How To Get Rid Of Stretch Marks

Imagine for a moment that one morning you get out of bed, and step into the shower. As the warm water starts to splash over you, and you begin to wash, you notice something different about your body. For a minute, you can't quite put your finger on it. Then it hits you - your stretch marks have gone! Those ugly embarrassing white streaks that you thought you'd be stuck with for life, have literally disappeared.

That's exactly what happened to me, and if you've got unsightly stretch marks, then the good news is that it can happen to you too. How did this happen? Was it some kind of miracle? Had I had cosmetic laser surgery to remove them?

No, nothing so glamorous as that. In fact, the solution to my marks was really quite boring. But it worked, and that's all that mattered. It meant I could once again wear a bikini, or even just a low cut top, without feeling embarrassed by those horrible marks. In fact, losing my stretch marks gave me a whole new lease of life. Here's how it happened...

I'd had stretch marks for years. Ever since the birth of my first son, James. And after James, I'd had another three kids. I was pretty much resigned to having the marks for life after all that lot!

But one weekend I'd taken the boys swimming at the local pool, and everything changed for me. As I was walking along the side of the training pool, encouraging Robert (my youngest son) to swim alongside me, I noticed a group of women in the opposite corner, pointing and giggling. At first I couldn't work out what they were laughing at. Then I realized it was me.

The women hadn't noticed I'd seen them, and as one of them made a slicing action across her stomach, indicating my stretch marks, they all burst out into raucous laughter. I know I shouldn't have let it bother me, but it did. These women were all around the same age as me, and it was clear none of them had any stretch marks. Perhaps they'd never had kids, or perhaps they'd found some miracle cure, but whatever the reason, I made a promise to myself there and then that I would get rid of my marks.

The whole pool episode affected me quite deeply. I felt ashamed of my body, and started covering myself up more and more. Friends started to worry about me when, in the height of a sweltering summer, I was dressed up like I was ready to go on a skiing expedition.

So far my efforts to rid myself of my hated stretch marks included rubbing in all sorts of oils - olive oil, fish oil (definitely not recommended, it stinks!), even vegetable oil. I'd then progressed onto using a number of so-called 'miracle cures' to be found on the internet. Every time I found a new one I was convinced I had the answer. And each time I would be more disappointed when, weeks later, there was no change. Some of these promised cures even seemed to make the marks worse, although that was probably my imagination.

Then out of the blue, one of my closest friends asked me why I had taken to covering myself up like an Eskimo. I broke down crying, and it all came out. I told her about the women in the pool.

She started to laugh.

I couldn't believe it - here was one of my best friends, and she was laughing at me too, just like those women in the pool.

She eventually managed to stop herself, and when she could finally get the words out, she asked me why I hadn't said anything sooner. I told her I was embarrassed, and what good was talking about it going to do? She told me it would have done a lot of good, because she knew exactly how to get rid of stretch marks. She was laughing because she had the answer all along, she just never knew that I was asking the question!

I was a bit taken aback by this, because I didn't think my friend (her name was Trisha by the way) had ever had stretch marks. Turns out I was wrong. Trisha was a mother like me, and she'd had marks just like mine. The only difference was she'd found a cream that got rid of them.

The cream was billed as a "stretch mark prevention cream". I asked Trisha if that meant she'd used it before her stretch marks appeared, but she said no, it also worked for getting rid of marks once they were there.

I was pretty skeptical. Trisha gave me the website address of where she got her cream, and said I should read about it myself. I thought - here we go again, another internet miracle cure. But at the same time, this was Trisha telling me, and she had no reason to lie to me - she was one of my best friends.

The website had a special whereby I could get a free pot of cream with every couple of pots ordered. They also promised me my money back if it didn't work. I figured I had nothing to lose except time and a little more hope if it didn't work, so I went ahead and ordered.

When the cream arrived, I started applying it once per day, just before going to bed. And do you know what happened?

Absolutely nothing.

At least, not to start with. Because one morning, a few weeks after I'd started using the cream (and after I'd given up hope of it ever working) I got up, stepped into the shower, started to wash, looked down...and....well, I think you know the rest - that's where we came in!