“I have formulated cellulite creams for 20+ years now and I can clearly state that most creams on the market do not fulfil the criteria of being called ‘cellulite creams’. Most such products are a mix of emollients and silicones to “condition” the skin, with a token “miracle” active ingredient thrown in, in minuscule concentrations, to be used for marketing purposes. Most emphasis is on packaging and marketing hype rather than content quality. Read more below...”
What exactly is anti-cellulite cream?
A cellulite cream is a cream with anti-cellulite active ingredients
An ideal cellulite cream is a cream with multiple actives to work on multiple aspects of cellulite
A real anti-cellulite cream must contain relevant actives
A cellulite cream should contain widely-researched actives, to ensure that the active definitely works on one or more aspects of cellulite
A proper anti-cellulite cream is one with high-purity actives, to ensure the active ingredients are, well, pure enough
A cellulite cream worth its name should have high concentrations of actives, to ensure there is enough quantity of that ingredient in every ml you apply on your skin
An anti-cellulite cream, should have a well-absorbable cream base to help active ingredients penetrate into the skin
The typical cellulite cream: exactly the opposite of all the above
The other reason for a cellulite cream not working is when the buyer doesn’t “work”
A cellulite cream only in name
Price is not a good indicator, as what sells a cosmetic product is packaging and fluffy marketing, not quality actives
Will a cellulite cream eliminate all the cellulite then?
So what makes a good anti-cellulite cream? What active ingredients shall I look for?
So do your research, look for quality anti-cellulite actives…
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An anti-cellulite cream is a cream with anti-cellulite active ingredients
A cream formulation is basically a mix of:
oil
water
emulsifier (to mix water and oil)
and a stabiliser, to stabilise the emulsified mix
A cream can be made to absorb:
Very little. Example: a sunscreen.
Slowly. Examples: a thick, rich moisturiser or a just poorly formulated anti-ageing/anti-cellulite cream.
Fast. Examples: a anti-good cellulite / anti-ageing cream.
So this is what makes a cellulite cream:
a QUICKLY ABSORBABLE cream formulation
with ideally a HIGH CONCENTRATION of
ANTI-CELLULITE ACTIVE INGREDIENTS in it
It’s as simple as that.
Without anti-cellulite active ingredients - or with very little in the way of active ingredients - we are talking about a simple body moisturiser.
And I am sorry to break it to you, but 95% of the so-called cellulite creams on the market are exactly that, basically a body moisturiser.
And this is the main reason why most people maintain that cellulite creams do not work: because what they have in mind and what they have tried are not even cellulite creams, they are moisturisers with something very little “anti-cellulite” in them, just to support the fluffy, shallow and misleading marketing.
The other reason is that most people expect results with a couple of applications, i.e. “magical thinking”.
But let’s look at things in detail.
An ideal cellulite cream is a cream with multiple actives to work on multiple aspects of cellulite
One active is never enough, because cellulite is a multi-factorial aesthetic condition.
Unfortunately, most cellulite creams contain just one or two actives.
A real anti-cellulite cream must contain relevant actives
You would be surprised by how many so-called cellulite creams are based on irrelevant ingredients, such as shea butter or Vitamin B5 etc. No matter how nice those ingredients are for your skin, they are irrelevant to cellulite.
Unfortunately, again, many “cellulite creams” contain irrelevant ingredients.
A cellulite cream should contain widely-researched actives, to ensure that the active definitely works on one or more aspects of cellulite
Every year cosmetic ingredient manufacturers invent a slew of new “miracle” anti-cellulite actives, based on some limited, manipulated, proprietary research (basically no public, peer-reviewed research papers).
Then they forget about that the following year, for the sake of another secret (ooooh) miracle (ooooh) ingredient based on yet more shoddy, not published and not peer-reviewed research.
I would not believe any of those claims, as a lot of them are made up or exaggerated.
Unfortunately, many cellulite creams contain such unproven “actives”.
A proper anti-cellulite cream is one with high-purity actives, to ensure the active ingredients are, well, pure enough…
A good example of a low purity active ingredient is guarana (found in those ridiculous, so-called “bum-bum” creams), typically containing 20% caffeine (as opposed to 95% pure caffeine, which is ideal). With the 20% version you would need to use 5x more cream quantity for the same result, in comparison to the 95% purity one.
And given that the 20% guarana extract has a not very nice brown colour, the manufacturer have to use very little of that 20% extract, so that the cream does not appear an ugly brown that stains clothes - meaning that very little caffeine will be present in the cream, sometimes as little as 1% of guarana…
Another example is a generic centella asiatica extract that contains 1% (or even 0.1%) triterpenes (as opposed to 95% pure asiatic acid, asiaticoside, madecassic acid, madecassoside, the actives in centella asiatica).
With the 1% version you would need to use 95x times more cream quantity for the same result, in comparison to a cream with 95% purity centella triterpenes. With the 0.1% version you woild need to use 950x more cream. BIG difference.
Unfortunately, the VAST majority of cellulite creams contain such low purity extracts.
A cellulite cream worth its name should have high concentrations of actives, to ensure there is enough quantity of that active in every ml you apply on your skin
Similar to active ingredient purity is the issue of active ingredient concentration in a cream.
If an active is included at 0.1% concentration in one cream and at, say, 3% in another cream, then you would need to use 30x more quantity of the first cream to achieve the results as with the the second cream.
Again, BIG difference.
Now, do the maths and combine 0.1% of 40% purity centella asiatica extract (i.e. 0.04% therapeutic triterpenes in the cream) vs a 3% of 95% purity extract (i.e. 2.85% therapeutic triterpenes in the cream). This is a 2.85 : 0.04 = 7,125x less triterpenes in the first case.
This means that you need to use 7,125 bottles of the cheap and/or marketing fluff based cream in comparison to the honest, high concentration cream.
Yes, 7125 bottles. A lifetime is not enough. That’s why most so-called “cellulite creams” do not have a chance in hell of working.
Again, unfortunately, the VAST majority of cellulite creams contain actives at very low concentrations.
An anti-cellulite cream, should have a well-absorbable cream base to help active ingredients penetrate into the skin
Again, if a cream stays on top of the skin and does not get absorbed, then regardless of what is in it, it won’t work.
Most so-called cellulite creams are made in such away so that skin feels instantly soft and plump, with silicones and saturated fat based butters. However, the same type of formulation also prevents actives from being absorbed.
So yes, you have an instant nice skin feel when you apply the cream, but you get no results in regard to cellulite at all.
Unfortunately, many cellulite creams are more about instant skin texturing rather than being a vehicle for the absorption of actives into the skin, which - according to their name - they should be.
The typical anti-cellulite cream: exactly the opposite of all the above
As mentioned earlier, 95% of cellulite creams on the market are NOT as above, i.e. they are moisturisers not worthy of being called a ‘cellulite cream’.
This is usually:
Due to cost: “Why spend money on very expensive actives when we can spend it on luxurious packaging, misleading marketing and retail distribution, which is what actually sells cosmetics?” Good point, right? Give the public what they want: luxury packaging and marketing fluff…
Or due to ignorance: Most “cellulite creams” are designed by the same people who also formulate shampoos, nail polish, hair products and pointless facial “serums”, not by people who have spent decades researching cellulite.
And that’s one of the reasons most cellulite creams don’t “work”. Because they are not real cellulite creams, they are “cellulite creams” just in name.
The other reason for a cellulite cream not working is when the buyer doesn’t “work”
When the buyer only applies the cream occasionally or for just a couple of weeks. Most buyers behave like that: they collect products while shopping and then use the randomly and expect them to work.
When the buyer doesn’t change their diet, inactivity and other lifestyle habits that initially led to the creation of cellulite and expect the cream to do all the work, while eating unhealthy food, living unhealthily and being inactive. Again, the vast majority of people fall into this category.
Obviously nothing works with attitudes like that.
A cellulite cream only in name
If ANY of the above six factors is taken away, e.g. only one or two of irrelevant, un-researched or low purity actives are used or actives in low concentrations or in a cream base that sticks on the surface of your skin and goes nowhere inside the skin, then you have a poorly performing anti-cellulite cream.
If you do not put ANY active ingredients AT ALL in the cream then, as mentioned above, you have a plain moisturiser. Or, in actual fact, you have one of the top selling cellulite creams worldwide. Yes, ZERO ACTIVES, yet top selling and benefitting from an obviously fake clinical study and thousands of questionable reviews too. That’s the real reality in the real world.)
And if you just use ONE active ingredient, either IRRELEVANT, with no CREDIBLE RESEARCH, POORLY ABSORBED, at LOW CONCENTRATION, LOW PURITY or all of the above, then you have a description for the vast majority of “cellulite creams” on the market, selling from £10 to £200 per bottle.
The above two are not examples of cellulite creams, they are examples of profit vehicles.
Of course there is nothing wrong with fat profits, if you also provide a quality product or service. But when you mislead people that they buy an X product and you sell them Y, i.e. when you promise a cellulite cream (a cream with anti-cellulite ingredients) and you sell them a moisturiser, then this is downright unethical.
Price is not a good indicator, as what sells a cosmetic product is packaging and fluffy marketing, not quality actives
Of course, a high quality cellulite cream, by definition, cannot be cheap:
95% purity actives cost 10x, 20x or even 50x times more than 0.1% purity actives
And actives included at 5% concentration in the final product will obviously cost 50x times more than actives included at 0.1% concentration
On the other hand, a high price may just mean expensive marketing hype, luxurious packaging, distribution and retail costs and not much else.
An expensive cream may be expensive because of the amazing packaging and manipulative marketing and not necessarily because it has amazing active ingredients in high concentrations and in a fast absorbing formulation.
However, last time I checked, cellulite was not reduced by rubbing expensive, wasteful packaging on anyone’s legs or by sweet nothings whispered to someone’s ears by crafty marketers.
Will a cellulite cream eliminate all the cellulite then?
No, for the vast majority of cellulite cases this is impossible to do with any product or service of any kind - not even with surgery (especially not with surgery).
It is all about reducing cellulite, not eliminating it and a good cellulite cream with the right formulation can help with that - always in combination with diet, exercise and an overall healthy lifestyle.
Will people exercise? Will people diet? Will people even apply the cream every day for 6-12 weeks, which is the prerequisite for good results?
Perhaps not, but at least people have the right to buy the real deal - not a moisturiser with expensive marketing attached to it.
And then it’s up to the client how the use it and make the most of it.
So what makes a good anti-cellulite cream? What active ingredients shall I look for?
The best anti-cellulite active ingredients that can be used in cellulite creams are 95% pure molecules, not 1-40% crude extracts:
Forskolin
Caffeine
Asiatic acid, asiaticoside, madecassic acid, madecassoside
Curcumin
EGCG
Quercetin
Pine bark extract
Escin
Ruscogenin
Esculoside
Hesperidin
Rutin
Cocoa flavanols
Hydroxyproline
among a few more others
(Of course actives of the 1%, 2%, 10% or even 40% purity varieties will not work, it has to be 90-95%.)
The above actives are all well researched for decades to act on one or more aspects of cellulite, i.e.:
Fat accumulation
Fibrosis
Skin laxity
Poor circulation
Free radical damage
Inflammation
Glycation
However, the vast majority of cellulite creams on the market are not like that, mainly because of cost, as mentioned above.
If, as a skincare manufacturer, you are used to 1,000% gross profit margin by selling 50ml of a face cream for a 3-month use, why go down to 50% gross profit by selling 600ml of cellulite cream for a 3-month use?
Especially when marketing can help you sell a diluted body moisturiser with a little bit of guarana at low concentrations as a cellulite / bum-bum cream?
Exactly. Almost no manufacturer will do it, unless they care and they have the passion to produce a great product.
And you won’t find those people in multi-nationals, where accountants and spreadsheets rule and CEOs dream of billions.
So do your research, look for quality anti-cellulite actives…
…and when you decide and buy your ideal cellulite cream, make sure you use it daily and also exercise and eat/live healthily to make the most of it.
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We are proud to be the first and only cellulite clinic in the world to offer Cellulite Ultrasonography™ to our clients, for accurate assessment, better treatment and enhanced results. Since 2022 we have assessed and provided valuable insights to hundreds of clients to better understand their specific case, see how their skin looks from inside and make informed decisions.
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Cellulite surgery, such as cellulaze, cellutite, cellfina, subcision etc
Face-lift surgery
Non-surgical procedures, such as RF microneedling, extreme intensity HIFU, extreme intensity RF, extreme intensity ultrasound etc
Everything will be shown and explained to you clearly and you can see and understand how the different structures inside your skin affect your appearance.
If there is scar tissue / fibrosis, those will be clearly seen and you can differentiate between fibrosis, water retention or unremoved fat after all types of cosmetic surgery or harsh non-surgical procedures such as RF microneedling, extreme intensity HIFU etc.
(DISCLAIMER: Please note that this service is for your informational purposes only and does not constitute medical diagnosis or advice.)
The 45’ appointment includes full assessment and consultation and optional treatment plan for cellulite reduction and/or skin tightening.
If you do wish to have treatment with us, the ultrasound scan, assessment and consultation will be used to optimise your course of treatments and maximise your results.
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