Fun fact: an estimated 80% of women have stretch marks. Another fun fact: having them does not mean your body is any less of a temple. Contrary to popular belief, stretch marks don’t only appear due to pregnancy but growth spurts, hormonal changes and rapid weight loss/gain play a huge role in their existence.
The dawning truth is that stretch marks won’t ever fully fade away and they don’t have to. You just have to learn to accept and love them. Having tiger stripes painted on the sides of my hips and bum has undoubtedly hindered my process of self-love so I’m no stranger to the body image issues that come with them. Skin care companies capitalize on the notion of these lines on your body are imperfections by offering “solutions” in forms of creams and oils. I have tried countless of these “skin remedies” in the hopes of totally diminishing my stretch marks once and for all and as you can already probably guess; not a single one worked.
So over the years, I’ve learned to see them less as an imperfection and more as a sign of my physical and mental growth. Living amongst the rise of “IG models” has made it even more difficult for women to feel comfortable in their own bodies since we constantly feel the pressure of being pigeonholed into a single body type. It’s easy to compare ourselves to these models when we don’t realize how detrimental that is to our self-growth.
Everyone deserves to feel comfortable in their own skin; uniqueness should be praised and not dismissed. Don’t get me wrong, there are some days that I look in the mirror and I don’t like what I see but that’s part of the process of self-love and embracing your tiger stripes is a milestone you don’t want to miss out on.
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Sources:
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/573012752581100804/