Aziza Sa'id's FAQ - Pregnancy

Unkn: This is a topic that is important to me. I had been overweight most of my life and as a result I have a lot of stretch marks. I started loosing weight and dancing at the same time. I have so far lost 70lbs, and have 30 left to go. But I decided in the past year or so that I wanted to dance more than I was embarased about stretch marks.

I guess I kinda think about it like this: my skin is less important to me than the fact that I can DANCE! I never thought of myself as being able to do this, and the fact that I can, amazes me every day. And I am thankful and feel blessed that I have the ability to do this, that to me is much more important than stretch marks. And I hope the audience thinks so too!

And here is another thought: Philly Tribal dances in a small restaurant once a month, where we are pretty darn close to our audience! And I can hear what the audience says while we dance. And I have heard on more than one occation women say "wow, they have real size women in that group!" and related comments. (Not to imply that thinner women are not real!). It just goes to show that every size body has appeal to people out there. You cannot please everyone all the time, but who knows whom you may touch in the audience because they relate to you in some way.

Rebecca: I have a couple of dancer friends who have managed to avoid getting any stretch marks by greasing up their body everyday (practically constantly) with some kind of moisturizer. One used Vaseline - petroleum jelly, the other coconut oil (you can get it cheap at international grocery stores), I'm sure any hardcore moisturizer would do the trick, you just need to find something cheap enough for the quantities you need to be using. This will help avoid the marks, but I think once you've had a child you will always have a little extra skin there, unless you get a tummy tuck or something.

Shalimar: If you have a genetic predestination for stretch marks, you'll get stretch marks, and no amount of coconut oil or Vitamin E or anything else will prevent them. Those agents may MINIMIZE them, making them more pliant and less noticeable. But if you are destined to get them, you'll get them. I'm not saying that it's useless to try and avoid them. I'm just saying that all these preparations are great, but that you should be ready to accept them if they do arise.

Kerridwen: My mother claims that with me she got schloads of stretch marks. HOWEVER she claims that when she was pregnant with my sister she tried out Rachel Perry's Vitamin E cream (smells like raspberries - I remember wanting to eat it!) and not only did she NOT get NEW stretch marks... but the OLD ONES WENT AWAY!!!!

Sedonia Sipes: One factor not taken into account is genetic variability between individual people. When doctors say that creams and potions don't do any good, they may not mean *any* good. What they mean is that the largest determining factor by far for how your skin will react to pregnancy is genetics. Some people have more elasticity and resilience in their skin than others -- its genetically programmed and doesn't come from a bottle. It doesn't mean that taking great care of your skin won't minimize the stretching, *relative to what your skin would have done without care*, but it may have a relatively very small affect, and the results can't be compared to other people.

Remember that skin, muscle, and fat are separate entities. A flabby post-pregnancy tummy might be due any of the three, or a combination of all three. If your actual skin stretches, exercising will firm the underlying muscles but won't affect the skin. However, I do know that stretched skin may shrink back into place over the course of time, how fast depends on age and genetics. This may lead people to believe that their remedies are helping when in fact it is just time that is helping. Of course, proper ab exercises are always good. A good link for women's exercise in general is: http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html

Donna Lapre: Belly oil cream from health food section of supermarket or make your own from coconut oil, vitamin E, olive oil. Most women who used the oils didn't get stretch marks. The doctors say that it doesn't make any difference but I believe the massaging in really helps the skin by bringing blood to the surface thereby helping the collagen fibers and skin cells (I'm not sure). My baby was 10.2 pounds and I don't have any on my tummy. The skin is loose but in the nicest possible way.