Bio Oil & Coco Butter

[Vanilla Spice]

Hi Guys,

I've heard that both Bio Oil and Coco Butter can work to reduce/eliminate stretch marks when you're pregnant.

Has anyone given them a go? Is it true that it helps?

Thanks!

 

[faille]

Dunno if they actually worked (or if I was just extremely lucky) but I used Palmers Coco Butter, coconut oil and the 'Mum to Be' set from the sanctuary which included a bubble bath, stretchmark oil and a cream for elasticity of skin.

I used them all religiously from the start of my pregnancy and only got two stretchmarks - one on each love handle/side of stomach. But they were never "bad", they weren't really noticable to start with and now I'm probably the only one who can tell they're even there.

Oh I did get a weird marking on my belly button too but that's near enough gone now as well

I still use the coconut oil as a moisturiser so I think that helps.

 

[princess_bump]

i used both during my pregnancy and definitely found the coco butter to work better! i much preferred it if i'm honest to bio oil

 

[Becky10]

I used Palmers coco butter in the morning and Bio Oil at night from 12 weeks and all I can say is - if they did help, i'd hate to see what my stomach would look like if I hadn't used them! Not that great a result, so I'd say go for the cheaper option and you never know what's in that wierd Bio-oil and it's so greasy!

 

[LadyofRohan]

I think there's a lot of conflicting data on whether using coco butter or bio-oil actually helps.

I think the majority opinion is that for the most part whether you get stretch marks or not depends on whether your mother had them when she got pregnant (so, there's a genetic component). Coco butter does help with skin hydration and prevents the itchiness associated with stretching skin. Stretch marks are caused by the elastin breaking down in the dermis due to rapid weight gain or constant stretching of the skin (both found in pregnancy). Some people think that it may help a little because massaging lotion or oil in the skin causes an increase in circulation which helps prevent elastin breakdown.

I think it just comes down to if you're going to get them (due to genetics), there's nothing you can do to stop them....but using coco butter won't hurt and may help a little.

My mother got a lot of stretch marks . I'm still going to be slathering on coco butter every day though! Just in case

 

[faille]

I think there's a lot of conflicting data on whether using coco butter or bio-oil actually helps.

I think the majority opinion is that for the most part whether you get stretch marks or not depends on whether your mother had them when she got pregnant (so, there's a genetic component). Coco butter does help with skin hydration and prevents the itchiness associated with stretching skin. Stretch marks are caused by the elastin breaking down in the dermis due to rapid weight gain or constant stretching of the skin (both found in pregnancy). Some people think that it may help a little because massaging lotion or oil in the skin causes an increase in circulation which helps prevent elastin breakdown.

I think it just comes down to if you're going to get them (due to genetics), there's nothing you can do to stop them....but using coco butter won't hurt and may help a little.

My mother got a lot of stretch marks . I'm still going to be slathering on coco butter every day though! Just in case

My mum and my older sister have terrible stretchmarks but I only got two very minor ones so going by what your mum is like isn't always accurate!

 

[ChangeChoices]

I've heard that if you walk into it expecting to have stretch marks, you'll never be disappointed

I know that cocoa butter helps with the itchiness associated with the stretching. My friends have also told me that baby oil works well if you use it at night, and it smells and feels better than bio oil.

My mother has horrendous scars from stretch marks to this day, so I'm a little terrified, especially since I got them bad on my hips and butt and inner thighs during my adolescent years when my hips were expanding. So... I'm probably going to have horrible red, angry marks. But I do know that the scarring I got was caused by irritation to the area, since the worst parts are where my skin would rub against my riding pants the most (so inner thighs and hips where the waist band was). I didn't' know they were stretch marks, I thought it was a rash, so I didn't tell anyone and didn't do anything about it except hope it would go away. If I had hydrated and worn a soft protective layer maybe I wouldn't have had as much of a problem. We'll see!

 

[LadyofRohan]

Like I said, it's genetics, your sister had similar stretchmarks but you didn't....just like my sister got my mom's brown hair and I got blonde. It's just more likely that you'd have stretchmarks if you mom had them because that means there's a genetic component in addition to the rapid weight gain and constant skin stretch caused by pregnancy. I'm still going to use coco butter, but there's really no direct evidence that it helps to prevent stretchmarks.

 

[goddess25]

I expected stretch marks and never bothered using moisturiser etc as I am not that bothered about it, its a nice reminder of the truly remarkable thing that our bodies can do. As i say i expected to get them but they are not that bad. Various friends used bio oil and for them it never worked.

 

[Blah11]

Pft they don't keep them away. Saying that though, I used them religiously and my stretchies could have been a lot worse. I got them on my hips and about 5 tiny ones under my belly button after she had been born.