beauty

This woman's photos will make 'Cellulite Saturday' your new favourite Instagram trend.

We have #ManCrushMonday, #TransformationTuesday, #WomenCrushWednesday, #ThrowbackThursday, #FlashbackFriday, and now we have #CelluliteSaturday.

THANK GOD.

Kenzie Brenna, a 26-year-old body activist and vlogger from Canada, started the hashtag last month in an attempt to normalise a fairly universal feature of women’s bodies.

#cellulitesaturday? Can that be a thing? Last time I posted a picture of me TRYING to embrace a part of my body that I have been trying to change forever, 2 things happened. 1. A lot of women and even a few men came forward and said amazinggggg things like “thanks, your dope I need this, I NEED to see more of this, I WANT to see more of this, keep doing what you’re doing, yes to normal bodies, etc.” the incredible comments kept going, of people sharing their own struggles with trying to accept their bodies, to some women who don’t even have cellulite embracing my body – THAT my friends is what this bopo community is all about. 2. Second thing that happened was obviously, the opposite. “Disgusting, gross, cellulite is not healthy, don’t encourage kids or women to be unhealthy, nasty, wtf, if you exercise or rub cream or do-this-thing-that-makes-no-sense it will help you get rid of it” that shit went on, in my DM’s and in the public comments. I am not going to sit here and write to you what cellulite is, what it ISN’T or try to bang it into your head that yes, my dear friends “thin + healthy + fit” women also have cellulite, I am going to let you do your own research. You have google and you have can DM if you want to have a CONVERSATION exchanging opinions, facts and resources to help us BRIDGE gaps instead of create bigger ones. I exercise 5x a week, I will murder you at cardio (my cardiovascular system is off the hizzy), I foam roll, I do yoga, I stretch, I eat my greens and I drink over a gallon of water every day. I used to use creams, I used to dry brush, I got massages and considered surgery. SO, don’t tell me that I have to be more fit, more healthy, more this, more that, don’t tell me to try your cream or that I need to create more blood flow to the places where my cellulite exists. Cause bish, I got chu. Been there done that. My friends, my cellulite is here to stay. And I am fucking okay with that. #bodyacceptance #celluliteyoualrite #namaslay #thisiswhatfitlookslike #embracethesquish #mesosquishy #mermaidthighs #iamallwoman #tbcr ????????????????????????????????????

A photo posted by Kenzie B (@omgkenzieee) on

“My cellulite is here to stay,” Brenna writes in one of her body positive Instagram posts.

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“If you try to sell me your cellulite treatment, I don’t want it. Cellulite is normal. And the beauty industry capitalises on saying we need it removed.”

Brenna’s Instagram account openly documents her recovery from body dysmorphia, a disorder characterised by persistent thoughts about perceived flaws. When she was deep in the grips of the illness, she spent hours and hours trying to get rid of her cellulite, using every supposed remedy she could find.

“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?'” the body activist 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.”

Now, Brenna is on a mission to accept her body as it is, and she wants to encourage other girls and women to do the same.

Dear reader ???? I hope you celebrate your body today. Especially the part that you haven’t been saying nice things to all these years. Your body needs you. Love, Me ???????? Another edition of #cellulitesaturday. ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ I can’t truthfully say I love this part of my body yet, but I’m getting farther away from hating it. ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ Cellulite shouldn’t be ruining your life or mine. Cellulite is little itty bitty fat cells that accumulate in places where your cute body says “yup, need some more of that over here!” It isn’t a medical condition. It is a ????cosmetic???? personal issue that women have with themselves due to the overwhelming pressure our beauty culture has placed on having thin smooth young looking skin. What about all the gals that don’t have thin smooth young looking skin? What if they don’t fit in that standard? Fuck that. Rock yo body, in all its cuteness that it is. ❤️???????????????? #everyBODYisbeautiful #daretobedifferent #selflovejourney

A photo posted by Kenzie B (@omgkenzieee) on

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Indeed, Brenna is well-informed when it comes to tackling the purely “cosmetic issue” of cellulite, which is often marketed to women as a medical condition. We know that women of all body types can have cellulite, with one study estimating that 90 per cent of women have it. While weight gain can make cellulite more prominent, more often than not, it’s genetic.

It is perhaps indicative of women’s collective frustration that Brenna’s hashtag has already gained significant traction. Social media users have proudly posted their own #CelluliteSaturdays photos, adding their personal stories to the conversation.

 Listen: Mamamia Out Loud discusses whether the ‘untouched’ Victoria’s Secret images are empowering for women. 


One Instagram user who is recovering from an eating disorder posted a photo of her legs, writing, “If you’d told me a year ago I’d be posting pictures of my cellulite for the world to see I’d have laughed in your face.”

“But look at me now! Cellulite is NORMAL. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

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Perhaps the most compelling part of Brenna’s message is that even if you want to lose weight or tone up or change your body for health reasons, you don’t have to hate yourself in the meantime. It’s incredibly empowering for women to accept, love and appreciate their bodies as they exist right now.

Ultimately, Brenna wants her future children to “grow up with more real images of bodies around them than I did,” and by encouraging the online world to share photos of their cellulite, rather than their airbrushed bodies, she’s well on the way to achieving that goal.