“After 24+ years for working with cellulite reduction I have seen many slim women with cellulite, even fashion models. The main reasons for cellulite in skinny/slim women, in descending order are genetics, of course, the use of the contraceptive pill, sugar intake, smoking/vaping, alcohol consumption, yo-yo dieting / frequent fasting, lack of exercise, low protein intake, xenoestrogens from plastics, hormonal imbalances and a lack of polyphenols or fibre in the diet. For instance, a young model with cellulite on her stomach and legs revealed a history of yo-yo dieting and contraceptive pill use as primary causes. On this article I am analysing all these factors.”
The skinny on ‘skinny cellulite’
Young women, skinny women - and even fashion models - also get cellulite and skin looseness. Why?
Skinny young model with cellulite - how is this possible? What causes cellulite in skinny / slim women - and even fashion models.
Why do young women get cellulite and loose skin?
Why do skinny women and even models get cellulite and skin looseness?
Why do i have cellulite on my stomach if I'm skinny: a real life example of a young, slim model with cellulite at the clinic
How is it possible that a skinny person can have cellulite? Isn’t cellulite just fat?
Do models have cellulite? Models with cellulite - how is this possible?
Do models have loose skin?
What about influencers / glamour models?
Cellulite reduction and skin tightening for young/slim women and models
Skinny for cellulite: frequently asked questions
At what age do you get cellulite?
Why do I have cellulite if i'm skinny
Skinny models with cellulite?
Cellulite on skinny legs?
LipoTherapeia® Plus: Have a skin tightening/cellulite treatment with London’s cellulite experts
The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening
Young women, skinny women - and even fashion models - also get cellulite and skin looseness. Why?
Cellulite and skin laxity are known to typically affect women after the age of 30 and become more pronounced by the age of 40 and 50.
They also usually affect non-slim women, from curvy to overweight.
In fact, a research paper analysed here has explained how getting older and/or putting on weight leads to the development of cellulite and loose skin in women - but not in men.
However, we also see young or skinny women who also suffer from cellulite / skin looseness. How is this possible?
Skinny young model with cellulite - how is this possible? What causes cellulite in skinny / slim women - and even fashion models.
In a recent article we presented 20 causes of cellulite, all of which also apply to young women, slim women or even teenage girls:
Estrogen
The contraceptive pill
Sugar intake
Inactivity
Excess calories (the only cause out of the 20 that never applies to skinny women)
Yo-yo dieting
Smoking and vaping
Alcohol
Fried / hydrogenated fat intake
Medication
Xenoestrogens from plastics
Pregnancy
Other hormonal imbalances, in addition to excess estrogen
Lack of protein in the diet
Excess carbohydrate intake
Excess fat intake
Lack of polyphenols in the diet
The normal ageing process
Lack of fibre in the diet
Plus genetics, of course
Why do young women get cellulite and loose skin?
As we saw above, young - even teenage - women can develop cellulite/skin laxity as much as older women.
Sure, the proportion of young women with cellulite/skin looseness is much smaller than that of older women. However, many young and/or slim women still have cellulite and there is no specific mystery about it.
Quite a lot of young and skinny girls/women, for example, take the contraceptive pill, either for acne or for contraception.
Plus quite a lot of young and skinny girls/women consume sugar, trans fats, fried food or excess calories in general. Not to mention smoking/vaping and xenoestrogens from those soda/fizzy drink cans, plastic bottles etc.
Also, yo-yo dieting is an issue with a lot of young women.
And, of course, with the social media / Netflix generation there is the issue of inactivity: a huge cause of cellulite and especially skin looseness.
In the last 20 years I have seen thousands of women from the age of 18 to 72 and have analysed their case history, discussing with them the possible causes of their skin looseness / cellulite.
In my experience from people I see at the clinic, I would say that cellulite in young women usually is mainly the result of yo-yo dieting, the contraceptive pill and sugar intake, with all the other issues also playing a role.
On the other hand, inactivity and lack of protein in the diet are a major cause of skin laxity.
Why do skinny women and even models get cellulite and skin looseness?
As we see above, the only cellulite causing factor that may not apply to slim women is evidently ‘excess calories’. All the other factors apply to slim/skinny women and this is the reason why many of them have cellulite - sometimes quite pronounced.
Again, from the hundreds of slim/skinny women I saw at the clinic over the years, I would say that the major causes of cellulite in their case is: the contraceptive pill, sugar intake and smoking/vaping.
Some women I see at the clinic who are currently slim (but with cellulite and skin laxity) have been through cycles of weight gain / weight loss in the past (yo-yo dieting). So they do appear slim, even skinny currently, but the yo-yo dieting was the initial cause of cellulite and skin looseness in the past.
Again, in regard to skin laxity, inactivity and lack of protein in the diet are a major causes.
Why do i have cellulite on my stomach if i'm skinny: a real life example of a young, slim model with cellulite at the clinic
At the moment of this article first being written, for example, I was seeing a young, slim, very successful fashion model with cellulite on her stomach - and some cellulite on her legs.
It is not a lot, and sure, Photoshop and body makeup do wonders these days, but for a fashion model even little is considered a lot.
After taking her history it became obvious that - in her specific case - yo-yo dieting and use of the contraceptive pill in her teen years were what caused cellulite to develop.
Some sugar, some alcohol intake and some vaping did not help either, but the main causes were yoyo dieting and the contraceptive pill, which also caused her other health issues, which of course we are not discussing here.
How is it possible that a skinny person can have cellulite? Isn’t cellulite fat?
Cellulite is indeed fat - fat WITHIN the skin itself (hypodermal adipose tissue). Plus it is also fibrosis, skin laxity and water retention - not just fat. On the other hand, what we call body “fat” is fat UNDER the skin (subcutaneous adipose tissue).
Now these two fat tissues can behave quite differently in different people.
This means that:
Some people will be overweight with little cellulite
Some will be skinny with cellulite
And in most people cellulite and fat accumulation will be aligned: the skinny ones will have less and the curvy ones will have more
Do models have cellulite? Models with cellulite - how is this possible?
Of course some of them do. You may not see it, because they sometimes use body makeup and often use photoshop and all sorts of retouching apps, but many fashion models DO have cellulite and skin laxity.
Most fashion models tend to belong to the ‘young and skinny’ demographic, but as I explained above this doesn’t stop someone from developing cellulite.
In fact, fashion models are typically genetically gifted with skinny genes and as a result some of them just don’t care about putting on weight or getting cellulite. So, many of them eat sugar, drink alcohol and smoke/vape without a care in the world.
Sure, skinny genes can protect you for a while, especially if you walk for 10 miles a day to castings (not anymore apparently), but not forever.
Together with the contraceptive pill, all that sugar, smoking, drinking etc are all a recipe for disaster, in the long run:
I have seen ex-top models at the clinic who used to look amazing 20 years ago and now at the age of 50 have Stage 3 cellulite
I have seen (much fewer) ex-models who are very health-and-fitness conscious who are in their 40s and have little or no cellulite
And we have all seen in the media ex-supermodels, such as Cindy Crawford, with quite advanced cellulite or Elle “The Body” McPherson, with advanced cellulite AND crepey / loose skin
Sure, cellulite doesn’t kill and it’s not the end of the world if you have it, so it’s up to each person to choose:
Either to enjoy the hedonistic lifestyle and get all sorts of “civilisation diseases” (and cellulite) as the years pass
Or live healthily, with the occasional excesses of course, and stay healthy and cellulite-free for decades
Everyone has a choice, it’s a free world, you reap what you sow and all that…
Do models have loose skin?
Skin firmness-wise, most models tend to be quite active, so when they do have skin looseness, inactivity is definitely not one of the reasons.
However, lack of protein in the diet - partially due to constant dieting - is a major cause of skin laxity in models.
Furthermore, all the other cellulite-causing factors also contribute to loose skin.
What about influencers / glamour models?
Unlike fashion models, influencers and glamour models are not so much under pressure to be slim, so they generally do tend to have more cellulite / skin laxity, which they also cover with photoshop/retouching apps.
Again, nothing wrong with having cellulite. However, many women just don’t like it and want to reduce it - not for anybody else’s sake but for themselves.
And covering up your cellulite to appear perfect to your followers is a bit disingenuous, if you supposedly do not care about cellulite…
Cellulite reduction and skin tightening for young/slim women and models
So how do you reduce cellulite and tighten skin in young/slim women, including models?
There is no difference between a curvy or a slim person or between a young or an old person. The recipe is exactly the same:
A course of 6-12 deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency and deep-acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation treatments, ideally combined with high-power LED red/infrared light therapy, for fast results, safely and naturally
And healthy lifestyle for prevention and to maximise the results of your treatment
The good news is that young skin responds much faster than older skin, so a younger person would have very good - and usually fast - results with both skin tightening and cellulite.
Slim/skinny women should generally have less cellulite and that would also help with faster/better results too. However, slim/skinny women tend to have a bit more skin looseness and that would take a bit more effort to improve.
Skinny for cellulite: frequently asked questions
We hope all is now clear regarding slimness with cellulite.
Below are some straight, quick answers to the most common questions related to this subject, to clarify finer points and add more detail.
At what age do you get cellulite?
Cellulite can start just after puberty, i.e. from about 13 years of age onwards. At that age many young girls are usually slim but cellulite can start accumulate thereby resulting in teenage ‘skinny cellulite’ at the age of 14, 16 or 18 - or adult cellulite from the age of 20 onwards.
Why do I have cellulite if i'm skinny. Skinny models with cellulite? Cellulite on skinny legs?
As described above, cellulite has multiple causes (e.g. hormonal, smoking, inactivity, microplastics, sugar, alcohol etc) which means one can be slim or have skinny legs and still develop cellulite, as long as calorie balance stays neutral.
With excessive calories we have the most common form of cellulite, i.e. a mix of overweight and cellulite.
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At LipoTherapeia we have specialised 100% in skin tightening and cellulite reduction for more than two decades and 20,000+ sessions.
This is all we study and practise every day and have researched and tried hands-on all the important skin tightening equipment and their manufacturers.
As strong, deep acting radiofrequency and deep-acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation are the technologies of choice for skin tightening and cellulite reduction, we have invested in the best RF/ultrasound technologies in the world.
(Of course, we keep looking for new technologies every day and if/when a better technology materialises we will be the first to provide it. However, we will never follow the latest ineffective gimmick, just because it’s good marketing to offer the latest hyped up - yet ineffective and/or unsafe treatment.)
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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
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(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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