#scarsuncovered with Bio Oil & giveaway too!

Bio-Oil is a brand I'm delighted to be working with on this post, I've heard amazing things about them and I'm looking forward to seeing the effect it has on my scars, I've also been chosen to have the video of the campaign here on my blog to share with you as well as being able to offer not one but three bottles each 60ml to give away - that's 3 different winners so make sure you pop over to my facebook page to enter - Mummy Memories Facebook Page. Bio-Oil have launched a new campaign to support women on their journey to scar acceptance. Their mission is to help people with scars feel like that don't have to hide away.

According to a new study, almost two thirds of women say that their scar has affected their body confidence, which I can completely understand as it doesn't just leave a physical impression upon their skin but also affects them emotionally which can cause a real impact on their day to day life. Bio oil's new research found that 40.7% of people with scarring wanted to feel like that don't need to hide.

"A scar can serve as a reminder of an often traumatic experience and accepting a scar is an important part of coming to terms with this experience. If a scar is affecting someone mentally then their instinctive reaction can be to cover it up, when it's out of sight it's out of mind. But in order to move on, it's important to acknowledge scars rather than simply hide them away." explains psychologist Jo Hemmings.
If you haven't heard of Bio-Oil before then it's unique formulation has been clinically proven to help improve the appearance of new and old scars whether from surgery, accidents, burns, insect bites scratches or chicken pox. Trials have shown that after 8 weeks of using Bio-Oil 92% saw an improved appearance of scars.



You've got stretchmarks? Oh it's because you had a baby.. no. Wrong!

Actually I've had stretch marks for as long as I can remember, I think I was probably about 13 with my earliest memory of them. I guess I'm just unlucky and my skin is the type that will get stretch marks - I wish I'd of had some bio oil back then who knows it could have been different!

When I was in my early teens, my body shape suddenly changed rather quickly and these small white 'shiny' wobbly lines started to appear mainly on my hips. I thought something was seriously wrong to begin with but my mum assured me it was only stretch marks and "everyone gets them" ... that's not true is it, not everyone gets them and the other teenagers were sometimes hurtful when they noticed them at school. They probably didn't intend to be mean actually, sitting here thinking about it as an adult for the first time, they were only asking me questions about why I had them and what they actually were but at the time I genuinely thought I was the only person who had to cover up because she had curvy hips that decided to stretch my skin creating marks on me.

As a teenager in the photo above, I thought I was fat and I think that was partly because I had stretch marks - I thought only obese people had them but that's not true at all. My adult eyes now realise that everyone has something they don't like about their body, a scar from an injury or a scar from an operation, birth marks, cellulite or stretch marks - more young girls need to realise that you are not required to be a magazine perfect model, that's not life and it's not their life either. It is photo shop. Photo shop is an amazing thing but to edit away someone's individual scars is not real life, lets learn to be happy in our own skins and teach our children to be happy with who they are. I covered up when I was younger, (I still do now to be honest, I wear swim shorts with a tankini top because that's what makes me more comfortable). Using Bio-Oil can improve your scars, therefore improving your confidence too so it's definitely worth a try.

When I was pregnant with Oliver they appeared on my tummy too, all over it covering the entire thing - not just a small amount either, I literally had a print of the entire London underground map upon my tummy in stretch marks. These were different, they were red or purple in colour and they looked sore! They looked angry. Being huge, not tiny it made me feel everyone could see them from miles away and there was no missing these but you know what? So what. I created life inside my tummy within the space of 9 months (and 4 days....) an actual little person grew inside me and I am so proud of the fact my body can do this. I feel lucky that I can do this so what does it matter if my skin changed? My whole life changed along with it! Obviously now I've had Isabelle too, I've got even more stretch marks. I had some photos done at Hoss photography when I was heavily pregnant with Isabelle and I actually asked him to photoshop out my stretch marks. Why? They are me so why did I feel the need for that to be done?. you can slightly see them in this photo below but now, I'd be interested to see what my tummy looked like with all them at the time.

I've also got a scar from my emergency C-section but not once has that bothered me. It was a life saving operation for Isabelle and it was worth the scar. I feel thankful the doctors could do that and that I've got my beautiful little lady. I'm interested to see what affect Bio-Oil has on both my stretch marks and my C-section scar. I'll definitely update here when I've used it for a few months.

A scar doesn't define who you are. Don't let it control what you wear or where you go. Let's all make an aim for this year to get #scarsuncovered .... I'll start, I'm going to wear a swim suit or a tankini without mens swim shorts when we go away for a few days after our wedding.

 

What is your aim?

Tweet them to me at

@mummymemories #scarsuncovered with

 

You can find Bio-Oil on social media - Facebook = www.facebook.com/biooiluk

Twitter = @BioOilUK

 

You can find Bio-Oil on amazon, in primark, Tesco, sainsburys, Morrisons, Waitrose, asda, boots, superdrug, savers and wilkinsons. For a 60ml it's £8.95. Remember to pop over to my facebook page for your chance to win. Mummy Memories Facebook.