Pregnancy and weight gain are the two major causes of stretch marks. When your skin is stretched to maximum capacity, your skin's elastic fibers and collagen breaks down and the ruptured middle layer tissue can then be seen through the thinned outer layer of skin. As unattractive as this may be, it is an almost inevitable part of having a baby, since your fluctuating hormones alter your skin's ability to simply bounce back. Even so, there are home remedies and proper precautions for stretch marks that you can take to make these unsightly scars obsolete.

Stretch marks are every pregnant woman's anxiety and although they are common, they are certainly not very attractive. The inevitable expansion of the body to accommodate the baby often leaves pink, red or purple streaks on the skin of the abdomen, breasts, upper arms, buttocks and thighs. The condition is further exacerbated by dryness, a lack of vitamin A/C/E/zinc/protein and not ingesting sufficient fluids.

Before giving birth, women will experience a stretching of the skin and underlying tissue in their abdomens. More often than not, constant erratic cravings have these poor mothers eating far more than they would like to, causing extra weight gain. Not only does the skin start stretching, but other changes take place as well.