Cellulite Cream with Caffeine, Does it Work?

We here at BAWDY are all about body positivity and empowering you to love the skin you’re in regardless of size, cellulite, stretch marks, and more. So last year, on National Cellulite Day, when Demi Lovato shared an inspiring unedited photo with a caption about self-acceptance while basically rebranding the dimply condition as #celluLIT, we were like, “High five, girl!”

Great! We’ve accepted that we get cellulite, we have cellulite, and we’ll never be able to make it go away (more on that later). But, many of you may be asking what you can do to reduce the appearance of cellulite and wondering if all the claims of the best cellulite creams featuring caffeine really work. Don’t worry, BAWDY’s here to set that and other cellulite records straight.

Caffeine and Cellulite

Despite many studies showing mixed results, caffeine has increased in popularity among skin care products, particularly eye and cellulite creams. While the jury still seems to be out on whether it’s effective at reducing dark circles and puffiness under our peepers, it does seem to have some validity when it comes to curtailing cellulite.

The good news: experts have found that caffeine is able to facilitate the breakdown of fat by stimulating enzymes that do just that. Additionally, caffeine has been shown to temporarily constrict blood vessels. Constricting blood vessels decreases blood flow, reducing the appearance of inflammation or, essentially, smoothing the skin.

The great news: a small study conducted in 2015 showed that 80% of participants who applied cellulite cream containing caffeine twice a day for six weeks reported visual and measurable improvement of cellulite - yes!

So Which Creams Out There are the Best?

Up to 98% of women are reported to have cellulite while only 10% of men experience it. This is a huge chunk of the population so it makes sense that the market is flooded with products; many of which are expensive and make extraordinary claims. Some, on the other hand, have great reviews and thousands of customers swear by them for temporarily reducing the visibility or severity of their cellulite as well as stretch marks. Find the right ingredients for you to develop your bliss! Plenty of these firming, moisturizing, and toning body lotions are even available at your local drugstore! Look for anti-cellulite creams that use proven ingredients like caffeine, retinol, collagen, vitamin C, vitamin E, fistein, peptides, and l-carnitine.

I Have Coffee in My Kitchen, Can I Make Cellulite Crushing Caffeine Cream at Home?

Yeppers, you sure can. If you’re not completely convinced that creams can help and don’t want to make an investment in a product you’re wary of, give a DIY version a shot.

We’ve mentioned before that harsh scrubs can do more harm than good on your booty's sensitive skin. For this reason, you should keep two things in mind when choosing a DIY cellulite cream: First, make sure the recipe you go with is for a lotion or cream and not a scrub. Secondly, avoid one that calls for the inclusion of coffee grounds in the final product. Look, for example, for ones that use homemade infused oils like this one from The Makeup Dummy. Including hydrating natural ingredients like coconut oil, guarana, cocoa butter, shea butter, or cupuaçu butter to your homemade firming cream can hydrate dry skin while improving elasticity. When creating your at-home moisturizer or body cream, remember to only use essential oils if they've been diluted with a carrier oil and tested on a small part of your body for allergic reactions. Consult your dermatologist if you have any questions about which at-home skin firming products might be right for you!  

OK, but Does Cellulite Go Away?

Here’s the thing: while anti-cellulite creams work to help reduce cellulite, it isn’t really curable. Why? The answer is complicated because the formation of cellulite is complicated. Cellulite is caused by a unique combination of several factors including genetics, diet, age, fitness, and even clothing choices. So, unless you’re able to effectively target and successfully address each of these factors, which is next to impossible, you’ll have to learn to appreciate the dimples that aren’t just on your face. 

Cellulite and Nutrition

So...cellulite doesn’t go away, but there are some aspects we can control. One, immediately controllable piece of the cellulite puzzle, is diet. Some antioxidants are essential for our skin and they can help our collagen production, anti-aging, and skin firming in the same way a topical skin treatment would. There’s one big thing to consider when deciding if a food is going to help or accelerate the condition - is the food inflammatory?

There are three major kinds of inflammatory foods: ones high in processed sugar, those high in salt, and refined carbs.

• Sugar: most often found in soft drinks, candy, ice cream, and jams and jellies.
• Salt: canned soups and vegetables, cold cuts and meats that are smoked or cured, frozen meals, and salted nuts are among the most sodium saturated foods.
• Refined Carbohydrates: these are generally ingredients and foods that have been stripped of nutrition and processed to be white like pasta, flour, rice, baked goods, and many breakfast cereals.

Treatments to Try

While we mentioned that cellulite probably won’t ever go away, there are treatments that are designed to greatly reduce it and even temporarily reduce its visibility for an extended period of time outside of bum bum creams and dermstore topicals. Many of these dermatology treatments are designed to even out the dimpling of the fat cells and smooth skin. These methods include vacuum rolling and radio waves to break up the fat, the use of lasers that heat and reduce or smooth the fat, cutting the skin away from the tissue where the dimpling occurs so the surface of the skin appears smoother, contouring from a body fit anti-cellulite contouring expert, and injecting fat to even out the dimpling.