I see a lot of bodies as a massage therapist and bizarrely people sometimes apologise for a perceived flaw and for me, the issue I was aware of the most on my body, was Cellulite.
Firstly despite the £££'s spent to the contrary, Cellulite is not an issue to be solved. And until 1968 the word didn’t even exist, the first mention of it was in the Vogue magazine below
https://archive.vogue.com/article/1968/04/15/cellulite-the-new-word-for-fat-you-couldnt-lose-before
And from this point onwards, women all around the world had another thing to focus on, worry about and spend time and money trying to hide or eliminate.
The reason I am writing about cellulite is because it is actually fascia… And as a body worker, I love fascia. Fascia is a kind of connective tissue that acts as scaffolding. Cellulite is superficial fascia a.k.a. the layer just below your skin. It is a really strong type of connective tissue, it is made up of nerves, blood cells and adipose tissue. It serves as cushioning, protection and makes the shape of your body.
The bit of fascia that is called cellulite, has a distinctive dimpling, “orange peel” look.
80-90% of women have it!
10% of men have it!
Targeting Cellulite is a multi-million-pound industry. But it has also been proven that many of the applications to address the look of cellulite actually is really damaging to your fascia. It causes inflammation and inflammation is one of the key factors in ageing and not just at the point of treatment, it sends chemicals around your entire system, causing an overall ageing effect. You also are breaking up the collagen fibres, which need to bind together to do their job effectively and let’s face it, we need to help to our collagen, as the production of it diminishes over time and causes wrinkles.
The most aggressive treatments are proven to cause skin to age faster and after initial change in appearance, the skin and connective tissue are actually in a worse state than before.
So please don’t waste your money on aggressive treatments, love your thighs and your dimples, love your fascia and please don’t do anything to hurt it!
The Body Nerd Show – episode 162
Inflammaging in Skin and Other Tissues - The Roles of Complement System and Macrophage
Yong Zhuang* and John Lyga
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4082166/