Cellulite: What is it and How can you get rid of it?

The first sign of cellulite is every woman’s nightmare. Cellulite is an irregular accumulation of fatty cells immediately underneath the skin, which leads to a dimpled appearance known as cellulite or ‘orange skin’. So, let’s take a closer look at cellulite, what it is, why mainly women get it and how you can get rid of it.

What is Cellulite?
In addition to the secretory portions of sweat glands, the hypodermis (subcutaneous connective tissue which lies just below your skin) contains lobules of adipose tissue (tissue containing fat-cells), which are separated by strands of collagenous fibers, called septae. When these septae become excessively filled with well-nourished adipocytes (fatty cells), the surface of the skin becomes dimpled and the appearance is known as cellulite.

Cellulite occurs around the hips, thighs, and buttocks. Because of the close proximity of cellulite is to the surface of the skin, it creates a dimpled appearance in those body regions.

It occurs mostly in women as well as in some men, and can affect most age groups. Even if you do not have a weight problem, eat healthy food, drink plenty of fluid and exercise on a regular basis, you can still have cellulite.

It is estimated that about 85% of women have some cellulite. Cellulite can begin developing in teenagers, but more commonly begins to show itself in the late 20’s, early 30’s. Factors that are attributed to the development of cellulite are: age, genetic predisposition, Hormonal changes, unhealthy diets and lack of exercise. However, even fit and healthy top athletes can and do get cellulite. Basically the reason women get cellulite is because women have to store fat to give them enough calories to get them through pregnancy and breastfeeding.

What Can You Do and What Works To Rid Yourself of Cellulite?

For starters, be patient. Anything you are going to do that will ultimately bring results will take time.

Massage

Lymphatic drainage massage, and specific massage strokes such as effleurage, frictions, tapotement, and kneading will help to remove the build up of fat deposition. You will need to have regular massages, at least once per week for 6-12 months, depending on the amount of cellulite needing to be removed. As the months pass, however, you will start to see a difference, very slow at first, but if you continue this form of treatment, you will see a difference.

Lotions/Creams

The use of essential oils in lotions and creams can indeed help to break down cellulite. Essential oil of Mandarin, which is a citrus oil, will help to break down fat. The way to get the best effect is to use a product like Wildcrafted’s Mandarin Toning Lotion, applied to your thighs and buttocks, or where ever you have cellulite, rap this area with Glad wrap, and allow the lotion to work for about 20 minutes. Repeat this at least 3 times per week.

The best results are obtained by applying the lotion to the affected area, wrapping Glad wrap around these areas followed by 15-20min of gentle exercise, such as going for a walk, riding a bike (exercise bike) or using a treadmill.

In addition, combine this regime with a healthy diet, ample intake of water and some exercise, and you will start to see a difference over time. Again, be patient. This will not work in a day or two.

Aromatherapy Oil Bend to help reduce cellulite
Using the same essential oils as are contained in Wildcrafted's Mandarin Toning Lotion, namely, Mandarin, Lemon, Cypress, Juniper Berry, Lemon grass and Peppermint you can make an oil blend using 6 drops each into 50ml of Almond or Apricot oil. After a bath, shower or exercise gently massage a few drops of the oil into the affected areas of your body. Do this twice a day.

Various Machines

There are a couple of machines that seem to provide results. One of these is called the Tri-Active and the other the Velasmooth and both of these machines do improve the problem, however, they are expensive, and only the Velasmooth is available in Australia at a cost of $150.- per session! Results are starting to be noticed after 4-6 months of weekly sessions.

Your best bet is to combine the massage with a lotion such as the Mandarin Toning Lotion, a regular exercise regime and a good, healthy, well-balanced diet.

Assault Your Cellulite

Usually doing one thing on its own will not produce long-term effects. For example if you decide you will exercise every day for 20 minutes, focusing on your thighs, you will get trim muscles and you will loose some of the cellulite, but even athletes have cellulite, so what chance have we, non-athletes, got?

On the other hand if you go on a diet, the same sort of thing happens. You will loose weight, probably, and you will start to feel healthier and more energetic, but the cellulite will likely only reduce and not disappear.

Similarly, you can buy a variety of products, all of which claim to work, and many of them probably could, but in the long-term, it is not likely that you will be able to get rid of the cellulite totally.

The only way that you can get rid of cellulite is to combine the three. Eat fresh, wholesome foods, do not eat processed food; stay away from coffee, alcohol and sweet soft drinks. Instead drink diluted fruit juice/vegetable juice, at least 2 litres of water every day and keep all other drinks to a minimum.

In addition, exercise at least 3 times every week. Find an exercise you enjoy, because if you don't, you won't do it long-term. The exercise you choose needs to become a hobby, that way you look forward to doing it rather then a have to do.

Finally to specifically target the areas of cellulite deposition, use a cream or lotion that contains a range of essential oils that include Lemon, Mandarin and others.

Citrus oils break down fat. They also are readily absorbed through the skin and thus directly affect the fat cells stored just below the superficial layers of the skin. One such product is Wildcrafted's Mandarin Toning Lotion. It contains the mix of citrus oils that are known to target fat cells in the skin.

The best results are achieved if after you apply the Mandarin Toning Lotion, you wrap the body-parts in Glad wrap and do some gentle exercise such as going for a walk or a gentle bike ride. After this exercise, have a shower, reapply the toning lotion and rest for 15 minutes.

If you do this and follow the suggestions above with respect to diet and fluid intake, you will see significant result, but only if you stick to it and continue the process over several months (6 months plus).

Another form of cellulite treatment is getting regular massages. Yes, they certainly can help in reducing the cellulite, but again it will take many months before you start to see the results.

Treating cellulite is a long-term multi-facetted approach and there is no such thing as a quick fix here.

I hope this little article will help some of you begin to get a grasp on how to go about getting rid of your cellulite. Be persistent, patient and make it fun.

Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA's): Do they belong in Natural Skin Care Products?

What exactly are Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA's) and What do AHA's do?

Alpha hydroxy acids (AHA’s) are Fruit acids, which are weak organic acids derived from various sources such as, grapes, apples, sugar cane, maple, pineapple, papaya, willow bark, lemon, lime, sour milk, blackberries, yoghurt and cider, and play an important role in skin care.

Fruit acids are natural exfoliants that perform a number of functions at the level of the stratum corneum on the skin's surface. They loosen and dissolve dead cells from the skin's surface and help to regenerate new skin cells, aid in the control of acne, smooth rough dry skin, improve the texture of sun-damaged and aging skin and retain moisture which leaves your skin healthy and vibrant.

Using an exfoliant is one of the most important steps in skin care - I would go as far as saying it is the most important. If you think about it, what is the point of using a good moisturiser on your dead skin cells? None, right? So, using a facial clay once or twice a week and / or using a mild natural exfoliating gel is a great investment in your skin and your skin's health. Useful links to product information: Skin Renewal Gel - gentle exfoliating gel Earth Medicine Facial Clay - come in either Mask or Gel types

That is basically a good thing, but as usual, many companies are using concentrated extracts, or worse still, synthetically manufactured AHA’s or BHA’s (beta hydroxy acids), and that is not a good thing. Excessive concentration, or rather out-of-balance ingredients in skin care is definately to be avoided and I would not consider this type of products to be 'natural'. Yes, they may be natural extracts and added to a cream or lotion in concentrated form, thus arguably they are natural, but that is not what 'natural' skin care is about.

When scientists, pharmacists or chemists comes across a ‘new substance’, so to speak, they have a tendency to want to make it better than nature’s version… more concentrated for quicker, immediate results… and so on. Unfortunately, this usually brings with it side effects and sometimes actual physical damage.

A natural ingredient – just what exactly does that mean? Does it mean it is a substance that nature created and it has been added to a product in order to make that product natural? No, a natural ingredient is an ingredient that is, where ever possible, present in it’s natural, preferably wholistic form, for example AHA’s can be extracted and then added to a product, thereby the maker of that product can claim it contains ‘Natural ingredients’. Or the AHA’s can be used in a product in the form of an extract of Papaya with all the other ingredients present in Papaya fruit. This is a more balanced set of ingredients which work together to achieve a desired effect, thus it is a truly natural ingredient.

Many people do not react well to AHA's in skin care, and this is usually due to the fact that these women use skin care that have concentrates of AHA's in them, not the fruit extract in it's wholistic form. Many Woman come to us with irritated skin, saying '...but I use this natural skin care product...', when looking at it more closely we generally find that either a synthetic or natural extract/concentrate was used - the result: Irritated skin.

One of the best sources of AHA's is found in papaya fruit. When used in a cream such as the Papaya Day Creme, you will soon see the old layers (not dead yet) peal off - this is what is supposed to happen and there is no need for alarm. On the contrary, this is what you want to happen and shows you that the products is working on renewing your skin!!! Papaya Day Creme is used by individuals with dry & mature Skin type. If you have dry and sensitive Skin, then use the Rose Day Creme For an oily skin types Avocado Day Creme is your product of choice. Useful links to product information Natural Skin Care Systems - for a complete skin care approach for your specific skin types

Let me illustrate: Aspirin (a very commonly used pain killer) is derived from the bark of the White Willow Tree. The substance or the active ingredient is called Salicylic acid, a Beta Hydroxy Acid (BHA). This is the stuff that reduces pain. It is also the stuff that can cause Stomach ulcers….

Now, the herbal extract of the White Willow Bark does not (or is much less likely to) cause Stomach ulcers. Why? because the herbal extract contains many other ingredients that are contained in the bark, which the extraction process brings out. Some of these substances are mucilaginous (Porridge is mucilaginous, or 'slimy') which means they are slippery and when taken internally, they cover the membrane of the Stomach (the lining) and prevent the salicylic acid from causing ulceration – clever, isn’t she, that Mother Nature woman?

Sometimes you will hear these additional ingredients referred to as “phyto-chemicals”. This is a very current topic today with respect to Vitamins and other ‘natural’ supplements. The term 'phyto' refers to plant, so what they are actually saying is plant chemicals.

Should AHA's be in your natural skin care products?

What does all this have to do with natural skin care? Well, as I have written before. Natural skin care is not necessarily natural and one could debate back and forth what ‘natural’ is, or what it should be. One thing is certain, natural skin care products should not contain any ‘un-natural’ ingredients, be they synthetically produced or in ‘purified / isolated / concentrated form’. Natural should be as close as possible to the way it is found in nature.

That is not to say one should not use Vitamin E as a principal ingredient in a cream, but it should not be of a synthetically derived form. Wheat germ oil, for example, is very high in Vitamin E and contains many other phyto-chemicals, which are nourishing to the skin.

At Wildcrafted Herbal Products we choose to define natural as ‘the way nature created it’, so we prefer not to use isolated natural ingredients. Instead, we choose to use traditional plant extracts, essential oils, carrier oils, hydrosols and other natural ingredients according to Naturopathic and herbal medicine principles, which preserve the integrity of the plant or relevant plant parts.

AHA's are a good ingredient to be included in natural skin care products, as long as the AHA's are still in their original content, ie: as part of a fruit hydrosol for example. That way, the ingredients in the fruit (other than the AHA's) will buffer the acidic effect of the AHA's and thus your skin is far less likely to be irritated or have an adverse reaction to the product.

We hope this clarifies some of the confusion which is propagated in the media and provides you with information you can use when next looking at ingredients on natural skin care products.

Danny Siegenthaler is a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and together with his wife Susan, a medical herbalist and Aromatherapist, they have created Natural Skin Care Products by Wildcrafted Herbal Products to share their 40 years of combined expertise with you.

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