What is Cellulite?

Cellulite is a common yet often misunderstood condition that primarily affects women. It manifests as dimpled, lumpy skin on areas like the thighs, buttocks, and abdomen. Although it’s a natural phenomenon, the appearance of cellulite can be a source of concern for many people.

How is Cellulite Formed?

Cellulite forms when fat deposits push through the connective tissue beneath the skin; think of a squish toy covered in the net. If the toy gets squished, it pushes through the net in the form of little lumps. These little lumps are seen as cellulite through the skin.

Several factors contribute to its development:

1. Genetics: Your genes can determine how your body stores fat and how susceptible you are to cellulite.
2. Hormones: Hormonal changes, particularly in estrogen levels, play a crucial role in cellulite formation. Estrogen can influence fat distribution, blood circulation, and the skin’s structural integrity.
3. Lifestyle Factors: Poor diet, lack of physical activity, dehydration, and smoking can exacerbate cellulite. These factors affect the skin’s health, circulation, and fat storage.
4. Age: As you age, your skin loses elasticity and becomes thinner, making cellulite more noticeable.
5. Weight Changes: Significant fluctuations in weight can stretch and weaken the connective tissue, making cellulite more visible.

Effective Treatments for Cellulite

Please note while there is no permanent cure for cellulite, several treatments can help reduce its appearance:

Topical Treatments: Creams and lotions containing caffeine, retinol, and other active ingredients can temporarily tighten the skin and improve its texture. However, these effects are often short-lived if not used continuously and in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle.

We love Environs Contouring cream:

This lightweight and quick absorbing contouring cream, when gently massaged into the skin, assists in visibly improving the appearance of dimpled, unevenly textured and lax skin, targeting areas such as the jawline, upper arms, abdomen, buttocks, thighs and knees. It also assists to protect the skin from free-radical damage. The skin looks and feels more hydrated, silky and nourished.

1. Massage Therapy: Techniques like lymphatic drainage massage and dry brushing can improve circulation and reduce fluid retention, making cellulite less noticeable.
2. Diet and Exercise: Maintaining a healthy diet and regular exercise routine can help reduce body fat and improve muscle tone, which may minimise the appearance of cellulite. Exercise like massage also improves circulation.
3. Laser and Radiofrequency Treatments: These non-invasive procedures use energy to heat the skin, stimulate collagen production, and break down fat cells. They can provide longer-lasting results compared to topical treatments.
4. Subcision: A minor surgical procedure that involves inserting a needle under the skin to break up the fibrous bands causing the dimpled appearance. This treatment can offer significant improvements, but it’s more invasive.
5. Acoustic Wave Therapy: This method uses sound waves to break up the fibrous bands and stimulate collagen production, improving skin texture and elasticity.

Conclusion

Cellulite is a natural part of the human body, and while it cannot be eliminated, various treatments can help reduce its appearance. Embracing a healthy lifestyle and considering professional treatments can lead to noticeable improvements. Remember, beauty is diverse, and cellulite is just one of the many aspects that make us unique.

I hope you find this article helpful! If you have any other questions or need more information, feel free to ask.

In our previous article on pigmentation, we discussed what pigmentation is and the different causes of pigmentation. If you have pigmentation and have already identified the type of pigmentation it is, all you’re probably thinking is … tell me how to get rid of it.

I wish I could sit here and tell you there is one magic potion that will help; put it on, go to sleep, and you wake up spot-free tomorrow morning. On the contrary, treating pigmentation requires patience and diligence.

If you are still unsure what type of pigmentation you have, consult your skincare therapist to assist you with determining the type of pigmentation and the best possible treatment that would best suit your lifestyle and your pocket.

It would be a good start if not on professional products or a good home care routine. Ask your skin professional for products containing vitamin C (good for lightening and brightening and a good antioxidant), low levels of vitamin A, Niacinamide, etc. Introduce low levels of acids such as glycolic and lactic acid to help with exfoliation and, thus, cell turnover. The most important thing is a good broad-spectrum SPF; by using it religiously, you can already reduce pigmentation, especially post-inflammatory pigmentation, and prevent pigmentation from getting worse.

You have to get your skin to perform optimally before progressing to any intensive treatments and or products, if your barrier is not healthy you could do more harm than good.

Another vital ingredient to have in your products for daily use is a tyrosinase inhibitor such as kojic acid, ascorbic acid, resorcinol, or thiamidol. Many skincare ranges have their own patented tyrosinase inhibitors, which can be new ingredients or a combination of a few. A tyrosinase inhibitor is key to this journey as it basically prevents your skin/melanocytes from making any pigment/melanin.

And as always, Mother Nature doesn’t disappoint. Use unsaturated fatty acids found in natural oils such as avocado oil, argan oil, grapeseed oil or evening primrose oil; there are loads more, but remember to see better results by combining these natural oils with at least a medium-strength tyrosinase inhibitor.

Now that you’re doing all you can at home start with a series of advanced aesthetic treatments such as chemical peels, microneedling or laser. At the same time, you are on the tyrosinase inhibitor to help resurface and produce new cells. Remember to adhere to strict aftercare and homecare when undergoing these advanced treatments; remember the aim is a healthy barrier and glowing skin ????

This is just a brief explanation…but you can later on play around with the same principle and use it not only with colour but also with texture ,fabrics, prints, proportions, etc.

Try it with what you already have in your closet. If you have a favourite pair of jeans, match them with light blue statement earrings that are almost the same shade or a scarf. This is just a nice way to pull an outfit together and make it aesthetically pleasing.

Hope you have fun!!

Pigmentation refers to the colouration of your skin, hair and eyes. Our epidermis has specialised cells called melanocytes, which act as little factories producing melanin. We have two types of melanin in our skins: eumelanin, which is a brown/black pigment of your skin, h and Pheomelanin, which is a yellowish-red pigment. Variations of skin colour depend on the amount and functioning of your melanocytes/pigment factories.

We get two different types of pigmentation umbrellas.

1. Hyperpigmentation refers to areas that are darker than the natural skin colour. There is an increase in melanin production.
2. Hypopigmentation occurs when melanin production is reduced, so the areas appear lighter than the natural skin colour.

Let’s look at some common causes of hyperpigmentation:

1. Sun Exposure – in our very sunny Namibia, we all need extra care when exposed to sunlight. When your skin is exposed to UV rays from the sun, it tries to protect the DNA of your skin cells by tanning/going darker so that the UV rays do not “kill off” our healthy cells. Tanning is the skin’s natural emergency response action toward a treat. Many people don’t know that only once DNA damagesend signals to the melanocytes to produce more melanin to protect the DNA; thus occurs does it , a tan is a scar.
2. Hormonal Fluctuations – Competing for first place are hormones always…. many women experience the butterfly pigmentation/melasma on their faces when pregnant; some fade a few months after giving birth, and others may struggle for years after to get rid of this. So, what happens? The hormone estrogen interferes with how the melanocytes make melanin. That is why it is so common for pregnant women and women taking birth control to see pigmentation spots on the cheeks, forehead, or upper lip. Take extra precautions when on any hormone therapy.
3. Post-inflammatory Hyperpigmentation – Those pesky little marks left on your skin after a post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation pimple. Or the mark left after an injury, usually not permanent and not as hard to treat as hormonal hyperpigmentation, but can still be a pain. Again, when the skin is inflamed, like with an injury or acne, it undergoes a cascade of events to stop the inflammation and the rebuilding of the skin, causing this pigmentation. Oh, and don’t we all love to pick and scratch…don’t! it makes it worse. When skin is still recovering from injury, extra care must be taken regarding sun exposure as the skin is more sensitive to UV radiation.
4. Medication—Certain medications, like antibiotics, may make our skin more sensitive to UV radiation, increasing the risk of hyperpigmentation.
5. Topical Applications – Perfumes are a big contributor to hyperpigmentation on the skin again the perfumes used in your favourite au de toilet cause the skin to go into fight mode as it compromises the skin’s barrier, skin becomes inflamed and is left vulnerable to UV exposure. Rather, spray your perfumes on your clothes and unexposed areas. When using products high in acids and retinoids, follow the instructions and cover your skin with a good SPF, not sure what a good SPF is, have a read on our previous article on SPFs.

Common causes of hypopigmentation:

Hypo pigmentation can be caused by auto-immune conditions like vitiligo or areas where the skin experienced trauma thus trauma to the melanocytes as well, thus it can’t produce any melanin. Some fungal and bacterial infections and exposure to chemicals may also affect the melanocytes, their ability to produce melanin and genetics like albinism.

In our next segment, we will examine what you can do to treat disorders and pigmentation to prevent them.

Till next time.

You’re a “mom on the go” and wish you could also wear a blazer.

As I am also a mom of 3, I know (between breastfeeding, driving to school, kids eating lunch and getting dressed in the car for the next activity, driving back and forth) some of the struggles is real trying to decide whether you will stay in your activewear the whole day or make the effort and change into a more stylish outfit.
I actually really love blazers. I would have loved to wear a very glamorous outfit with a blazer and high heels every day, but since that is not quite possible now with my current lifestyle, I just incorporated a few changes so that I can still have a similar look but a bit more casual.

Since a blazer is a very sophisticated item, the trick is to KEEP the rest of your outfit as plain/casual as possible.

I will share my personal top 5 tips on How to wear a blazer more casually:

1. Wear it with sneakers
This is probably my biggest tip that will, in an instant, change the whole outfit into a casual one

2. Pair it with a jean
Opt for a light wash jeans rather than a dark jean as it is a more casual option.

3. Wear a t-shirt underneath
My favourite is a plain white t-shirt….but for an even more casual look, you can add a graphic/printed t-shirt.

4. unbuttoned and Cinch/roll up the sleeves
A blazer will instantly look more casual when kept unbuttoned.

5. Keep the accessories plain.
Just a stud earring and maybe a thin small necklace will keep the outfit casual (a crossbody bag will also give a more relaxed look)

Wide-leg jeans continue to trend, which means there are many different styles to choose from: high rise, low rise, cropped, relaxed fit, curvy fit, dark wash, etc.

It all depends on what type of look you are going for and what suits your body. Last week, I saw a variety of wide legs. You can buy jeans at Cotton on Dunes Mall if you want to test out a few to see which type fits you best.

Because the Wide leg already adds quite a lot of volume at the lower part of your body, it can be a bit challenging to wear it in the winter. You would probably also want to wear a few layers on the top part without looking too bulky all over.

I will share with you how I would style my wide-leg jeans this winter…..

BASE

So, for a start, I would go for a fitted Wide leg; by this, I mean’s more fitted than a relaxed, the area around your waist that loose fit. Then, for the top part, I would try to stick with one of the rules I almost always follow, and this is to keep the outfit balanced by wearing a tight/fitted top if the lower part is bulky and vice versa. And then, I will definitely tuck in the top; I think this is probably the most important thing for me as it defines the waist, further elongates the legs and just overall gives a well-polished look.

SHOES

My first choice would be a nude pointed shoe/boots with a little bit of a heel, or if I can’t wear a heel, then a flat pump, also nude with a pointed or square type of toe. (When wearing flats just be careful for a bulging effect at the lower leg.)