This Three-Ingredient Kitchen Scrub for Stretch Marks Is Going Viral — Here's What It Can Really Do<

It starts the same way almost every viral beauty trend does: a short video, a jar of sugar, a jar of salt, a spoonful of oil, and a promise that smoother skin is just five minutes of scrubbing away. The recipe has been shared thousands of times across social media, usually aimed at one of the most common — and most emotionally loaded — skin concerns out there: stretch marks.

Before you reach for the sugar bowl, it's worth understanding what this scrub can realistically do, what the research says about stretch marks in general, and a few things to keep in mind so you don't do more harm than good.

One Reader's Experience

A reader from our community who tried a version of this scrub after her second pregnancy shared her experience with us: she said the ritual itself — a few quiet minutes in the shower, working the mixture into her skin — became something she looked forward to, and her skin felt noticeably softer afterward. She was honest, though, that the marks themselves didn't disappear. "It became more about the self-care moment than a miracle fix," she told us. That distinction — between how skin feels and how a stretch mark actually looks — turns out to matter a lot, and it's exactly what the clinical research bears out too.

What Stretch Marks Actually Are

Stretch marks (striae) are a form of scarring that develops when the middle layer of skin, the dermis, stretches faster than it can adapt — most often during pregnancy, puberty, rapid weight change, or fast muscle growth. According to medical reference sources, they typically appear as reddish or purple lines that gradually fade to a paler tone over time, but they rarely disappear completely on their own.

And contrary to popular belief, they're not exclusively a "women's issue" or a "pregnancy issue." Men develop them too — often from rapid growth spurts in adolescence or quick muscle gain — they simply tend to be less visible on typical male skin tone and hair distribution, and get talked about far less.

The Recipe

This is the version that's been making the rounds online:

You will need:

• 250 grams of salt


• 250 grams of sugar


• 100 ml of palm oil

How to prepare it:

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and gently massage the mixture into the areas of skin where you have stretch marks. Continue for at least five minutes. Rinse your skin afterward and follow up with a moisturizing cream.

What the Research Says About Treating Stretch Marks

Here's the part most viral recipes leave out: according to a well-known Cochrane systematic review — one of the most rigorous forms of medical evidence available — there is currently no high-quality evidence that any topical cream, oil, or preparation reliably prevents stretch marks from forming, or removes them once they've appeared. The review, also summarized on PubMed, looked at trials involving hundreds of women and found no consistent benefit from active ingredients over plain moisturizing.

A related Cochrane review on established stretch marks reached a similar conclusion about widely used oils: it found that olive oil and cocoa butter, two of the most commonly recommended home remedies, have not been shown to be effective for preventing or reducing stretch marks.

That doesn't mean a scrub like this one is pointless — it just means it's worth setting realistic expectations. What massaging and exfoliating can reasonably do is temporarily improve how the skin feels, support hydration when followed by a good moisturizer, and make the self-care ritual itself feel good. What it's unlikely to do is meaningfully fade or shrink existing marks. Some researchers have also noted that keeping skin well hydrated may support overall skin elasticity, even if it can't fully prevent marks tied to genetics or rapid stretching.

A Closer Look at Palm Oil

The recipe calls for palm oil specifically, and it's worth knowing a bit more about this ingredient, since it shows up almost everywhere in modern life. Palm oil is pressed from the fruit of the African oil palm, and it is, by a wide margin, the most widely produced vegetable oil on the planet — accounting for roughly 36% of all oil produced from oil crops worldwide as of 2017, with average global consumption estimated at around 7.7 kg per person per year. You'll find it in everything from margarine and packaged snacks to soap, creams, and cosmetics, precisely because it's inexpensive, stable, and easy to work with — which is also why it's such an easy ingredient to have on hand for a DIY project like this scrub.

It's also worth knowing that large-scale palm oil production has raised well-documented environmental and human rights concerns, particularly around deforestation in tropical growing regions. If that matters to you, look for oil labeled as certified sustainable, or substitute a comparable oil you already have — coconut, sweet almond, or even plain olive oil will work similarly well in this recipe from a texture standpoint, even if (per the research above) none of them have been shown to outperform the others when it comes to actually fading marks.

How to Try the Scrub Safely

If you'd like to give it a go, dermatology-focused sources on physical exfoliation offer a few sensible ground rules:

• Be gentle. Skin-care experts note that the irregular edges of sugar and salt crystals can create tiny tears in the skin if rubbed too hard, which can lead to irritation rather than smoother skin.


• Don't overdo the frequency. Most skin-care guides suggest limiting physical scrubs like this to a couple of times a week rather than daily use, especially on sensitive areas.


• Skip it on compromised skin. Medical skin-care resources advise avoiding physical exfoliation on sunburn, broken skin, active rashes, or freshly shaved areas.


• Always moisturize afterward. Since exfoliation temporarily strips away the skin's surface layer, following up with a good moisturizer helps lock in hydration and calm the skin.


• Patch-test first. Try it on a small area before using it more broadly, especially if you have sensitive or reactive skin.

The Bottom Line

This kitchen-cabinet scrub is an easy, inexpensive, low-risk way to exfoliate and pamper your skin, and plenty of people genuinely enjoy the ritual and the resulting softness. Just go in with realistic expectations: current research doesn't support the idea that any topical treatment — this one included — can meaningfully prevent or erase stretch marks once they've formed. For most people, stretch marks are simply a normal, common part of how skin responds to growth and change, not something that needs to be "fixed."

If your stretch marks bother you and you're looking for options with stronger evidence behind them — such as retinoid creams or laser treatments — it's worth discussing those with a dermatologist, who can advise on what's realistic and appropriate for your skin.