Here it is the middle of March and I feel like I haven't done much in my health & beauty progress. Oh but I have been, I swear! Skin, be good to me. Bah! I've been paying a lot of attention to my condo though, making it more like our home on the beach, rather than an old furnished vacation rental that we moved into and never updated. It's been good, removing the clutter, and clearing out spaces - making things more clean brings clarity in my life, I don't know about you - but I really believe that making every aspect of your life more zenlike (paying attention to everything you do and doing it with purpose) yields happiness and results. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm attempting to apply this same principle to my skin and it's working out great!
This is what promted me to remember my beauty blog: I went shopping this week with my girlfriend and we went to the MAC makeup counter and I listened to the lady give my friend all sorts of advice about what to put on her face for what look and how to reduce blemishes and acne's appearance by using foundation and powder, etc. By the time she was done my friend had six (6) things she had to buy just to create a base foundation for her makeup! That's ridiculous. I've always been one for the natural look - especially on a daily basis, I don't want to put foundation on. This can't be good for her skin or her pores can it???
In any case, I came back here, and realised that I was last freaking out about bikini season, so I put one on and looked in the mirror. Things are looking pretty good if I do say so myself, I'm even happy with my stretch mark tiger stripes which seem to have disappeared since last year. I've always loved my stretch marks, as I see them as a sign of growth and maturity (sort of like rings on a tree trunk), but it doesn't hurt to try to make them a little less visible right? Since I'm past the prevention stage (though I'm sure I'll be researching that once I decided to make babies eventually) I was looking for something that would minimise the appearance of my stretch marks, mostly because in the summer they're much more obvious due to my naturally olive and easily tanned skin. Stretch marks don't tan! Who made that rule? Grrrr!!!
Oh well, that's the case for me so I went on my crazy internet research binge ... and you know what? I found that skin products that contain things like shea butter, bladderwreck sea kelp, xanthum gum, horsetail plant extract, milk protein &/or macadamia nut oil are great for stretch marks and even scars from other things (like surgery). Okay, I knew about shea butter, oils, and milk protein as ingredients that are generally good for keeping the skin supple, but these others I had no idea about. I went to the Elemis site and looked around and found Elemis Contouring Silhouette Cream, which contains the kelp and horsetail plant extract plus shea butter so I ordered it. It's on it's way, I can't wait to see how it works. A friend of mine has it and swears by it, but she's also had two babies and her stretch marks are from pregnancy and all around her belly, thighs, breasts, and lower back/butt. I wonder if it will work as well for me - I only have growth spurt stretch marks on my breasts and hips and they're much less pronounced than hers. But if it worked for her, it *has* to work for lil' old me, right??!
6 Comments:
I took a look at that site and wow, that stuff all looks yummy! Thinking about ordering the small package dealio just to sample the stuff.
i just came across this blog and i really like it! thanks for being so real about everything -- thanks for reminding us to love our bodies and then make them better temples, instead of hating ourselves and buying things to compensate. i love what you said about stretch marks being like tree rings. i think i'm going to make peace with them and then try this cream to let them fade away. i'll probably have more success than if i keep swearing at them and hoping for a miracle, right? keep us posted on how it works!
Yay a beauty by tassy blog. I can't wait to follow.
miss m
coral - i think that's the best way to go about it! that's how i started, i got a package of various things for my face and then went from there. it's sort of like getting the sample size packs at the grocery. ;-)
marla - i'm so glad you stumbled across my space! i'm a firm believer in those things, and i really want to help all women see themselves this way. we deserve to be celebrated! by our own selves!
Oh, I am a fanatical reader of Paul of www.paulaschoice.com she looks at the ingrediants and rates products. Many of her reviews are free and they are head on. Unfortunately cosmetic companies often mislead us adn try and sell certain ingrediants as useful that are not. Anyway, I subscribe to her reviews and have learned so much. Many are free on her website.
As for strechmarks (as the soon to be 30 year old mom of soon 2 kids--I have experience here). There is nothing you can do to prevent them, they are hereditary. I did everything and got them with pregnancy #1, and I did nothing but what my dermatologist suggested (staying out of the sun) and now almost 2 years later you can't see them at all. They were horrible initially. I think they will come back with this pregnancy but hope they will fade also. Only a laser will work against them according to every truly scientific article I found (not based on a company trying to sell you something).
miss m
i totally agree about the hereditary factor in stretchmarks, along with just about anything else you aren't satisfied with in your body - but i do believe that there are certain ingredients that can lessen their appearance and help your skin retain it's elasticity, like cocoa or shea butter and anything tocophoryl (aka vitamin E).
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