Today, let’s talk about scars and stretch marks. They both can affect your appearance and can leave you feeling self-conscious. So today, I’m here to share with you home remedies to reduce the appearance of both.
Scars | Home Remedies To Reduce Its Appearance
Let’s talk briefly about scars. Scars are marks left behind on your skin where burns, sores, or other wounds have not healed completely, therefore, fibrous connective tissue has developed.
While there are no treatments available to make a scar disappear completely, there are remedies you can do in the comfort of your own home to help greatly reduce their appearance, such as:
- Tea Tree Essential Oil
- Vitamin E Oil
- Aloe Vera
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Coconut Oil
Now, let’s talk briefly about stretch marks. Stretch marks are marks on the skin that have formed due to the skin being stretched during pregnancy when your body experiences sudden weight gain or weight loss, hereditary factors, and sometimes physical stress.
Today, I will share with you home remedies that can greatly reduce their appearance, such as:
- Olive Oil
- Castor Oil
- Potato Juice
- Cocoa Butter
- Lemon Juice
Let’s get started!
Home Remedies To Reduce The Appearance Of Scars
Tea Tree Essential Oil
Due to its skin healing and anti-inflammatory properties, tea tree essential oil is used to help manage skin conditions, including scarring.
Remedy:
- Combine 4 drops of tea tree essential oil and 2 tablespoons of water.
- Wash the scar with this solution 2-3 times a day to help reduce the scar’s appearance.
Note: Do not use tea tree essential undiluted. Also, if you are using this oil for the first time, test a small area of your skin with this remedy to check for a possible reaction.
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Vitamin E Oil
Due to the antioxidant properties of vitamin E oil, it is commonly used to reduce the appearance of scars by repairing damaged skin tissue.
Remedy:
- Break open a vitamin E capsule to extract the oil.
- Massage the oil on the scar for 10 minutes.
- Next, leave the oil on the scar for 20 minutes.
- Wash off with warm water.
This remedy can be done 3-4 times a day.
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Aloe Vera
Due to the antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of aloe vera, it is a popular and effective way to reduce the appearance of scars.
Remedy:
- Remove the outer layer of an aloe vera leaf and remove the gel like substance underneath.
- Using circular motions, massage the gel onto the scar.
- Leave on the scar for 30 minutes.
- Wash off with warm water.
Note: Never apply aloe vera gel on an open wound.
Apple Cider Vinegar
The acidic properties of apple cider vinegar help reduce the appearance of scars by removing dead skin cells which, in turn, promotes healthy skin cell growth.
Remedy:
- Combine equal parts of water and organic apple cider vinegar.
- Soak a cotton ball in the mixture and apply the cotton ball to the scar.
- Leave on the scar for 5 minutes.
- Rinse the area with warm water.
This remedy should be done only once a day.
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Coconut Oil
The vitamin E content within coconut oil is the main ingredient which helps to reduce the appearance of scars.
Remedy:
- Heat the coconut oil until it is in liquid form.
- Massage the liquified coconut oil onto the scar for 7-10 minutes.
- Next, leave the coconut oil on the scar until it becomes absorbed into the skin.
This remedy can be done 2-4 times a day.
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Home Remedies To Reduce The Appearance Of Stretch Marks
Olive Oil
Olive oil is packed with antioxidants which makes it an effective remedy for various skin conditions, including stretch marks.
Remedy:
- Massage slightly warm olive oil onto the stretch mark.
- Leave the olive oil on the skin until it is absorbed (about 30 minutes).
Extra virgin olive oil is recommended for this remedy.
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Castor Oil
Castor oil has been used as a home remedy for skin conditions such as age spots, fine lines and wrinkles, acne, and stretch marks.
Remedy:
- Massage castor oil onto the stretch mark for 5-10 minutes.
- Next, wrap the affected area with a cotton cloth.
- Apply heat to the area for at least 30 minutes. You can use a heating pad or a hot water bottle.
This remedy should be done once a day for one month, at which point you should notice a difference in their appearance.
Potato Juice
Potato juice is packed with vitamins and minerals which is great for skin cell restoration.
Remedy:
- Slice a potato into thick slices.
- Rub one slice of the potato onto the stretch mark until the starch (juice) of the potato slice covers the stretch mark completely.
- Let the potato juice dry completely.
- Wash the area with warm water.
Cocoa Butter
Cocoa butter is an excellent skin moisturizer which greatly nourishes your skin which, in turn, greatly reduces the appearance of stretch marks.
Remedy:
- Apply cocoa butter over the stretch marks at least a few times a day for a few months to see results.
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Lemon Juice
The acidic properties of lemon juice is an effective remedy in reducing the appearance of not only stretch marks but, scars and acne as well.
Remedy: (stretch marks)
- Using circular motions, massage fresh lemon juice onto the stretch mark.
- Let the fresh lemon juice soak into your skin for 10-15 minutes.
- Next, rinse area with warm water.
This remedy can be done once a day.
Here's a video by Freeze Frame Films on the top 5 home remedies for scars:
Do you have a home remedy for scarring and stretch marks that you would like to share? Share with us in the comments section below.
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Kim says
And…
Castor Oil is great for scars as mentioned. It is even better massaged in and left on, after being mixed to a preferred consistency with the Coconut or Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, but most especially Camilla Seed Oil (usually sold as “hair oil”, but if there are no additives, then it’s the stuff you want, from Japan, the brand in the yellow box with some red on it, sold on Amazon).
Helichrysum is extremely expensive, but regenerates cells, chelates, does so much more, and is called “Immortelle” for a good reason. I get mine from Ananda Apothecary (after first being ripped off years ago by MLM’s). They test their oils and post the results for each batch of every oil; they can prove their purity, and you can buy tiny sample sizes—ideal when you want to try something first, or when you only need a few drops of a very expensive oil, like Helichrysum, which is powerful, and a sample size of a few drops would be an affordable start) and they have not just one size of EO, but 5, 10, 30, and 60mL sizes, sometimes even 120 and 240mL. And often more than one variety of an oil 4 types of Lavender, for example, not just one).
Castor Oil and Camellia Seed alone, massaged in and left in will do a good bit for scars for those on a budget. Rosemary, Helichrysum, and Lavender are good for reducing scar tissue and fading them, good to add any one or all of them. I’d prove it to people, but the scars are actually gone, and for some, I didn’t take a “before” picture. Usually on severe burns, no scars.
Anyone severely burned should have Lavender and Helichrysum put right in the burns, (due diligence if testing for an unlikely allergy first) regardless of how severe (mine was down to the flesh on a particular burn, and they wanted to do a skin graft. “Against medical advice”—they insisted it was “dangerous” to put EO’s on open wounds, but I knew better, the French used it in WWII when they ran out of penicillin and it kills gangrene, so…it’s OK to put right on wounds, regardless of how bad they are, unless someone is freakishly allergic to it.
That’s just my own personal experience, and the experience of the French army, but people should of course determine that for themselves.
I put straight Lavender in my open burn (flesh burned away, down to the muscle) and made sure every bit had some contact with the Lavender at least three times a day and kept it wrapped. In less than 30 days, it was completely healed with not even a fleck of a scab left. I did use Neosporin over the Lavender after about 10 days, still reapplying Lavender 3x/day then the Neosporin over it and keeping it wrapped. There is no scar whatsoever now, it had left dark mark, which faded completely away. No deep divet, either. The docs were shocked. Nothing like a complete healing to shut them up.
It’s a crime they don’t use Lavender in burn units in hospitals. It can’t be health-store stuff, that doesn’t work. It has to be Ananda (or an MLM, if people like paying for middlemen, even their “distributor price” is still paying a middleman, many of their oils are double Ananda’s price, like Helichrysum for example) or a supplier who can prove their purity and that it’s not-diluted even with water. They can still say “pure” and “natural” and “100%” if they add other inferior oils or water them down. They don’t work for medicinal use. They’re fine for smelling up the room, but not for real healing.