Ah, yes, the dreaded stretch marks. The marks that we use scrubs to get rid of. The marks that we associate with our weight. The marks that we want to just go away. And the marks that we think nobody else has. Well, fortunately, that's not true. About 80% of Americans have stretch marks, and believe it or not, it's not only women! Men can get them too! But my issue here, is that I've met countless women in my life who feel ashamed of their stretch marks. Now, I know that literally everyone has at least one thing (or more) that they don't like about themselves. This is normal, and believe me, you're more aware of your insecurity than anyone ever is. But the problem with this particular situation is that there are so many misconceptions about stretch marks as a whole:

1. Stretch marks are the result of being overweight

Although stretch marks can sometimes be the result of weight gain, this is not always the case. No matter what your body type may be, the occurrence of puberty can cause stretch marks to manifest themselves. This is due to the rapid growth of your body in certain areas, and even hormonal changes within the skin.

2. You have to be pregnant to get stretch marks

Again, this is simply not true. As stated above, stretch marks can very well be the result of hormonal changes in puberty–not necessarily in the case of a pregnancy.

3. They will go away with weight loss

Even if you may feel like losing weight in a certain area on your body in which stretch marks are present, this won't help because stretch marks are essentially just scars right underneath the outermost layer of the skin. There are some home remedies to help, and even surgeries, but I don't think that's necessary, if you ask me.

4. Stretch marks aren't sexy

Oh my... our bodies are beautiful–with stretch marks or without! And I hate to break it to you, but some of the "sexiest" bodies still have stretch marks! It just means our skin couldn't take how voluptuous we were getting.

5. You're not "beautiful" with them

WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. You are most CERTAINLY beautiful–regardless of the lines on your skin! Ladies, embrace your bodies; they're the only ones you have! Ignore all of these "perfect" pictures of celebrities or models–because nobody is perfect. There's loads of Photoshop work being done on every ad, magazine cover, and movie frame. If you have a goal to look like a certain body type, then by all means, follow that! But if you feel the pressure to change who you are, and if you feel the pressure to look a certain way, even if YOU are genuinely happy with yourself, don't do it! Do what will make YOU feel better. Not anyone else. Love the skin you're in!

References:

http://www.top10homeremedies.com/news-facts/top-10...

http://www.medicinenet.com/stretch_marks/article.h...