As though pregnancy isn’t hard enough with morning sickness, water retention and weight gain, add stretch marks and it’s a wonder women even get pregnant. But it’s not only women who struggle with this cosmetic branding; stretch marks can appear on anyone who loses or gains weight rapidly, including men. They are like dragon claws on the body—feared and permanent.
A remedy often used to reduce the dragon’s claw is cocoa butter. However, a recent double blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study showed cocoa butter application resulted in no difference in the development or severity of the marks. Although, a separate study showed vitamin E application did reduce stretch mark development in 100 pregnant women.