One of the biggest perks of being a beauty blogger is being given a lot of free shizz. Most of the time it’s awesome beauty goodies which is kinda like my crack, but every now and again you get the odd offer out of left-field… a little somethin’ something’ like… (dun, dun, dun…) laser  lipo! Sjoe! Naturally, my first instinct was ‘er… I think I might pass on that…’, but, having seen the most awesome demo, I’m now totally sold on the whole concept. In fact, should I ever find myself sitting with a post-baby muffin top that just won’t respond to killer cardio, I’m sooo gonna hit up the laser (and then lie to everyone about my awesome new personal trainer…)

Anyway, let me fill you in on what it’s all about…  According to i-lipo laser clinic (near Heritage Square in Cape Town), it’s the ‘intelligent alternative to liposuction’.

What makes i-lipo better in my books is the whole ‘we leave your grapes intact’ thing. You see, with normal lipo, the doc physically sucks out your fat cells and there’s no guarantee he’ll do this evenly, so you run the risk of looking lumpy and bumpy when you’re done. Also, ‘cos those fat cells have been obliterated, should you put a bit of weight back on, it literally can’t go back to that spot. This is a bad thing ‘cos you can then end up with a ‘donga‘. I.e. a nice smooth sillouette with a big fat bite out of it. Not cool… Laser lipo, however, only DRAINS your fat cell – sucking the fat out like the juice in a grape. As a result, those cells are still there and should you hit up the chicken nuggets once more, you’re going to regain your fat, but EVENLY. Phew!

Other cool shizz about laser lipo? It doesn’t hurt and there’s no scarring. This is because the laser they use is a low level ‘cold laser’. In fact, most people feel a whole bunch of nothing so you can sit back and flick through a mag while the laser does its thing.

During the ‘talky talky’ bit of the launch, one brave lady volunteered to have her tummy zapped. This involved taking her measurements beforehand and then strapping a few pads onto her middlesection. After ten or twenty minutes (I’ve forgotten, but either way, that’s lightening fast), the pads where removed and she’d lost a whole 5 cm – just like that! The only ‘hard’ part is the cardio follow up – once you’ve drained that fat out, it floats about in your lymphatic system as fatty acids and glycericol, so you’ve got to burn it off ASAP. This means that once you’re done with the laser, you should do at least 30 mins of exercise. (For best results, this should be done straight away, which is why i-lipo has an exercise bike on the premises) or at least within the next 24 hours.

If you’re keen on laser lipo, pay a visit to I-lipo’s website over here. A single session costs R500 (I know! I couldn’t believe it either), but they recommend you have eight sessions over a course of a month (R3600).

Love, love

Leigh