With brands, celebrities and real women challenging the stigma, showcasing their natural bodies untouched and in their real forms, is it time to just admit our skin, naturally, stretches? What’s so ugly about the truth?

Is it time to just admit our skin, naturally, stretches?

Let’s be real about stretch marks

Stretch marks develop when our skin stretches and then shrinks quickly, causing underlying collagen and elastin to tear. Even once the skin heals, the scars can remain, leaving the marks as a souvenier. These are the most common connective tissue change experienced in pregnancy, thanks to fluctuating pregnancy hormones; relaxin, estrogen and cortisol. They can fade over time, but honestly, it’s unlikely they’ll ever truly disappear.

Prepping your skin for change

A good quality diet can help to boost skin health and promote stretchy skin.

• Water is key here, as hydration increases our skin’s natural elasticity.

• Collagen, the popular protein, is essential for skin building, strength and elasticity.
• Vitamin’s A, C, D + zinc increase our collagen production.

But even with the healthiest of skin, stretch marks can still be a thing. And there’s no shame in that.

We hereby declare them babe marks not stretch marks!

moode muse Jameela Jamil showcased hers recently, citing

“boob stretch marks are a normal thing. I have them all over my body and I hereby rename them all Babe Marks. They are a sign my body dared to take up extra space in a society that demands our eternal thinness, they are my badge of honour for resisting society’s weaponizing of the female form.”

With them crawling all over, perhaps it’s our time to reinterpret their story. We’re growing, we’re changing, we’re stretching, so why can’t our babe marks too?

Find more articles in our journal.

Visit our shop to find out more about The Prenatal supplement to help support a healthy pregnancy.