We live in an age where we expect an easy cure for every beauty ailment. Frizzy hair? Acne? Bags under your eyes? Cellulite? Just get your hands on the right formula and all your problems will be a thing of the past! So when a pregnant woman walks into a drug store, what’s the first thing she searches for? Anti-stretch mark cream. And despite the shocking price tag on some of the more promising products, doctors have bad news. According to this article in the NY Times, you can blame the stretch marks on genetics and race (Caucasian women tend to get stretch marks more often than women of color). Rapid weight gain causes skin to lose its elasticity, and there’s not much you can do to prevent that.

The good news is that it’s possible to lighten stretch marks as well as reduce their size. Keeping your skin moisturized with creams and body oils will also make you feel more comfortable.

So if you’ve been wondering what the magic potion is that keeps certain celebrities (or your neighbor or girlfriend) stretch mark-free, it’s probably just that they’ve got good genes. Or they just got lucky.