Let’s address the elephant in the room - that orange peel appearance on your legs, mine, queen B’s and Rihanna’s - cellulite.

So, although it’s one of the things most talked about and most hated by women, little is known about what actually causes it.  We know that the appearance of cellulite derives from the subcutaneous fat and fibrous tissues beneath your skin, but why this happens there’s no one true answer. 

What we do know is that until the 1800s “cellulite” wasn’t a thing. We don’t mean in the way that didn’t exist (there’s various paintings that celebrate it as part of the female body) but in the way that it wasn’t a problem. The term cellulite was in the beginning used in the medical realm to describe cells or tissues in a state of inflammation or infection (nothing to do with dimples and what we now call cellulite). Sometime along the 1800s this term made its way to mainstream media and lost its original meaning. The first article mentioning it was in the magazine Votre Beauté which describes cellulite as “water, residues, toxins, fat, which form a mixture against which one is badly armed.” Basically, cellulite was described as a type of fat that was different from the rest of the fat and was impossible to get rid of (and only a feminine problem!).

As we’ve learnt, as a society when there’s a problem (even a fake one) there ought to be a solution, so soon, cellulite “treatments” were being offered and turned into profitable businesses (as there is no cure since there is nothing to cure) this industry started growing. 

Long story short, this industry has continued growing and still grows to this day when women are trying to get rid of this “problem” by embarking on one (or multiple) of the many “solutions” companies offer.

Cellulite is formed when clumps of fat push through the fibrous tissues which make a sort of net and that is what gives it the bumpy appearance. Cellulite affects 80-90% of post adolescent women and as we’ve seen it is NOT an issue. 

Cellulite isn’t a condition, but we have been conditioned to believe it is.

So next time you look down and see a little dimple on your body make sure you smile at it and recognise it as what it is - just part of the human body. 

Be kind to yourself and in a world filled with lies, stay true.