Rihanna praised for spreading positive message about stretch marks

Stretch marks are normal, natural and nothing to be ashamed of

Rihanna is known for breaking barriers in the beauty and fashion world, most notably with the launch of her inclusive Fenty Beauty makeup collection and the recent announcement of her new Savage x Fenty lingerie line.

She’s now been praised for spreading a positive message about stretch marks on social media in the comment section of one of her recent Instagram posts.

On Wednesday, the singer shared three photos of herself revelling in the sun with the caption: “when u can’t wait for summer [sic].”

In the third photo, Rihanna can be seen reclining while wearing a pair of tiger-print bikini bottoms.

The sun’s rays in the top right hand corner of the picture make it seem as though Rihanna has stretch marks on her derrière, something that one commenter pointed out.

“I see the tiger stripes rih,” the individual wrote, referring to the apparent stretch marks displayed in the picture.

(Instagram (Instagram)

Rihanna responded, clarifying that although the lines in the photo were just beams of light from the sun that she does still have stretch marks, as many people naturally do.

“I got stretch marks but dats the sun [sic],” the star wrote with a laughing emoji.

While Rihanna made it clear that her stretch marks may not be showing in that particular photo, many of her followers felt gratified by her honest acknowledgement that she has stretch marks, something that some women often feel ashamed to admit.

“We all have stretch marks,” one person remarked. “They beautiful [sic]”.

(Instagram (Instagram)

“Ain’t nothing wrong with no stretch marks… I have stretch marks on my tummy because of my babies,” another commenter said.

The singer has also been commended by fans for not hiding her leg hair in the pictures.

“Hairy legs are the new thing,” an individual wrote, while another commented saying: “I love the fact that her legs are hairy!”

In June last year, ASOS was applauded for featuring unretouched photos of models on the site with their stretch marks clearly visible.

Numerous people thanked the retailer for normalising stretch marks in an effective and far-reaching way.

“ASOS not editing out girls' stretch marks on their swimwear photos is giving me so much life, look how beautiful they all are,” someone tweeted.

Cinta Tort Cartó, an artist from Spain, uses her art to de-stigmatise stretch marks in a beautiful way by filling them in with a rainbow of colours.