Beauty Talk: How to Get Cute Flat Tummy After Pregnancy

In this post I am continuing to discuss skin care and beauty during and after pregnancy. I have already blogged about my experience with stretch marks and stretch mark creams. Now I want to share my thoughts about one thing that, in my opinion, played a huge role in my postpartum recovery. This important thing is a postpartum girdle! Postpartum girdles are a bit of a controversial topic as there is no direct scientific evidence that it benefits skin and muscle recovery. Most women don’t even think about using a postpartum girdle after they deliver and most of them don’t unless their OBGYN advises. In my case it was my husband who brought it to my attention. In fact, he did a small research online and found out how beneficial postpartum girdles are for abdominal recovery. The beneficial effect of postpartum girdle may be similar to that of a compression bandage or garment which helps to reduce post surgical swelling (edema) and this helps the body to heal faster. A postpartum girdle may also help to bring together stretched abdominal muscles. I got my girdle among other presents under a Christmas tree. It worked great for me. I started wearing my girdle the next day after the delivery. In fact, my OB/GYN put it on me the first time. I would make sure it was as tight as it was when my OB/GYN put it on and I wore it day and night. In a couple of days I could already see the effect – my skin looked tighter and my tummy flatter. I started wearing my pre-pregnancy clothes in 3-4 week after delivery. I wore the postpartum girdle for about a month.


I have to say that I did do some other things that could have helped the recovery. For example I started light exercise routine in about 10 days after delivery, I breastfed and had a very healthy diet because my boy was colicky all the time. I also used moisturizer regularly. However I still believe that my successful recovery was mainly due to the postpartum girdle. In fact we were so impressed with the results that we decided to create a website about postpartum girdles to share our knowledge here at Belly Bands website.

Beauty Talk: Stretch Marks - Personal Experience

As you may know from my previous posts, I have recently become a mom. Having just gone through 9 months of pregnancy I have very close and personal thoughts about stretch marks.

Let me start by saying that starting off pregnancy at the weight of 48 kg, I was sure, I was in for a belly full of stretch marks. I was terrified at the thought of getting those terrible scar-like stretch marks and sagging skin after delivery. So I decided to do my best to prevent and treat them. After some research I decided to choose Clarins Stretch Mark Control as my preventative product.

Either I was lucky or Stretch Mark Control does work! I am happy to announce that I have no stretch marks!


So let me tell you what exactly I did.

I applied Stretch Mark Control starting from the 2nd -3rd month. I started with once a day application. At the 4th month I applied it 2 times a day plus another (less expensive) product once a day. One tube of Clarins lasted me only 1.5 months and I was using it mostly on my tummy. So get ready to shed some money on stretch marks prevention.

I also made sure to do my exercises till the last days of prego. Remember, exercising is very important for skin’s elasticity. I was wearing supporting girdle all the time starting around month 4. This helped to avoid additional stress on the skin. And of course I did my best to eat healthy so that not to gain too much weight. No, it was not a perfect diet and yes, I did enjoy sweets and other fattening stuff… But I did my best to pace myself. Despite this I did gain 15kg instead of recommended 12 kg.

In one of my next posts I will review in more detail Clarins Stretch Mark Control.

Beauty Talk: Stretch Marks - Treatment

If you already have stretch marks, the good news is they are treatable. The bad news is they do not disappear completely.

Stretch marks need to be treated while they are still fresh and red in color. This means taking measures during first few weeks or months of their occurance. If stretch marks are not fresh, already turned white or silver, and if they went very deep into dermis, no treatment will remove them completely. However, you can still minimize their unsighty appearance and at least fade them.

To treat stretchmarks at home, use topical products containing ingredients that stimulate collagen production and thicken skin. Several ingredients to look for include retinoids (should not be used by pregnant women!), Vitamin C and glycolic acids.

A couple examples of the products that can help against existing stretch marks include
ProCyte Striae Stretch Mark Crème
Stri-Vectin Intensive Concentrate for Existing Stretch Marks
Triderma MD’s Scar Reliever
Lierac Gamme Phytolastil Anti-Stretch Mark Solution
RoC Retinol Anti-Stretch Mark Serum.

Professional treatments availbale at the doctor office are lasers like the Pulse Dye and Nd. They can thicken the skin and take away redness. But get ready, it will hurt your wallet. The cost can range from $250 to 500 per treatment. Note, the use of a pulsed dye laser was shown to increase pigmentation in darker skinned individuals with repeated treatments. CO2 resurfacing lasers are also used to treat old stretch marks and can blend them in. The price tag is higher and is $900-3’000 per treatment.
Another treatment reducing visibility of stretch marks to consider is Dermabrasion. This treatment will be most effective if the scar is raised above the skin’s surface.

You did everything possible but the stretch marks are still visible? Camouflage them! Best way to make stretch marks a secret is a self-tanner. There is also special makeup developed to cover tattoos and port-wine stains. Check out Smart Cover Makeup Line, Tattoo Camo, Joe Blasco's Tattoo Covers etc.

Beauty Talk: Stretch marks

Stretch mark is kind of a scar. It is formed through tearing of the dermis. Most of us have some kind of stretch marks, either from spurts of growth in puberty, gaining and losing weight, or pregnancy.

How do they happen? Experts say that stretch marks are actually caused not only by physical stretching of the skin but also by hormonal changes in the body. Stretch marks happen as deep as the dermis, the middle layer of the skin. They are caused by glucocorticoid hormones that disrupt normal way of forming of collagen and elastin resulting in less flexible skin and subsequently in dermal and epidermal tearing


Where do they happen?
Common places for stretch marks to occur include:
abdomen
breasts
upper arms
underarms
thighs
hips
buttocks.

Is it possible to prevent stretch marks? There is no enough scientific evidence in support of the fact that creams and lotions help to prevent streetch marks. However there are reassuring results in some studies that show that during pregnancy, for example, fewer streetch marks occur if you use a treatment versus no treatment at all.

To prevent stretchmakrs apply specially developed products that mosturize skin, make it more elastic and contain such ingredients for example as cocoa butter and Vitamin E. Some examples of such products include:
Carol’s Daughter Sexy Belly
Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter
Clarins Stretch Mark Control
Revitol Stretch Mark Cream
Decleor Perfect Sculpt Stretch Mark Restructuring Gel-Cream
RoC Maternity Anti-Stretch Mark Oil
Vichy Complete Action Anti-Stretch Mark Cream

Already have stretch marks and want to know how you can treat them? Read about various treatments available in my next post. In my future posts I will aslo share my personal experience with stretch marks during pregnancy.