the B. spot

OK B. spotters, I’m going to come clean and admit something that I have been rejecting for quite some time.  I’m about to put my business out in cyberspace (do people even say that anymore? Great, I’m officially an old head:( )  Anyhoo…sigh…come on Ni’Kita, you can do this- we are all friends here…I’m a…I’m a…ok here it goes…I am a hater, I’m a HATER, I AM A HATER!  Wow that was sooo liberating, it’s like a weight lifted off of my shoulders and now I’m free!  I hate on all women who have given birth  and have not one stretch mark to show for it!  It’s not fair!   I especially hate when they say “it’s genetic, my mother doesn’t have any either” as if that’s supposed to make the rest of us feel any better at all.  And then they parade around in belly shirts, bikini’s, or their little sister’s shirt (you know the one that rises up when they lift their arms) showing their stretch mark free belly.  Hey look,  I’m a work in process and one day I will be delivered from this sin but until that day comes…

So Avon has a new stretch mark cream that makes some pretty amazing claims.  The one that really caught my eye was that 75% of the panelists saw results in 2 weeks- what? Are you kidding me?  I couldn’t open up that tube fast enough!  Now as a chemist, my skeptar (skepticism radar) was blaring but as a woman desperately trying to be in the no stretch mark club- you know what I chose!  After one week I stopped using the product.  No, I didn’t break out, it didn’t dry me 0ut, and I didn’t lose faith in the product.   I’m almost ashamed to say that my competitive nature kicked in and I said to myself, “if they can make one then I can too!”  So at the end of the day, a week and a half ago, I went to the stockroom and picked out ingredients with similar functions to Avon Anew Clinical Professional Stretch Mark Smoother (the name is a bit much):

• stimulate the production of collagen and elastin
• even out skin tone
• stimulate cell renewal
• increase moisture

This was definitely one of my better concoctions and I have been using it almost faithfully (there were two nights where it completely slipped my mind) for nearly 2 weeks.  Is it working?  It depends on who you ask- the little chemist on my right shoulder or the impatient consumer on my left.  The chemist says that “it takes time for these products to work- any change that you see at this point is most likely the result of moisturization plumping the skin around the stretch mark giving the appearance of a shrinking mark”.  The impatient consumer is saying “WTF?  Avon’s claimed results after two weeks- dang the reason why!”  So I actually choose to take the middle ground.  My skin is definitely more moist and when I stretch the skin around the mark, it (the mark) doesn’t seem as defined- it’s more blurred (if that makes any sense at all).  This to me is an indication of two things.  First, I do think that something is going on but only time will tell and second, if there is any improvement when my skin is stretched then it’s time to hit the gym and crunch like there’s no tomorrow!

Now my product is not yet available (when it’s ready I’ll be giving it out to those still burdened by the hate for those of us with little to no stretch marks- HEHEHE) however Anew Clinical Professional Stretch Mark Smoother is ready to go for a modest price of $25.  Professional Stretch Mark Smoother rebuilds the collagen and elastin pushing out the indentation while evening out the skin tone.   FYI- a stretch mark is basically scar tissue where collagen and elastin have been destroyed due to excessive and abnormal stretching- .  Theoretically this should diminish the appearance of the mark but the only way to really determine if it works it to try it!

Best,

Ni’Kita