First commandment: Thou shalt "attack" the problem from many different angles...

...by following a comprehensive cellulite reduction plan. Naive, simple-minded attempts to solve a complicated problem with an one-sided approach have very limited results. A massage only is not enough, neither a cream on it's own, nor exercise and diet alone.

Second commandment: Thou shalt work on cellulite reduction for more than a couple of weeks...

Real cellulite reduction cannot be achieved in two weeks, because fat cannot be significantly reduced in two weeks, neither skin can be firmed up in that same period of time. All you can achieve in two weeks is drain excess water from the tissues - and even that is temporary. In fact, for long-term results with fluid retention reduction you need two to three months - i.e. as much time as you need for significant skin firming, fat reduction, connective tissue repair and inflammation reduction. Ideally, and in many cases necessarily, the plan should extend to six months. In all cases, maintenance/prevention should be extended for life, through exercise, healthy diet and, if possible, occasional top-up treatments. Cellulite prevention is a lifestyle, not an hyped up, expensive treatment at a salon/medical centre for a couple of weeks.

Having said that we would like to make it clear that we are not against two-week intensive treatments before a holiday or similar event, as long as you are not misleading yourself and you do know that in two weeks all you can achieve is a temporary fluid reduction and a moderate improvement in skin firmness, in order to feel and look better for your holiday/wedding/birthday etc. No serious long-term improvement in cellulite fat levels can be achieved in two weeks and it has to be made clear that after the special event it would be good for you to continue with a proper treatment aimed at long-term results.

Third commandment: Thou shalt be proactive...

...by exercising properly, showing up for treatments without fail, improving your lifestyle, following a healthy dietary plan, religiously applying your anti-cellulite creams and/or taking any supplements prescribed. Having treatments once a month or using a cream once a week doesn't help. Unfortunately many women do just this and then go on complaining about not getting results...

Crash diets, cabbage soup diets and other fads will not work in the long term. Some don't even work in the short term, while others can make cellulite worse by contributing to skin loosening. Of course, eating muffins and croissants every morning with a 500-calorie caramel macchiato or drinking a bottle of champagne on Friday night are no good either, especially while on a cellulite reduction course. Meditation yoga and mild pilates classes don't qualify as cellulite-reducing exercise, neither does going for a short walk while wearing "anti-cellulite trainers". There is no point having your cellulite decreased with an expensive, high-tech treatment or cream only to undermine the whole process and increase cellulite with loads of chocolate and a sedentary life.
                                                                         
Regarding fat (the most important component of cellulite), the contribution of creams and treatments is to help release fat molecules out of fat cells in stubborn areas, where even the most vigorous exercise and diet regime doesn't work. These fat molecules must then be removed from the surrounding tissue by veins and lymph vessels and transported to the heart, from where they can be distributed all over the body by arteries, and finally arrive to a muscle, the liver or other organ to be oxidised ("burned") for energy. Unless you oxidise these fat molecules for energy, these or some other fat molecules will end up in your bum again. Unfortunately, at the moment, there is no treatment, injection or cream that will burn the fat on YOUR behalf - YOU have to do it. If anyone promises they can melt that fat away on your behalf - with ANY method - then they're either lying or are ignorant, and in either case you'd better not believe them.

Fourth commandment: Thou shalt choose a time-effective treatment, otherwise nothing will happen

There are so many different ways to reduce cellulite - the only problem is that most of them are not very time-effective. If you have ample amounts of time to receive treatment and loads of money to waste, then any treatment will give some results. The truth is that several treatment approaches are good in principle, but they are uneconomical and too time-consuming in practice. So, having thirty-minute sessions for a treatment that in reality requires two or even three-hour sessions to give results, will barely "scratch the surface". In fact, most therapists have ignorance of how time-ineffective most types of anti-cellulite equipment are.

Good examples are no-needle mesotherapy with electrical currents, laser and radio-frequency treatments, which in order to give you the results you want, they must literally be applied for hours on your body, per session, or you simply need much more sessions than you are led to believe you need. The problem is that that the equipment is very expensive, and therefore treatments are expensive, so they are only provided for thirty or sixty minutes. To make things worse for you, therapists promise results in two or three 30 or 60-minute sessions, which is absurd, because in reality you need fifteen 2-hour sessions, which of course costs a fortune.

Fifth commandment: Thou shalt only use natural, concentrated and comprehensive creams that act on several aspects of cellulite

Most women are suspicious of cellulite creams and with good reason - most of them simply don't work. And they don't really work because most cellulite creams, lotions and gels only contain two or three active ingredients, in usually very low concentrations. This is to to minimise production cost in order to allow for a generous marketing budget that will sell the creams - to you. This is as true for expensive designer creams as it is true for the lower end of the market. We are repeating ourselves again, but cellulite needs a multi-faceted approach and this applies to anti-cellulite creams too: a bit of caffeine here and some retinol or peptide there, are simply not enough.

You need specific ingredients in an anti-cellulite cream to help blood and lymph vessels improve their tone and also to stop them from leaking water into the tissues. Then you need other ingredients to encourage fat cells to release fat molecules and to discourage them from proliferating - and one ingredient only is not enough for this. And of course you need other active ingredients to stimulate connective tissue repair and growth to help make the skin firmer. Not to mention antioxidants, detoxifying and anti-inflammatory ingredients to improve the health of the tissues.

And of course, all these ingredients had better be natural and safe and in high enough concentrations to make a difference. Concentrations of 0.01% are good for marketing claims on labels and brochures but will have no effect on your skin. And unnecessary chemicals may improve the texture and smell of the product but if your skin has to work hard to break them down and eliminate them, then the cream might cause as many problems as it solves.

Sixth commandment: Thou shalt follow a well-designed, personalised plan - not an one size-fits all approach

Every woman's cellulite is different. Some have more water retention, others suffer more from inflammation, loose skin is the main issue for others, whilst superficial fat is most important aspect of may women's cellulite. Some women can exercise a lot, some can't. Some have health problems. Many like to indulge whilst other are very disciplined. Money, time availability and deadlines (e.g. a holiday or wedding) also come into the equation, and obviously all these variables have to be taken into account when designing an individualised plan for cellulite reduction. Clearly, one-size fits all approaches don't work, in much the same way simplistic, one-sided approaches don't work either...

And the moral of the story is...

Be informed, learn, do your own research, ask questions, be proactive. All in all, put yourself at the centre of responsibility - not a therapist or a cream manufacturer - and you will have made the first step in reducing your cellulite for good. Cellulite reduction starts in your brain - by becoming responsible and by learning - and we are here to both offer you knowledge and encourage you to be responsible. Knowledge and responsibility will then make creams and treatments more effective!