‘Cellulite’ Is A Norm

If there’s one thing that people should accept is that cellulite is not a condition you can easily get rid off. In fact, it is a variation of norm even in thin and athletic women. And guess what, some men have it too. We’re not exactly latex-skinned to look smooth and flawless all the time, are we? Our skin is saggy or wrinkly and gross in some places even when we’re young and in decent shape. And cellulite is basically there because of the structure of our skin’s connective tissue. Different sources say that 85 to 90 per cent of women have cellulite, predominantly on their thighs, butt, and hammies. The more fat they gain the more noticeable it becomes. The less they apply pressure on these areas (crossing legs, sitting) the less it is noticeable.

Cellulite Is Normal

What is Cellulite?

Cellulite is not a disease or a ‘condition’ as many believe. Cellulite emerges because of the structure of the skin’s connective tissue, which looks like strands that separate the subcontaneous fat under the dermis layer of skin. The structure itself isn’t very good in holding fat evenly but when fat deposits grow the fat between those strands multiplies and pushes against the surface, so that our skin appears more bumpy. Men and some women have a different connective tissue whose strands are crisscrossed, which makes it easier to hold all fat in place. In fact, when fat deposits grow this type of connective tissue presses it inward rather than outward, which contributes to smooth looking even skin.

Cellulite has been considered as women’s secondary sex characteristic by doctors till it became a sort of a widely recognized cosmetic defect by the public. Some competing women who take various drugs to grow muscle and reduce fat lose their periods and ability to have children. So cellulite is considered a norm in healthy adult women.

How to Treat it?

It’s all about the skin connective tissue structure. Unless you are overweight or obese cellulite usually is not as visible but it also may be quite noticeable in even fit athletic women and some men. Extra muscle promotes a more even fat distribution but even then many very fit women suffer from bumpy (cellulite-y) skin. Unfortunately, no amount of exercise and clean eating can change the way your skin is structured. What exercise can do is improve your skin’s elasticity and blood flow, build muscle and reduce fat, and make cellulite less obvious. This could be enough but even some athletes will display some unevenness in skin under certain type of lighting.

There isn’t a single cosmetic treatment or product that can make cellulite go away for good. Most of them don’t even work temporarily. The best ways to reduce the appearance of cellulite beside exercise and healthy diet is massage and moisturizers. Massage helps increase blood flow to the problem areas or get rid of excess water from those areas while various oils and creams are good at moisturizing skin making it reflect more light, which creates an illusion of smooth, even skin.

How to Deal With it?

The best way to deal with cellulite is to try to do what you can and what works to reduce its appearance. Exercise and clean eating are the best tools but recognize that even they can fail and that that’s okay because cellulite is a norm. It’s not abstract, and it’s not about beauty standards or whatever social nonesense, it’s fact. And there is nothing else you can do about it.