Happy Christmas leggies! 

Have a wonderful time and see you on the other side: bring on 2012!

Cellu Smooth: a review by Helen Gilbert

"You’ve eaten chocolate this week haven’t you,” said my beauty therapist in surprised tone. How did she know? I was stripped down to my knickers, lying on my front waiting for her to start a cellulite-busting session when she made the remark. Yes, she knew my body well. This was my fifth visit to the specialist beauty clinic; I was halfway through a course of cellulite treatment that involved using high frequency ultrasound waves to break down trapped fat. And it was working. Alongside the regime I was following a strict healthy eating plan and drinking gallons of water. Miraculously, my cellulite appeared to be melting away. But this particular week I had suffered a relapse. Two chocolate bars and a packet of crisps. So how could she tell? “The area beneath your bottom is dark,” she explained. “It’s the toxins.” For the next five weeks I stuck rigidly to the diet and kept up with the sessions, scared of being scolded again. It paid off. I emerged from the salon sporting smooth, dimple free pins. That was ten years ago. Needless to say, I didn’t keep up the diet or the pricey ‘maintenance’ sessions. And now the cellulite is back. So imagine my delight when I stumbled across The Beauty Works Cellu Smooth home treatment system, and I was asked to review it for The Leg Room. The handheld device works using similar principles. You simply apply a think layer of conductive gel to the skin and roll the gadget over your problem areas. Painless, ultrasound waves penetrate the skin to mobilise fatty deposits and boost blood and lymph circulation. This encourages toxins to leave the body naturally. Of course, I never expected salon perfect results, but since using the £49.99 device – I have been left pleasantly surprised. After just six days the skin on my upper thighs feels smoother - the box recommends using regularly for eight weeks and then switching to two/ three times per week. Additionally, my legs look brighter in complexion and more contoured. Setting aside half an hour each day is by no means easy; you have to be disciplined. But with these results I will definitely keep this up. I’ve even decided to kick off a healthy eating to maximise results. Christmas may not be best time of year to start, but if I do occasionally slip up at least I won’t have that beauty therapist looking over my shoulder to point it out.

* Helen Gilbert is a freelance journalist who tweets at twitter.com/gilberthels

The Legologist gets a leg up

Chuffed to hear that The Leg Room has been listed in a 'best blog' list compiled by Channel4Beauty. Not least because The Leg Room is included alongside the likes of Beauty Mouth, edited by beauty insider Caroline Hirons, Product Placement, where Eleanor Tucker indulges us all with her witty repartee, the brilliant A Model Recommends, and a newcomer who is already shaking up the beauty blogosphere Skin Deep Blog. If you haven't yet visited these sites The Legologist recommends you do so for some great laughs and even better beauty advice and musings. While you're at it, check out 4Beauty: editor Hattie Crisell has created an engaging site where every facet of beauty is covered from winter-proofing your skin to applying blusher. The Legologist is amazed at the accolade as she is a random poster (albeit one with a passion) with no agenda other than to talk legs. But the recognition is timely because she is about to take a leap into the unknown and go on an another big adventure in 2012. Bring it on.

candy for Christmas?

Ladies of golf, I bring you the Royal Albartross Candy Rousso. As TLR followers know, The Legologist took up golf in the summer and was gobsmacked at the depressing choice of attire available for women - most of it looks like the stuff your old games teacher wore without an ounce of femininity to it. So thank heavens for Royal Albartross, who have saved the day with their new ladies lawn footwear.  Christmas present: tick.

your new year resolution sorted?

Something for those who have a history of bunions, have started to experience painful, stiff or inflamed joints (despite them looking outwardly normal), have secondary disturbances of the area including callus build up on the underside of the foot or associated hammer toe, or have even noticed bunions taking shape: podiatrist Margaret Dabbs has developed a bunion prevention treatment at her foot clinics. The 45-minute treatment uses a combination of holistic and orthodox medicine to prevent and halt deterioration of the big toe joint - which is where this problem begins: it includes cryo-manipulation and thermal-manipulation therapy of the joint, acupuncture to the area (to reduce inflammation), exercise therapy, splints and toe props.  Dabbs recommends a monthly session to keep joints mobile and maintain range of movement.  She is currently offering 10 treatments for the price of 12 at her clinic.  From £80.  That's your new year's resolution sorted then.  Click here for more information.

the last word on a product that claims to remove cellulite in 9 minutes



Smoke & mirrors:
this incredible transformation
apparently took place in 9 minutes.
But what actually happened?



Seasoned Leg Room visitors will know that this blog is not destination rant. But as a beauty journalist with a passion for leg care, The Legologist has firm views about how the beauty business best serves consumers. And one of the observations made while writing this blog, indeed while writing about beauty generally, is the way decent beauty products, developed from often quite impressive science, are increasingly misrepresented by marketing. In fact sometimes it seems that the marketing team hasn't even spoken to the company whose interests its guards, let alone the lab that developed the product, because their take on the concept is so off the scale in terms of what has actually been achieved. Take Adonia LegTone. This is a product which has impressive superficial firming benefits on the skin - I've tried it. It's a product which, it is claimed, both 'removes 47% of cellulite in 9 minutes' and 'removes the appearance of 47% of cellulite in 9 minutes', depending on the information source. Obviously there is a big difference between both claims. Last year, I explained this to Adonia's marketing team, yet every time I have Googled the word 'cellulite' since I have come face-to-face with an ad for Adonia LegTone accompanied by the slogan 'removes 47% of cellulite in 9 minutes'. Then, when I got another press release recently telling me that LegTone is a 'miracle serum which has been proven to banish cellulite by 47% in just 9 minutes' I asked for the clinicals. You can read them here. Don't worry, the tests (they were done for performance in 9 and 42 minutes) are neither long nor complicated to understand, but what's interesting is that both are entitled 'an investigation into the efficacy of topically applied product to reduce the appearance of cellulite in 9/42 days'. You'll also see that the conclusions to these tests, sponsored by Adonia, were drawn by comparing photos (as above) using a method called the Fitzpatrick Evaluation Scale, a '10 point monadic scale' which basically compares light and dark shadowing as a way of seeing whether the subject's cellulite has improved or not. It does not make clear that the 47% of cellulite is lost from both legs or just one - indeed the tests do not prove that Adonia LegTone removes cellulite at all. Visual 'proof' like this is not hard clinical evidence, but then I don't think Adonia's scientists were looking for that in the first place. When I asked them for a quote I got this from a Dr Marc Franco: "Adonia LegTone removes the appearance of cellulite by 47% in 9 minutes". So there you have it. Dr Franco knows the limitations and achievements of his product. He evidently knows the responsibilities he has to consumers too. It's just a shame his voice has been drowned by overzealous marketeers - Adonia could have had quite a credible product on their hands.

The Legologist waxes lyrical about Veet

What does it take to convert a dyed-in-the-wool leg shaver (who is not the hairiest of beings) into a waxing afficionado? Ease, in a word. The same ease in fact that is four or five sweeps of a razor from ankle to knee. That's the first prerequisite. The second? Time: said product must perform within a barely noticeable period - it must not ask The Legologist to add any extra dimension to her already minimal bathroom activities that would take time out of her day. So far, nothing has ticked those boxes better than a razor, which is why it remains my depilatory of choice. Could Veet EasyWax Electrical Roll-On Kit, promising 'salon wax results at home', change this? I'd like it to think so - the disposable razor is deeply unsexy and the Veet gadget looks imminently more grown-up despite its shouty pink dressing.  Here's my review:
1. Plug in and allow 20 minutes for gadget to warm up. As soon as I read this I want to give up - 20 minutes? But then I remember that I am to get salon wax results, infinitely smoother legs and a longer lasting depilation than my trusty razor could ever give, so I plug in and surprise myself by finding all sorts of ways to fill that extra time: I cut my toenails, I apply Clarins Pure & Radiant Mask, I pluck my eyebrows, I do some face exercises, I make a cup of tea, call my mother and  return to find Veet ready to work its magic.
2. Apply wax in the direction of hair growth. I sit on my bed and stick one leg up the windowsill. I run the slanted side of the roller down my leg from my knee to ankle, then I stick a strip over the wax and press it down. Can't say I'm having any difficulty so far.
3. Remove the strip. I'm dreading this bit, but am surprised again because it whips off curiously easily taking the hairs with it. It's uncomfortable but not unbearable. It takes me roughly 5 minutes to work each leg like this and I'm blown away by the level of bareness and smoothness: I have never achieved this in all the years I have been shaving - somehow there is always a bit of roughness or a few missed hairs. I'm really quite pleased with myself.
4. Clean up. I pick a few forgotten bits of wax off my legs and unplug the device. I'm done.
I did this little roadtest on Monday. Today it is Thursday and when I reach down and stroke my leg I'm pleasantly surprised again, because it feels as smooth as it did straight after the trial. If I'd shaved my legs as normal, I would have got the razor out at least once between then and now, if not twice. So if the effects last a week, Veet EasyWax has already proved itself to be worth having by doing the job for me in one go with more lasting results. I'd be more than happy to do this on a Sunday evening before I do my nails and hop into bed. And being someone who tends to treat life like a race, I quite liked the way this girly gadget forced me into a bit of 'me' time: it broke an old stress-induced habit - always a good thing, especially as repetition is supposed to be one of the first signs of madness.

TRIA: the home hair zapper

Following The Legologist's recent post about the dangers of having laser depilation at unqualified clinics, here is an innovation which zaps hair at home. Could this be the kind of device Laser Active Clinic founder Gill Leeden was referring to when she commented that, in addition to the problems of having laser treatment at practices that disregard health and safety rules, devices can be bought online (by professionals and consumers) as manufacturers cash in on the demand for excess hair removal. One can only assume not, as this device - TRIA Laser Hair Removal System - is endorsed by three respected professionals: Dr Penelope Tympanidis, a dermatologist with a practice on Harley Street and in Athens, Dr Honey Langcaster-James, a psychologist who focuses on body confidence, and Nathalie Eleni, This Morning's resident beauty expert.  TRIA was developed in the US and claims to deliver permanent hair removal using a system called LightSheer. This is said to be the gold standard for achieving permanent, hair-free results and it works by targeting the dark pigment (melanin) in hair with a pulse of laser light, which is converted to heat, then absorbed by the dark pigment to disable the bulb of the hair follicle and the bulge (so destroying the growth cells), causing hair to gradually fall out and stop growing back. TRIA claim results in six months - sooner if you use the device more regularly. They say it is suitable for those with light to medium skin tones and dark hair (so not dark skin), and each unit comes with a skin chart so you can check the suitability of your skin tone. Rigorously tested (in the US it's the only home laser hair remover to have been approved by the FDA), it has three contact sensors to safeguard against misuse. The Legologist is feeling the love. Has anyone tried it? Click here for details.

no more beating around the bush

PETA maintain that animals killed for their fur and skin are slaughtered in cruel and illegal ways. Most fur is said to come from fur factory farms with cages so small the animals cannot do what is natural or important to them and the boredom of living life in a cage is said to drive many animals insane. Some fur comes from animals caught in steel jaw traps, too, say PETA, which are so cruel that they have been banned in more than 80 countries. PETA believe that animals bred for their fur and skin lead miserable lives and suffer dreadful deaths, but that this is needless if we choose to wear non-animal alternatives. The Ministry of Waxing are supporting PETA by donating £2 from every full-priced Brazilian or XXXX wax that they do in their salons in Mayfair, Covent Garden and around the world.  (Incidentally, there are 13 Ministry of Waxing clinics in the Philippines now - did you know that?  It's news to The Legologist).  I also recommend a visit to the Ministry's website where, among other things, you will see a monkey driving a tipper truck. Sublime.

something to squirrel away?

What we have here is a leg cleaning device for when age-induced creakiness (or weight) stops your hands from reaching your lower limbs. No please, don't thank me - it's all part of the service. The Legologist can only hope that when she reaches such a point in life there will be another expert with an eccentric little blog to enlighten her on such matters too.