10 Cheap Kitchen Staples That Can Lighten Your Stretch Marks

Let’s make it crystal clear. Outside of being abducted by aliens and having a brand new skin implant, there is really no way you can completely get rid of stretch marks.

Unlike acne or wrinkles, stretch marks are harder to deal with because they occur in the second layer of skin, your dermis. This means there won’t be anything short of peeling away the outer layer of skin (the epidermis) that will truly get rid of them – and you can’t do that.

But don’t despair just yet! Even though you cannot completely eliminate them, there are many ways to make them fade and turn lighter. And the best news is you don’t have to spend huge bucks at the dermatologist’s clinic for invasive skin treatments or any of that sort.

In fact, you most probably have what you need sitting innocently in your very own kitchen right now. A lot of the ingredients you use for making your meals can also be used to help treat skin problems, including stretch marks.

But first, let’s get it out of the way that I am in no way telling you that your stretch marks or the lack of them define who you are. If you like your battle scars (i.e. if you got them from pregnancy, losing weight, or getting through that turbulent period of life called puberty), or if you don’t mind them at all, then this article is not for you.

This article is for those people who want to at least lighten their stretch marks so they can feel more comfortable about being in their own skin. There is nothing wrong with admitting that you are not happy with your body – just as there is nothing wrong with being 100% delighted with it. We all are on different levels here, and as individuals, we get to decide what we want to do with our bodies.

That said, now that that disclaimer is out of the way, let’s head to the kitchen.

Olive Oil

Greek women have been rubbing olive oil to their skin (and hair) for centuries, and that’s because olive oil has numerous beneficial qualities that are good for you. In particular, olive oil is loaded with vitamin E, an essential nutrient that helps keep the skin softer and smoother and protects it from free radical damage. It also has a mild exfoliating effect that helps remove dead skin cells and promote a glowing complexion on the upper layer of skin.

Cocoa Butter

Well, we all know this one, but it is definitely worth mentioning here still. Cocoa butter is extremely rich in fatty acids and saturated fats that can easily penetrate the upper layer of your skin and make it soft and supple. It helps if you start applying it even before you get stretch marks, as the moisturizing properties will help make the skin more elastic as it stretches to accommodate the changes in your body.

Lemons

This all-around kitchen staple is also a versatile beauty ingredient that you can use for a variety of purposes. To help fade stretch marks, simply cut one lemon in half (store the other half in the fridge) and rub the juice over the affected area. Do this until you’re happy with the results. Lemon juice works because it is chockfull of vitamin C that acts as a bleaching agent that can lighten your skin over time. It is also a great antioxidant that can boost the amount of collagen produced in your skin.

Potato

Potatoes have gotten a bad rap because of this crazy myth about carbs being not good for you. But not only are potatoes nutritious and delicious, they can also help with stretch marks because, like lemons, potatoes are rich in vitamin C. Surprised? They also have a lot of phytochemicals, polyphenols, and carotenoids that can help restore the suppleness of your skin.

Egg Whites

Bodybuilders load up on egg whites because they are teeming with protein that make up muscle, but egg whites can also have benefits for the skin too. You might know that egg whites can tighten your skin and reduce your pores temporarily, but the protein content in egg whites can help improve the overall texture of the surface of your skin. To apply over stretch marks, simply dip a clean makeup brush in a bowl of egg whites and swirl over your skin. Wait for it to dry before rinsing off, then rub some olive oil to combat the skin drying properties of the eggs.

Sugar

Stop spending so much money on expensive Dead Sea scrubs or other exotic exfoliators. You can mimic the same effects using an ingredient that costs a dollar for a pound of it. I’m talking about table sugar, which, when mixed with other ingredients, can exfoliate your skin just as well as the fancy stuff. You can use with oils such as olive oil or coconut oil and even mix in a few drops of lemon juice to increase skin cell turnover and let the newer, brighter skin come out.

Alfalfa

Technically, you use alfalfa powder, which isn’t really a kitchen staple, since not many people have alfalfa powder in their homes. But you can easily find it at your nearest health food store, and it is absolutely worth trying this out. Alfalfa powder has copious amounts of protein and vitamin E, which we all know are good for the skin. It also has antifungal properties that help get rid of toxins in your skin. Mix a tablespoon of alfalfa powder with a few drops of chamomile oil and turn it into a paste that you can rub on your skin every day.

Turmeric

Turmeric is used in various Eastern cultures as a cooking and beauty staple. Indians, in particular, use turmeric (which they call haldi) that they mix with rose water and sandalwood and turn into a paste that can be applied to the skin during wedding ceremonies. You can also mix with milk or castor oil. Turmeric is known to effectively exfoliate your skin and lighten dark areas. Used regularly, turmeric can promote a more even skin tone and glowing, healthy skin.

Apricots

These velvety, smooth fruits look innocent but they offer a one-two punch for stretch marks. They have high vitamin C levels to help lighten skin and are rich in essential fatty acids and vitamin A to provide the moisture your skin needs. This combination helps make your skin look brighter and clearer while maintaining suppleness and softness too. To apply, remove the seed from an apricot and mash the flesh into a pulp. Rub onto your skin and leave for 20 minutes (or longer) and rinse. Do this every day until you see a difference.

Honey

For a long, long time, honey was so revered by ancient peoples so much that it was once considered a currency – much like gold or any of the precious metals we use today. Honey has a lot of benefits for a lot of things, including maintaining the health of your skin. As a humectant, honey attracts moisture to your skin and keeps it locked in. It also has antiseptic and antioxidant properties that protect it from damage by toxins. To use for the skin, apply honey on a piece of cloth and lay it over your stretch marks. You can also mix it with sugar for a nutrient-loaded, effective scrub to slough away dead skin cells and allow the new skin to come out.

Andy Atari is a fitness blogger, researcher, and enthusiast. She writes for the every guy and every girl, the average Joes and Janes of the world who aren’t training to win a competition tomorrow or run a marathon in a week. She believes that everyone can have a fit and strong body, a goal that is not impossible to achieve if you set your mind to it. For more information, check out Andy’s work at FitnessAtrium.com.

10 Cheap Kitchen Staples That Can Lighten Your Stretch Marks

Marks & Spencer admits exposing worker to asbestos

Janice Allen says she feels betrayed by her former employer Marks &amp Spencer. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

Marks &amp Spencer has admitted negligently exposing to asbestos a female who worked in two of its stores.

Janice Allen, 53, who was a supervisor in the men’s and women’s garments sections of M&ampS from 1978-87, initial at its principal Oxford Street retailer in London and then in Uxbridge, has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, a lethal type of lung cancer caused by inhaling asbestos fibres. There is no cure, and she has been given months to dwell. M&ampS has agreed in the large court to pay “significant” damages soon after judgment in her favour in Might. M&ampS admitted breaching its legal duty of care .

Allen’s attorney, Harminder Bains, of Leigh Day, stated there could be numerous people suffering asbestos-relevant ailments brought on by owners of premises failing to comply with legal safety procedures.

Mesothelioma, cancer of the lung’s outer lining, can get decades to develop and leads to a drawn-out, agonizing death.

Allen, married with two children in their 20s, said she was “devastated and distraught” that she was dying from a cancer she had in no way heard of, from inhaling asbestos that she did not know existed in the retailers.

“I feel betrayed by Marks &amp Spencer. The firm employed to portray itself like a loved ones they engendered loyalty. I worked very hard, I met my husband there. But to believe beneath the surface they have been exposing folks to deadly dangers, to asbestos, it really is so cynical. We have been searching forward to enjoying life in the coming many years alternatively I have to face the truth I will not dwell to see my grandchildren.”

Asbestos was regarded as a miracle fire-proof developing materials and widely utilized in construction right after the second globe war right up until the 1970s, when it was recognised to be lethal. Successive legislation has considering that essential the elimination of asbestos.

In 2013 Steve Rowe, an M&ampS executive director, advised a BBC documentary: “If you seem back into the 60s, 70s and 80s, it is feasible that workers have been exposed to asbestos in our shops.” But M&ampS’s policies relating to asbestos had grow to be “market foremost” because then.

In 2011, M&ampS was fined £1m, for unsafe managing of asbestos at its Studying keep. The judge Harvey Clarke QC said managers had been cavalier in not closing the retailer even though the perform was ongoing, “to maintain the trading profit as large as reasonably attainable”.

Allen worked in the Marble Arch shop and then at Uxbridge for a complete of 9 many years following leaving school at 18. In the summer time of 2012, 25 many years soon after leaving Marks and Spencer, she felt agonising discomfort close to her ribs, and in April 2013 she was diagnosed with mesothelioma. Given M&ampS’s background, her attorney Bains believed it was most likely that Allen had been exposed to asbestos while operating there.

William Wallace, a well being and safety officer who worked at the Reading retailer in 2006, informed the HSE of the criminally unsafe perform there and grew to become a witness in the Studying prosecution, had worked at the Marble Arch store in 1998 and acted as a witness in Allen’s legal declare.

Wallace offered inside information of massive quantities of asbestos in the Marble Arch keep, in fire doors, pillars, ceiling voids and insulation board. He mentioned the air-conditioning was most likely to have circulated asbestos dust, and workers and the public could have been exposed in other methods unless stringent measures had been followed.

Steve Rotheram, a Labour member of the all-party parliamentary group on asbestos, said: “Right now I am creating to the chief executive of the HSE [Health and Safety Executive] to create quick clarification on the procedures deployed by Marks &amp Spencer in relation to asbestos. I want assurances that the public can be confident that they were not put in any danger while purchasing in these merchants.”

M&ampS declined to comment on its breach of duty to Allen, but stressed it took spot in the 1970s and 80s.

In a statement the business explained: “We are confident that we now have the most rigorous policy we can have in spot and that M&ampS stores are safe for our staff and our clients.”

Marks & Spencer admits exposing worker to asbestos

Marks & Spencer asbestos situation: "I truly feel so angry and betrayed"

Former Marks and Spencer workers Janice Allen with her husband Stuart at house in Harrow. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

Janice Allen sits in the conservatory in her cosy semi-detached home in Harrow, husband Stuart alongside her, explaining how their lives have been devastated soon after she was diagnosed with the deadly cancer mesothelioma, caused by being exposed to asbestos when she worked at Marks &amp Spencer up to 36 many years in the past.

Her lawyer, Harminder Bains of Leigh Day, who took on the legal declare in which M&ampS have admitted breaching their duty of care to Allen, is warning that a lot of far more hard-working, as yet oblivious members of the public could comprise a “third phase” of people stricken by publicity to asbestos. Bains says that inadequate security procedures, in breach of the stringent law on asbestos-handing and removal, indicates the public need to have been exposed. Very first of all, industrial and development workers handled asbestos when it was deemed an invaluable fire-proof material until finally its dangers had been recognised in the 1970s, ahead of maintenance staff have been exposed in these buildings.

“Before this occurred,” Allen says, “I had never ever heard of mesothelioma, I barely knew about asbestos. I never would have dreamed that I would be affected by it. It has been devastating.”

She and Stuart met when they the two worked at M&ampS he was 18, she 19, his supervisor on the men’s shirts part of the flagship Oxford Street retailer in London near Marble Arch. They recall operating hard, currently being created to truly feel element of an M&ampS loved ones, that the firm cared. Thursdays were late-evening buying and spend day, and they would usually go to the pub, the Marlborough Head, soon after function. Janice, now 53, worked for 9 many years, 1988-87, at Marble Arch then M&ampS in Uxbridge till they had their first kid, Matthew, now 26, then their daughter, Louise, now 24. Stuart stayed at M&ampS for 22 many years, operating his way up to turning out to be a business analyst, until he left in 2001.

“Marks &amp Spencer engender this total loyalty they had welfare for personnel, hairdressing, when they celebrated 100 many years as a organization [in 1984] we had been all given books on the background,” Janice says. “Now I feel so angry and betrayed. To know that behind the scenes it is so cynical they did not even care for the health and security of their personal staff – it is past phrases. I was only 18 when I joined, I thought I had a secure job, and now each and every day I want I could turn the clock back and had never ever, ever gone to operate for them.”

After the youngsters went to school, Janice herself worked in colleges, latterly as a increased level educating assistant for secondary school young children with specific educational requirements, a work she loved. She and Stuart had been hunting forward to a minor much more comfort, and holidays, in the forthcoming many years, but the end of their ideas came right after Janice woke up one particular morning in the summer time of 2012 with agonising ache in her ribs. It was, she says, “like a shard of glass going via my muscle”.

The soreness eased for a number of months, right up until in March 2013 the agony returned. She went by way of a series of tests and X-rays, till in April 2013 she was diagnosed with mesothelioma. It is a cancer in the outer lining of the lung, induced from cells forming close to asbestos, probably just a single deadly fibre, which can have been inhaled decades ahead of.

“It has been devastating, the shock of the diagnosis,” Janice says. “It was disbelief, at how this could occur, and to realise it is not curable, though it is treatable – I am getting to hang on to that. My initial reactions had been to go totally into depression and excessive anxiousness. With no the help of Macmillan nurses and the hospital, I would be getting terrible problems functioning typically now.”

She did not believe for some time about suing M&ampS, but by means of her stepmother, she heard about Marks &amp Spencer getting been prosecuted, for illegally unsafe managing of asbestos at the Reading shop, for which the firm was fined £1m in 2011, and sued by former personnel, in situations which settled rather than reached a judgment.

Bains, an asbestos professional, applied for a court order that M&ampS disclose paperwork relating to the Marble Arch and Uxbridge retailers the place Janice Allen worked, including surveys of the shops which would present the prevalence of asbestos. M&ampS did not disclose the paperwork. But in April M&ampS formally admitted in court that it: “In breach of duty, exposed [Janice Allen] to asbestos fibres, during the program of her employment with them.” The company declined to comment on its breach of duty to Allen, but stressed it took area in the 1970s and 80s.

In a statement the firm explained: “We are confident that we now have the most rigorous policy we can have in area and that M&ampS shops are risk-free for our personnel and our buyers.”

That admission does raise the alarming probability that in the past, numerous other people, in areas as public as M&ampS’s massive shops, could have contracted the deadly condition previously related with unfortunate industrial and maintenance employees.

“I hope my case will deliver some focus on to this,” Allen says. “When we understood how significantly asbestos there was, the degree of risk we had been exposed to, we felt so angry. Throughout our time, nobody ever mentioned anything at all about it.”

Marks & Spencer asbestos situation: "I truly feel so angry and betrayed"