I don’t often get press releases. Most companies, actually 99% of all cosmetic companies, don’t want me to know they are launching a new product because they don’t want to risk a negative review (who does?) Given that most every skin-care product on the market can’t live up to a fraction of the claims on the label, why risk close scrutiny when the scrutinizer isn’t tied to advertising dollars? If you think about it, even the cosmetic companies don’t believe their own claims or a company like Lauder wouldn’t be selling over 300 antiwrinkle products from the numerous lines they own from Clinique to La Mer. If one product could live up to the claims on the label, what is the need for all the other products sold at the same counter or the new ones they will be launching next month or the month after with the same exaggerated claims? But I digress.
When I do get a press release I automatically assume the company really doesn’t know what I do (which is often the case and then once they find out we never hear from them again). That might be the case for this company who sent me the following press release:
“I thought you might be interested in this new underwater cellulite treatment: Regardless of weight, diet and exercise routine, 90-95% of women will be struggling with cellulite this bathing suit season and all year round. Cellulite Reduction Water Therapy, a new non-invasive treatment offered at The Medical Spa at Nova in
First and foremost their numbers are meaningless, 90% to 95% of women? Where did they get that number from? The actual statistic is that 85% of women have cellulite but not almost every woman born (isn’t 95% of women close to everybody?) worries about cellulite, but that’s a minor point. Second, there is no research showing this method of massage or any massage method is effective for dealing with cellulite. If you could get rid of cellulite with any cosmetic method who would have cellulite? No one, right? But that is clearly not the case, at least based on the number of letters I receive from women battling cellulite.
The other point is that fat has nothing to do with cellulite, though the idea of breaking down fat with massage is nice, if that was all it took to lose weight who would be overweight? It is important to realize that normal weight women, thin women, and extremely thin women can all have cellulite, ergo the statistic that a vast majority of women have cellulite. Blood flow doesn’t affect fat or the appearance of cellulite either; again there isn’t a shred of research supporting this nonsense. What is most ludicrous is the notion that fibrotic connective tissue is the problem. Fibrotic tissue or Fibrosis is the formation of scar-like, hardened formations in skin tissue. There is no research indicating that the healthy skin on 85% of women’s thighs is fibrotic.
Given the almost universal complaint of cellulite from women of all weight and sizes, a hormonal issue is believed to be the cause of this condition. Since women are genetically predisposed to have babies, as a result their skin is structured to expand to accommodate a growing fetus. The skin’s laxity doesn’t keep fat in place allowing it to poke through weak areas of connective tissues fascia and collagen.
Once again, someone is ready, willing, and able to sell women some kind of “snake oil” promising to rid them of their beauty woes, when all they can deliver is a way to throw money down the drain. Well, that and the disappointment that comes when the consumer realizes her cellulite is still there!
