Cellulite is a common cosmetic skin condition that creates a bumpy texture on the skin of thighs and buttocks and usually appears on women.
The quest to hide cellulite can be a challenging one since there is no definitive cause for its appearance. Most people believe that its occurrence is predicated on the increase in body fat.
However, this myth has been already debunked since cellulite is also experienced by slim women with minimal body fat.
As a temporary solution, most women have resorted to wearing clothing or workout leggings made with certain types of fabrics or designs that help conceal the appearance of cellulite. So what are the best fabrics to hide cellulite, here are a few fabrics that can be helpful:
1. Nylon
Nylon is the most commonly used fabric in leggings. It is durable, lightweight, and easy to care for. Due to their elasticity, they can easily stretch to fit your legs, thus smoothing out your cellulite.
Moreover, it does not wrinkle or move out of place by being raised or folded during workouts or other activities, which keeps your cellulite well hidden. However, nylon leggings generally have an overly-shiny look and can lose their colour if exposed to sunlight too often.
They also absorb more water which can potentially make it a little bit transparent if they become wet due to sweat, thus revealing your cellulite.
2. Polyester
Similar to nylon, polyester fabrics are strong and very elastic and are highly wrinkle resistant. They are helpful in hiding cellulite since they seamlessly offer a certain amount of compression across your thighs and butt while maintaining the shape.
Although polyester is as effective as nylon, it does not offer the same feel that the latter does since nylon feels much more comfortable and soft in comparison to polyester. However, polyester can be a better choice due to its hydrophobic properties.
The fabric encourages quicker evaporation which keeps it dry, thus preventing your legs from having a wet and transparent appearance and revealing your cellulite.
3. Spandex
Spandex is a fabric that is usually found in skin-tight clothing and is usually mixed with other fabrics such as polyester to make it more effective.
The main benefit of spandex in hiding cellulite is its stretchability. It can stretch up to 8 times its original size which helps flatten out your cellulite by tightly pressing over the skin and giving it a smooth effect.
However, the stretch of spandex can often feel uncomfortable on your legs, which is why it is advisable to get leggings that have a blend of spandex and any other fabric.
4. Polyester-Spandex Blend
Since polyester and spandex have their own individual advantages and drawbacks, it is quite often that they’re blended together to create a more stretchable and durable combination.
It is often recommended that the ideal combination of both these fabrics should be 85% Polyester and 15% Spandex in leggings since it offers a sufficient amount of thickness to conceal your cellulite while keeping you comfortable.
Moreover, leggings made with this blend should usually have a sufficient amount of thickness that makes your cellulite invisible.
5. Nylon-Spandex Blend
Classified as an elastomeric fiber that can stretch 500% of its original size, the combination of nylon and spandex makes for a more effective blend of materials. Leggings made with nylon and spandex are usually more comfortable, lightweight, and abrasion-resistant.
Since they are also heavily used for underwater activities, they offer a good amount of thickness that can easily hide your cellulite.
Ideally, the recommended blend of both the fabrics should be 6-10% of Spandex with the remaining being nylon. This blend should be thick enough to effectively hide your cellulite.
What about the weighted thickness of the fabric (GSM)?
If you did not know already, GSM stands for ‘Grams Per Square Meter’ is a unit used to measure the weight of the fabric and it usually ranges from 180-to 310.
To effectively conceal your cellulite, it is recommended that your leggings have a GSM of 200-280. This thickness will offer you a good amount of support, durability, movement, and more importantly, hide your cellulite.
Compression Leggings
Compression leggings are considered to be among those products that can help reduce the appearance of cellulite. The main benefit of such leggings is their ability to improve blood circulation and lymphatic drainage which can potentially reduce the appearance of cellulite. They are also said to compress the skin and tone up the muscles thus reducing skin dimpling.
However, there isn’t any concrete evidence to back this claim since these leggings don’t remodel the structure beneath the skin.
New York City based dermatologist Dr. Cheryl Kartcher, MD says that wearing compression leggings can help reduce thigh jiggle when you workout, but it only has a temporary effect on your cellulite. And once you strip down post-workout, you are unlikely to see any change.
Reduce the appearance of cellulite or not, if you do indeed want to take the plunge and try out compression leggings to at least conceal your cellulite, look out for the ones that have a blend of 20% spandex and 80% nylon.
This fabric combination is not only beneficial for concealing cellulite but gives it great functionality with a 4-way stretch. Moreover, Compression leggings with a GSM of around 210 should give your cellulite a sufficient amount of coverage.
Conclusion
When choosing the best fabric that helps you conceal your cellulite, you need to consider a fabric that has a high amount of elasticity that comfortably tugs onto your legs and smoothens out your cellulite. If you have an active lifestyle, you need to pick pants or leggings that are supportive enough that keep your cellulite hidden during high-intensity movements, and also sweat-wick effectively, since you wouldn’t want them to become extra moist to reveal your cellulite.
