Natural* ways to get rid of cellulite

Hate to be the bearer of bad news... but as of right here... right now, there is NO proven way to getting rid of the sexist Cellulite affliction. (Life can be so unfair: despite rarely occurring in males, cellulite is estimated to effect 80-90% of females throughout their aging process.)

BUT before you leave disgruntled about being brought to this article by dubious means, please let me explain: while there are no methods of getting rid of cellulite, there are some natural ways you can go about minimizing the appearance. (And by natural, I mean methods of minimizing cellulite that do not involve surgery, lasers, or injections.) 

These simple tricks can help your skin look smoother, tighter, and younger: 

1. Build muscle mass: Counter to what you would initially think, skinny people can still have cellulite, because cellulite is made up of fat. If a body is thin, but has no muscle mass, the fat on their bodies can still manifest as cellulite. A simple remedy to this is to add some strength-training exercises into your daily schedule, especially targeting any problematic  cellulite hot-spots (thighs, rear-end, etc.). Building muscle will help smooth out any little lumps and bumps as your new muscle mass will lie on top of your fat layers, giving your skin a flat surface to rest upon. 

2. Consume less salt: By reducing your salt intake to less than 1,500 milligrams a day, you will cut down on water retention which some skin experts believe helps to improve the appearance of cellulite.

3. Self-tan: Giving yourself a faux-tan helps create an optical illusion that helps to hide the presence of cellulite. (Please note: by self-tan, we mean a tan that comes from a bottle, absolutely NO tanning-beds!) Multiple skin-care companies, such as Nivea and Philosophy, have been marketing "firming" self-tanners-- feel free to experiment with these, but keep expectations realistic. 

4. Use Moisturizers That Irritate Your Skin: Again, it sounds counter-intuitive to think that applying something that causes irritation would be recommended for your skin, but by applying a skin cream with skin-irritating ingredients such as pepper, caffeine, or retinols, the irritation caused to the skin makes it mildly swell, which camouflages any cellulite presence. The effect only lasts for a few hours, but is good to use before a special event or outing.

With warmer weather and bathing-suit season right around the corner, we would love to hear your opinions on any of these-- or other-- cellulite fighting tricks.