You may never be able to get your pre-baby body back. But, you can tighten loose skin after pregnancy with a few simple techniques.
*This post may contain affiliate links. For more information please visit our Disclosure Page*
I want to start this post by saying that I am 100% here for body acceptance and positivity.
But, I also know that there are women who don’t accept their post-baby body. And that’s okay, too.
You are allowed to want to change. You are allowed to say, I want to look and feel better about myself.
And if you love your body after having a baby, then there is no shame there either. More power to you.
Still, I believe women should have access to the knowledge and tools to feel their most confident and beautiful. And if that means tightening loose skin on your stomach after pregnancy without surgery, then I want to share what I’ve learned and research I have done.
Also, I need to make a disclaimer. If you have a large amount of loose skin after baby, you likely won’t get miracle-worthy results from at-home treatments. You may need to visit with a surgeon or doctor about less invasive procedures.
That being said, there are 7 ways that you can tighten loose skin after pregnancy at home.
At-Home Treatments to Tighten Loose Skin
Remember that none of these treatments are going to work instantaneously. Your body didn’t change from one day of pregnancy. It happened over a long period of time.
Have the same patience with your body post-baby as you did while you were pregnant.
I encourage you to take pictures on Day 1 and then every 30 days following. This will give you the best perspective on the changes that are occurring in your skin.
Exercise and Diet
One of the most obvious ways to change the way your body looks is to be physically active and eat a balanced diet.
Resistance training, like this at-home butt and thighs workout or lifting weights at the gym, is a great way to increase muscle mass, increase your basal metabolic rate, and reduce the appearance of loose skin.
However, exercise will not tighten the loose skin directly. Instead, it creates a flattering figure beneath your skin that will give the appearance of less skin.
As for diet, focus on eating a variety of whole foods that are high in antioxidants and vitamins. Also, foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids are great for retaining collagen in the skin, which is the hard-hitter for tight, elastic skin.
Check out this list of 23 Foods that Are Good for the Skin to get some ideas.
Collagen Supplement
Recently, collagen has become a household name in beauty. It’s kind of the magic pill of natural health and beauty.
Collagen is naturally produced in a deeper layer of the skin, called the dermis. Collagen production naturally decreases with age. But, it can also decrease from activities such as smoking, eating sugar, and being exposed to Ultraviolent light from tanning.
The good news is that you can supplement your body’s natural collagen production.
You can get collagen supplements in the form of powder or pills. The choice you make is completely based on personal preference. With pills, you can simply pop one in the morning and be done. With a powder, you can easily mix it into your smoothie or coffee in the morning, as it has no flavor.
This is the most highly recommend collagen powder on Amazon. And these are the best collagen pills on Amazon, with over 5,700 reviews and a 5-star rating.
EXTRA BENEFITS: Collagen also helps reduce wrinkles, makes your hair grow faster and stronger, and makes your nails less brittle.
Firming Creams
If you have been researching how to tighten loose skin after pregnancy, you may already know a bit about firming creams.
Firming creams typically contain a number of beneficial ingredients such as retinol, peptides, copper, and hyaluronic acid.
According to Dr. Jeannette Graf, a dermatologist, and author, many skin firming creams are full of false promises. The results are minimal and only last a few hours.
Ingredients such as collagen in creams are fairly useless because the collagen molecule is too large to penetrate the skin. Therefore, it just sits on top of the skin and evaporates off as it dries.
Instead, Dr. Graf recommends you source out skin firming creams that have specific ingredients with lasting benefits.
Look for firming creams that contain a few of the following:
- Retinol
- Antioxidants
- Niacinamide
You can find a lot of highly recommended retinol firming creams on Amazon for an affordable price. I highly recommend this one from Paula’s Choice.
Massaging the Skin
Who isn’t up for a nice massage? Well, the benefits go beyond feeling amazing.
Getting or giving yourself a massage helps improve blood flow to the area that you are massaging. It also helps stimulate fibroblasts within the skin that produce collagen and elastin.
A study from 2017 showed that just a simple 1-minute massage twice daily with a handheld massage device was enough to increase the rates of expression for decorin, fibrillin, tropoelastin, and procollagen-1.
In the same study, they also discovered that applying an anti-aging cream and then massaging increased the absorption and effectiveness of the cream.
So, if you are going to opt for a firming cream from above, take a little self-care time and give yourself a nice stomach massage while you’re at it.
Dermarolling
Dermarolling is typically thought of as a rather expensive, minimally invasive procedure performed by a dermatologist. However, in recent years, more and more dermarolling tools have been made available for public use.
Dermarolling is the process of using a specific tool with hundreds to thousands of tiny needles and rolling it across your skin in multiple directions. This causes microscopic punctures to the skin. And, in turn, the skin begins to repair the wounds and produce more collagen and elastin.
Dermarolling can be combined with serums and firming creams for the best results. You can read the full instructions and see my personal progress with dermarolling for loose skin in this post.
Dry Brushing
Dry brushing is most commonly associated with reducing the appearance of stretch marks after pregnancy. However, the technique is a great addition to your body skincare routine.
Much like dermarolling, dry brushing the skin encourages new cell growth. It works by exfoliating the skin and removing old layers to expose the new, fresh layers beneath.
When choosing a dry brush, look for one with natrual bristles, not synthetic fibers. If you have naturally sensitive skin, you will want to use a very gently brushing motion.
For your stomach, start at your navel and brush in circles, working from the center outward. You only need to do this for around a minute to encourage the skin tightening and glowing benefits.
Drink Water
While this kind of fits into diet and exercise, drinking water and staying hydrated is definitely one of the most crucial parts of having firm and elastic skin.
Water helps your skin retain moisture, which ultimately helps your skin look younger and helps your skin produce more collagen and elastin.
Also, water helps your body heal faster. If you think of your loose skin as an ailment and something that needs to be healed from the inside out, water can be immensely beneficial in the process.
It’s recommended that you drink at least 8 glasses of water each day. If you are also exercising regularly, you should be drinking more to compensate for the water lost during your workouts.
Conclusion
All of the above will, over time, help tighten loose skin after pregnancy. However, it is unlikely that without medical intervention that you will ever have perfectly firm, “never had a baby before” skin.
I, for one, have a minimal amount of loose skin. And when I stand up tall, it’s barely noticeable at all. However, when I sit down or hunch over, my skin is still saggy and loose.
The moral here is that you have every right to want to change your body. But, you did have a baby. And no matter who you are or how many products you buy, your body is going to change.
So, change what you can. Be patient and kind with your body. And accept what you can’t change.
If anyone tries to tell you otherwise or tries to degrade you for having some loose skin after having a baby, give them the middle finger. Or go the more professional route, and excuse yourself from that toxic conversation.
I hope this post helped you find a few techniques you can try, and at least gave you some insight into the expectations you can have for your body after baby.
If you have any questions or have a secret that has worked for you, please leave me a comment down below or head to Facebook so we can chat there.
[…] RELATED: 7 Ways to Tighten Loose Skin After Pregnancy […]