I have to admit I've never been the best with keeping up with my skincare. For years my skincare regime meant using qv bath wash instead of soap and using face moisturiser {because my skin would dry out wearing make-up all day}. Not much of a regime right? Over the last few months I've added a few more steps, but its still fairly simple. I seem to be the opposite of most women and instead of buying a plethora of skin and make-up products I just stick to the bare minimum. I've never really needed much more than that.
The only time I paid extra attention to my skincare was when I was pregnant. Once you get pregnant you get to deal with all manner of lovely skincare conditions that never bothered you before. I'm talking dry skin, stretching skin and worst of all STRETCH MARKS. I was so paranoid about getting stretch marks that I religiously lathered my belly with shea butter twice a day. Towards the end of my pregnancy I naively thought I'd escaped the dreaded stretch marks, until week 35 when they started popping up on my poor belly and a few above my hips. There were only a few and they weren't really that bad, until I got to week 39 and I developed pupps rash.
Don't know what pupps is? Think chicken pox + an allergic reaction on steroids. It was my worst nightmare. Suddenly I had an entire belly covered in huge, bright red, very angry stretch marks. And I don't mean normal stretch marks, I mean super inflamed and super itchy stretch marks. IT WAS HELL and it also spread across the rest of my body. Just so you can understand my pain, here's a look at what it was like {apologies if it makes you want to scratch your belly off, it still makes me itchy looking at the photo}.
Feel my pain now?
As you can imagine, in that one week I developed a tonne of stretch marks which left my belly looking like a small child had scribbled all over it. I naively thought that because they were mainly below my belly button it wouldn't matter if they didn't fade completely. What I didn't count on was them moving to above my belly when my tummy shifted back to its normal shape. Yep they go above my belly button. Its awesome, not.
Thankfully though, over time they've faded a bit over time. Some are still pinkish, some are silvery grey, some are white and some are just shiny. I decided I might need to do something more to help them fade further though {other than just taking a wait and see approach}, so I've started using Gotu Fade from
PURE by phytocare.
GOTU FADE
PURE by phytocare Gota Fade is a skin cream specially formulated to reduce the appearance of scars and stretch marks.
Hello my new best friend. Its packed with natural ingredients like Gotu Kola, Papaya {paw paw} and Tamanu which together soften and hydrate the skin while promoting elasticity. Its also free from preservatives, petrochemicals and lanolin and has
Natrue certification.
The cream is nice and light and you don't need to use very much at a time. A dob of cream the size of my pinky fingernail is enough to cover the middle and lower half of my belly affected by stretch marks. It absorbs really quickly {quicker than any other skin moisturiser I've used} and my skin is touch dry within a minute. It leaves my skin feeling nice and soft afterwards and best of all because it absorbs so quickly it doesn't leave any oily marks on my top once I get dressed {like other creams have in the past}. I also haven't had any reactions to it.
I've been using it now for approximately 2 weeks, although I admit I haven't been using it religiously 2-3 times a day like it suggests for best results. It hasn't faded all of my stretch marks, I never expected it would in 2 weeks, but it has turned a few of the pink ones more white and made the darker ones a bit lighter, so I can see promising results already. I'm actually really pleased with the results given I haven't been using it as often as they recommend {mainly because I forget, like I said I've never had a strict skincare regime before}. I'm also surprised its worked so well given my stretch marks were already 2yr post-partum before I started using it. My skin is feeling a lot softer and I can definitely notice the difference. I just wish I had of known about it sooner.
{the camera focused on my fingers not the stretch marks, but you can still get the general idea}
PAPAYA {PAW PAW} FOR EVERYTHING
I've also been trialling the phytocare papaya ointment. The
PURE by phytocare Papaya for everything ointment suits my theme of using the least amount of products perfectly because, like the name suggests, you can use it for just about everything. This one little tub is good to go for a number of skin problems including: dry skin, irritated skin, cracked heels, cracked nipples and cracked lips. It's also gentle enough to use as a nappy cream and for tattoo aftercare. So many uses for the one product, instead of needing creams for every little ailment, you just need this one handy tub.
Papaya for everything has a rich shea butter base and includes ingredients like papaya and calendula designed to deeply moisturise and nourish the skin. Full ingredient list can be found
here. It contains only natural ingredients and also has Natrue certification.
The ointment is a lovely luscious yellow colour and smells absolutely divine. Its a lot thicker consistency than the Gotu Fade cream and again you don't need very much of it to cover a large area. I've been using it mainly on my cracked heels and cracked lips which are real problem areas. Its done wonders for my feet {which are often neglected} and it keeps my dry lips under control much better than lip gloss.
I've also used it on bub as a nappy cream a few times now and it seems to work well. Although she didn't have nappy rash at those times, she did have one or two red dots on her skin {she has really sensitive skin from her allergies} and it cleared them up by the next nappy change. Plus she didn't have a reaction to it. She's also used it on her feet because she caught me using it on my heels and insisted she had to do her feet too, although she did her entire foot from her ankle to her toes. They were nice and shiny and soft afterwards and she keeps bugging me to let her use it again, so it must mean she gives her approval. Although I won't be letting her near the jar again any time soon because she doesn't understand the concept of using it sparingly, she prefers to try and take a handful of cream at a time. I have visions of those sudocrem memes where kids have painted the walls if she ever gets to the jar alone, so its kept up high where she can't reach it.
PURE by phytocare
Both products I've been using are made by Phytocare which is an ethical skincare company with a strong social conscience. They employ a team of holistically trained professional nutritionists and herbalists {with over 25yrs of industry experience} who ethically source natural ingredients to create products which are pure in every sense of the word. With so many people having reactions to skincare products they realise that purity is paramount when creating products. All products are free from petrochemicals and plasticisers and are not tested on animals. In addition to this they also believe in protecting animals natural habitats which is why they don't use palm oil in any of their products.
If you'd like to try any of the products for yourself, the team at phytocare have put together a special offer just for
Finding Myself Young readers. Simply use the code
TONI at checkout when ordering via
www.phytocare.com.au to save 15% off the entire range*. There are different sizes available with rrp ranging from as little as $6.95 up to $34.95. There's also currently free shipping on orders over $50.
Were you paranoid about getting stretch marks while pregnant?
Toni x
*discount is valid until October 27th for online purchases only.
Disclosure - I was provided the products mentioned to trial for the purpose of review, All opinions expressed are my own based on experience with the products. I did not receive payment for this review.
Linking with
Jess and
Caroline
