Bad news for wrinkling stars: Cellulite’s here to stay
Litres of water? Cosmetic acupuncture? Bird poop? Sorry ladies, these celebrity beauty fixes don’t work
Celebrities are under intense pressure to look good. In the high-def world where celebrities live, a blemish or wrinkle can start an avalanche of bad press.
Witness the reaction to last year’s candid shots of Scarlett Johansson on a Hawaiian beach. The pictures revealed the shocking reality that the lovely actress has what 90 per cent of all women have: cellulite. Gasp! The celebrity media’s reaction to this revelation was swift and harsh.
“I know, look at that cellulite. Gross,” opined one blogger. For her part, Johansson said she didn’t care what people thought about her looks. She wants to be known as a character actor. (Does she mean the kind of character that wears skin-tight spy gear à la Black Widow from the The Avengers?) So, I suppose, we should cut celebrities a bungee-cord length of slack when it comes to their choice of beauty regimes. Desperation can obscure rational reflection and thus experimentation with anything that might help to maintain a “youthful” glow. Understandable.
But the beauty-regime quackery is hard to take when the pseudo-scientific gobbledygook is peddled to the masses via interviews, endorsements and celebrity gossip. The popular press usually presents this stuff with an unquestioning verve. Sure, it is difficult to avoid the use of a mocking tone, intended or not, when reporting on things like David and Victoria Beckham’s use of an expensive antiaging cream made of bird poop.
Generally, anti-aging and beauty advice is skepticism-free. Whether it is Kate Middleton’s alleged yen for bee venom facials, Demi Moore’s famous leech therapy or the most recent fad of using sheep placentas to stave off wrinkles, there is rarely reference to any credible evidence.
Moreover, when the effectiveness of a given product is described this is usually done via reference to some ridiculously vague and subjective criteria, such as the degree to which the product will make your skin glow, brighten and radiate.
(How the heck do you measure the degree to which skin “radiates”? Do you use a Geiger counter?)
So, in the hope of injecting a wee bit of science and healthy skepticism into the beauty and anti-aging universe, here is a critique of three of the most common celebrity endorsed beauty tips.
Drink lots of water! — This is, for sure, one of the most common pieces of celebrity advice. Jennifer Aniston, for example, allegedly drinks 100 ounces of water per day.
Your body needs fluids, obviously. But from a skin care perspective the data on benefits are pretty thin. Once you are properly hydrated — via coffee, tea, popsicles or anything else containing H20 — your kidneys simply take over. And you pee it out. The extra water does not travel to your face to make your skin look “radiant” or wrinkle free. A 2010 scientific review, for example, found “no proof for this recommendation.”
In fact, there is no evidence to support one of the most enduring health myths, that we should drink eight glasses of water a day. As noted in a report by the U.S. Institute of Medicine, “on a daily basis, people get adequate amounts of water from normal drinking behaviour . . . and by letting their thirst guide them.”
Cosmetic acupuncture! — This has been called a “hot celebrity trend.” It has been reported that thrice weekly acupuncture sessions are Sandra Bullock’s secret weapon for looking young. Other needle-embracing celebs include Madonna, Kim Kardashian, Angelina Jolie and the very hydrated Jennifer Aniston.
So, what does the evidence say about this miracle anti-aging cure? Nothing.
Despite the popularity and extreme claims to the contrary, there appears to be very little research directly on point. A 2012 preliminary study “found no studies using scientific methodologies.” In addition to the dearth of evidence, unless you believe in the highly unscientific and unproven idea that we all have energy channels under our skin that allow the flow of a mysterious life force (know as “qi”), it is unclear how needles in your face could make your wrinkles go or your jowls tighten. Coffee kills cellulite! — Halle Berry is probably the best-known proponent of the coffee cure for this particular cosmetic conundrum. The actress regularly covers her body in coffee grounds in the belief that it will keep her skin cellulite free and, of course, radiant. Once again, there is little good evidence to support Berry’s approach. As summarized in an excellent 2010 review of the literature for all known cellulite treatments: “The best of the currently available treatments for cellulite have, at most, shown mild improvements in the appearance of cellulite, and most of these improvements are not maintained over time.”
What is evidence-based anti-aging advice? Simple. Live a healthy, active lifestyle that includes not smoking, drinking in moderation, staying out of the sun and maintaining a healthy weight. No expensive bird poop or afterbirth required.