Cellulite creams: should emphasis be placed on water retention, fat reduction, skin firming of fibrosis?

On which aspect of cellulite should a cellulite cream focus?

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• Water retention, cellulite fat reduction, fibrosis or skin firming? Where should a cellulite cream focus ideally?

• So in which of those aspects should a good cellulite cream focus? Where can it contribute the most?

• Should skin looseness be a priority in cellulite creams?

• Should fibrosis be a priority in cellulite creams?

• Should poor circulation / water retention be a priority in cellulite creams?

• Should hypodermal fat reduction be a priority in cellulite creams?

• So what should be the main priority in cellulite creams?

• Multi-functional ingredients in cellulite creams

• Check our professional consultancy in cellulite, skin tightening, ultrasound and radiofrequency

Water retention, cellulite fat reduction, fibrosis or skin firming? Where should a cellulite cream focus ideally?

The four main visual aspects of cellulite are hypodermal fat accumulation, water retention/puffiness, skin looseness and fibrosis.

• Hypodermal fat accumulation combined with fibrosis is what makes fat globules protrude from the skin surface

• Fat pushes up and fibrotic collagen fibres push down, resulting in the mattress effect

• Water retention makes cellulite more visible by increasing volume in the hypodermis and dermis

• Likewise, loose skin makes it easier for the fat globules to push up

So in which of those aspects should a good cellulite cream focus? Where can it contribute the most?

Firstly, let’s make it clear that most cellulite creams are simply too diluted (for profitability reasons) to make any real difference in anything. Hence the term “good cellulite creams” used above.

Why put a lot of expensive active ingredients in a cream, when you can drive sales with marketing? Exactly. Cosmetic giants care about shareholder value, not about your thighs.

Now we have cleared that up, let’s focus on the treatment of four cellulite aspects by a cellulite cream.

Should skin looseness be a priority in cellulite creams?

Yes, to some extent. Skin tightening should resist some upward pressure and reduce the appearance of the cellulite bumps. How can you effect skin tightening?

Peptides, aminoacids (such as hydroxyproline, the most important aminoacid in collagen) and herbal extracts (such as centella asiatica, cocoa flavanols, pine bark extract and many others) can contribute towards skin firmness.

Skin firmness does not take minutes to work, but weeks and months (any instant results you see with those “miracle” creams literally wash off with the next shower).

So a skin firming/cellulite cream should be used for 6-12 weeks for best results. A break of one month can be taken thereafter and the cream can be used for another 6-12 weeks, for continued support with skin firming.

Should fibrosis be a priority in cellulite creams?

Fibrosis is what makes the collagen fibres of the septae/retinaculae to contract and pull the skin down as a result.

Herbal extracts (curcumin, EGCG, quercetin, centella asiatica, among others) are known to have an anti-fibrotic effect.

Again, fibrosis reduction takes weeks to work, so a cream containing such ingredients should be used for several weeks, in the manner described above.

Should poor circulation / water retention be a priority in cellulite creams?

Water retention is the quick fix of many gimmicky so-called cellulite creams, masks and wraps.

• Temporary water retention can be effected quite quickly, especially with materials that draw water out of the skin, as in clay body wraps

• Caffeine, used at excessive concentrations for a short period of time (not very sustainable) can also have such a quick water retention reduction effect

However, with such short-term measures, water retention comes back equally fast.

Support for long-term circulation, however, takes more time to occur: several weeks, in line with fibrosis reduction, skin firming and hypodermal fat reduction (see below).

Herbal extracts, such as liposomal caffeine, forskolin, curcumin, EGCG, centella asiatica, esculoside, cocoa flavanols, hesperidin, quercetin, rutin, escin, ruscogenin, pine bark extract and many more, can all offer valuable support for circulation, both in the short term and in the long term.

Should hypodermal fat reduction be a priority in cellulite creams?

Absolutely. The main cause of cellulite is hypodermal fat accumulation. Without it:

• There would not be fat globule enlargement and consequent reactive fibrosis on the collagen fibres

• Water retention, although important, would not cause the bumpy cellulite surface appearance. Skin would just feel and sometimes look puffy, but that would be it.

• Likewise, skin laxity would be irrelevant, cellulite-wise. Skin would just feel and sometimes look loose, but that would be it.

Herbal extracts, such as liposomal caffeine, forskolin, and to a lesser extent curcumin, centella asiatica, EGCG, quercetin, pine bark extract and other herbal extracts, as well as a couple of peptides (most peptides don’t work for fat reduction), are known for their lipolytic action.

Again, as cellulite fat reduction takes weeks to work, a cream containing such ingredients should be used for 12 or more weeks, in the manner described above.

So what should be the main priority in cellulite creams?

Obviously, for any non-gimmicky cream (where the focus is always on quick water reduction or a temporary skin feel improvement with silicones*) priority should be placed on superficial fat accumulation, and then on all the other aspects of cellulite.

The focus on hypodermal fat reduction would offer the best value to the customer in the long run, provided that the customer is motivated to use a quality cellulite cream for 6-12 weeks - or even more.

For those who want a two-week quick fix, I would suggest to stir clear of cellulite creams and just have 2-3 clay body wraps, which would give a more pronounced water retention reduction effect.

Furthermore, for those who use a cellulite cream for 1-2 weeks, I would have to say that you should not expect any cream to reduce fat, fibrosis or skin laxity in such a short period of time.

(* Whatever firming results you see in two weeks, is mainly due to gimmicky functional ingredients (e.g. silicones, thick fats etc) that temporarily make skin feel firmer, without changing collagen and elastin levels.)

Multi-functional ingredients in cellulite creams

As you may have noticed above, many active ingredients have multiple effects against cellulite.

Some of those ingredients may be unsuitable for cosmetic use due to their deep colour (e.g. quercetin) or to extreme cost, which make a cellulite cream impossible to sell to 99% of the population (and they may not be absolutely necessary either).

However, some other actives are both multi-functionally effective against cellulite, tackling at the same time fat, firmness, fluid retention and fibrosis: the four Fs of cellulite. The best example of such actives is centella asiatica extract with 95% content or higher of asiatic acid, asiaticoside, madecassic acid and/or madecassoside.

As long as actives in a cellulite cream are in a high-purity, concentrated form, such a cream will offer significant help against cellulite at a fraction of the cost of a course of treatments - always combined with healthy eating and exercise.

And for those who want faster results, concentrated cellulite creams can be combined with a course of strong cellulite treatments (as with creams, no cellulite treatment can offer results in 1-2 weeks or with 1-2 sessions): the best two cellulite technologies available today are deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency and high-power ultrasound cavitation.

So by using multifunctional actives we can tackle all aspects of cellulite, making sure we focus a bit more on fat than any other aspect.

Check our professional consultancy in cellulite, skin tightening, ultrasound and radiofrequency

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