Stretch marks happen when the skin develops a form of scarring when it grows or expands rapidly. They can happen usually during pregnancy, puberty, or during a weight gain. The stigma behind them should be one of embarrassment but rather one of power.
The rate your weight grows up or down affects the rate of which the skin grows. To accommodate the expansion, your body “tears” and creates scarring along your skin which turn into stretch marks. The “tears” occur in teh middle layer of the skin called the dermis. These “tears” are not harmful to your body, nor do they affect your health in any way. You just get cool white lines down your skin that end up looking like superhero lines!
There are alot of differing factors that create stretch marks. A lot of times, stretch marks are associated with the negative connotation that stretch marks means a person is fat, lazy, or out of shape. It reinforces the belief that heavier people are humans that should be ridiculed and made to feel bad because they don’t fit into the “ideal body type”. The truth is that people that are fitness focused also develop stretch marks. Because they are training their body, the skin also stretches. 90% of pregnant woman also develop stretch marks as the body grows to make room for the baby. Anyone can develop them, there isn’t a specific group of people that will be guaranteed to get them.
According to CBS, 80% of the US population have stretch marks on their body. They aren’t a rare thing to have on your skin. Talking about them and showing these marks in public could help destigmatize the myth that only a certain type of person has them or can develop them. Models, actors, and people in the spotlight all have them but because of photoshop, they are often airbrushed off. It is dangerous to erase a common body issue and turn it into the opposite. Less people in the US have dimples, a “body defect” yet they are celebrated as if they were the highest standard of beauty.
They Make Cool Body Art
Glitter stretch marks have become a thing on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram. The trend began in November 2017 with artist Sara Shakeel. Shakeel gets magazines and pictures where she see stretch marks and highlights with with colorful glitter creations. She was drawn to the idea of filling up these new spaces on her body with something pretty. The trend has caught on and has been featured on Cosmopolitan, Shape.com, and Refinery29 among others.
They Make You Who You Are
Sometimes it is hard to accept all of the things you consider imperfections on your body. Although recently there has been a push for body positivity, it’s still hard at times to look in the mirror and completely accept the person that stares back. Learning to accept your stretch marks and believe that they are part of what makes your body great is a small step forward on the journey towards self acceptance. Stretch marks are part of who you are, and while they may fade, they aren;t going to go away to learning to not care about them is a great lesson in self love!
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