Plenty of amazing women have spoken out about their stretch marks, which for some reason continue to be a taboo topic. Chrissy Teigen showed off her "stretchies" on Instagram multiple times, Lane Bryant ran un-retouched ads with a beautiful plus-size model baring her stretch marks, and many moms have taken to Instagram to drop some truths about postpartum bodies — stretch marks included.
Now we can add Instagram star Lexi Mendiola to our list of incredible women inspiring us to love our lines.
After a little deliberation, she recently posted a photo to Instagram baring her "tiger stripes."
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
"I was thinking thrice if I wanted to keep this photo or dump it in the bin...ONLY because of my tiger stripes," she wrote. "I caught myself right before tossing it and just could. not. believe. how I let myself get so insecure about something so natural!!!"
We love this message so much, because as much shame as women often have about their stretch marks, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Your "stretchies" are just another part of your beautiful body. "Here's to learning to love the lines," Mendiola wrote.
We're all for learning to love your stretch marks, not only because we believe everyone should love their body, "flaws" included, but also because there's not much you can do to change them, anyway.
Almost all of us end up with stretch marks, either through pregnancy or growth spurts, and getting rid of them is pretty much impossible. At best, you can spend bucket loads of money to reduce the appearance by 50%.
So why are there so many articles about how to get rid of, prevent, or hide stretch marks? The simple answer is that stretch marks are often seen as a flaw, and as something to hide instead of celebrate. However, women like Mendiola are changing the conversation around stretch marks, and we are so incredibly glad.