many women never show their bellies off because it looks like this. You’re the norm, believe it or not. And not the exception.
Congratulations on your third baby!!!
too funny! ive got the sae “devil horns” where my belly button piecing was also! my son is 4 1/2 months old and already my stretch marks have gone from bright red to a silvery purple, so they’re fading. good luck to you in labor, i hope all goes well! and trust me, i tried the cocoa butter as well with no luck. i didnt have stretch marks and then around 35 weeks BOOM and there they were. you can check out my post to see how bad they got quite quickly and my devil horns (if you look closely you can see them!) – first time mother at 19.
I also have the devil horns where my piercing was. I also have stretch marks above the navel, which are awful but I am loving this site for making me feel normal!
I know all to well the conundrum, for I too have stretch marks with a stretched out belly piercing. My second child was HUGE, and when she came out, I was left with horrid sagging skin. I now have six children but I found that if I ACTUALLY take care of my skin, the stretch marks smooth out. EVERYONE says its not that bad but I felt horrible. What I decided to do was to actually add more peircings so that I wind up having five piercings in the shape of a star. The second thing is that when I decide to belly dance, I will decorate my stretch marks with henna. For the actual strech marks, make your own cream with raw shea butter, mango butter, and cocoa butter. Melt small amounts together. Then you cut it with jojoba oil, black seed oil, grape seed, almond, and sesame oils. Add neem extracts, with lavendar oil extract for scent. This will be a rich body butter. mixing aloe vera gel with loose bio-available vitamin c will make a tummy gel that promotes collagen production on the skin of your tummy, thus filling in the spots. Eating Lysine rich foods will also help your body with collagen production. SERIOUSLY, I have found that if you use really good lotion like the goats milk lotion sold in Whole Foods, they rehydrate your body but the trick is to layer it on so that your belly is white (just like the muds used in Africa, this is what the native women do, this is why you see the mud and herbs caked up on their skin, trust me, I am Native American). Let it dry, you can use this method on your bottom if you have dry patches, on your face, and the top of your breasts for the strech marks there. Drink loads of clean fresh water (without the flouride and city ordained chemicals!). The more hydrated you are, the better your belly and body in general appears. There is so much more I can tell you, maybe I’ll make a blog! I will revisit this site to upload pics. Hope this info helps someone, peace!