We’ve seen a fair share of unhealthy social media trends concerning body image over the last few years. Thankfully, the body positive movement is making efforts to counter the negative effects of destructive trends like the glorification of the thigh gap and, more recently, the ab crack.
Canadian body positive activist and vlogger Kenzie Brenna created the hashtag #CelluliteSaturday to show women that there isn’t any shame in having cellulite. And why should there be?
Cellulite, after all, is perfectly normal. According to Self, 93% of women have cellulite, and it’s usually genetic. Even supermodels have cellulite. But we’re so used to seeing photoshopped and airbrushed images of women that cellulite has become a source of shame.
“I may be uncomfortable with it, but it’s here and I’m going to try as best as I can to accept it”
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“I don’t see a lot of girls embracing their cellulite, which I know so many of us have,” Brenna, 26, told Self. “I thought [#CelluliteSaturday] might be a cute little slogan to put on a picture of me showing that I have cellulite.
“Coming from a woman who goes to the gym five days out of the week and who eats a balanced diet, I still have cellulite and that’s something I want to show people. I may be uncomfortable with it, but it’s here and I’m going to try as best as I can to accept it.”
On the next page: Brenna’s struggle to accept and embrace her body.
It took Brenna a while to embrace her cellulite. She would several remedies for cellulite, including creams, Epsom salt baths, foam rolling, and coconut oil. Eventually, all these efforts just got exhausting.
“It’s just really tedious to think about it all of the time, and comes to point where you’re just like, ‘What am I doing?’” Brenna told The Huffington Post. “I would try on leggings at different athletic stores and go in the mirror and move in all these different ways to see if my cellulite was showing in the leggings.”
“Cellulite isn’t an indication of health, and it isn’t an indication of self-worth”
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The response to #CelluliteSaturday has been overwhelmingly positive. Brenna has received messages of gratitude from people who say she is helping them accept their bodies. One woman said that Brenna’s post gave her the confidence to wear shorts for the first time on a hot day. Several women have also jumped on the #CelluliteSaturday d Brenna was initially nervous about posting her first #CelluliteSaturday photo, but these reactions have made it all worth it.
“That type of stuff—being able to breathe better in your own skin—makes the whole nerve-wracking thing worth it,” she told Self.
“[Cellulite] isn’t an indication of health, and it isn’t an indication of self-worth. I hope that when people click on the hashtag, they recognize [cellulite] is a part of our bodies that can be totally acceptable and we don’t have to get rid of it. This is just another aspect of having a physical body.”
READ: Mom reminds us with her post-baby body that “healthy” is better than “skinny”
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