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In this post, I won’t be telling you how to eliminate your hip dips. But if you're here because you're determined to get rid of them, keep reading—this is vital. Because, honestly, hip dips as a bodily flaw are pure nonsense.
(If you’re unfamiliar with the term “hip dips,” consider yourself lucky and blessed—just keep living your best life. You're doing everything right.)
So, what exactly are hip dips?
The human hip consists of muscle and fat, with the natural shape of these tissues often forming a dip when viewed from the front or back. (Some call this 'violin hips,' which might help you picture it.) So, when you stand upright and face a mirror, you may notice a concave curve in your hips, where you might have imagined a more pronounced curve like that of Jessica Rabbit.
(Remember, Jessica Rabbit is a cartoon, not bound by the rules of human anatomy. This is your first clue that hip dips aren’t a flaw.)
Fat, if present in significant amounts, can take different shapes: perhaps making your hips rounder, or more square-shaped. With less fat, the underlying shape of your bones and muscles will be more apparent.
For a clear example, this tweet illustrates it perfectly. Plus, it reveals the truth: the woman in the 'hip dip-free' photo is actually the same person who has visible hip dips in another photo—she's simply posing differently.
There’s no way to ‘fill in’ hip dips with exercise.
Most articles about hip dips will assure you that they are totally normal and common, but then follow it up with something like, “You can’t get rid of your hip dips, but here are some exercises to make them less noticeable.” This is 100% nonsense.
Here’s the deal: While exercise can build muscle, it can't magically create muscle in areas where it doesn’t exist. The reason hip dips appear is because there is simply no muscle in that spot. Let's break it down with an anatomy diagram:
On the left, you can see the pointy part of your thighbone called the trochanter, which sticks out into the side of your hip. (The iliac crest, often referred to as the hip bone, is about six to eight inches above this.) The so-called “hip dip” appears around the area of the trochanter. Try standing up, squeezing your glutes, and feeling around—this is where you’ll notice it.
Now, take a look at the muscles shown on the right. Your gluteus maximus is located behind your trochanter, the gluteus medius sits above it, the tensor fascia lata is positioned above and in front of it, and your quads are situated below it.
Which of these muscles can you target to reduce your hip dips? That’s right, none of them.
What happens when you do glute exercises?
If anyone knows how to change the shape of their glutes through exercise, it’s bodybuilders. So, it should tell you something that they’re not the ones fixated on reducing their hip dips. Here's a quick unscientific survey of how many times the term “hip dips” pops up on a few subreddits:
femalefashionadvice: 91 results.
xxfitness: 494 results.
femalebodybuilding: 3 results, and they all come from a single post by someone who doesn’t appear to be a bodybuilder.
If you've ever seen photos of bodybuilders’ glutes, you’ll understand why. These athletes make it their mission to build muscle and burn fat. They can clearly see the shape of their glute muscles. Take a look at the third photo of Dayana Cadeau in this Instagram post. She has developed every inch of her hip and butt muscles, yet there’s still a noticeable indentation on the side of her hip in certain poses—because there's just nothing else there.
What about people who don’t appear to have hip dips?
Now that I’ve got you rethinking everything you thought you knew about the shape of hips, you’re probably recalling someone—maybe a particular photo—where you swear the person doesn’t have hip dips. I’d bet money you’re looking at one of these:
Posing.
This is the easiest way to “erase” hip dips in a photo. Just push your hip out to the side, relax your muscles, and slightly bend your hip joint to bring your torso a little closer to your thigh.
You can achieve this most effectively by angling one hip toward the camera. The other hip won’t create the same effect, but that’s fine because it's positioned away and out of sight. Danae Mercer demonstrates here:
View this post on Instagram
Facetune/Photoshop.
Never underestimate what you can do to an image once it’s been captured. Photo editing is a reliable method of making a human body look how it doesn’t in reality.
Surgery.
I hate to admit it, but there is a way to literally fill in your hip dips, and that’s through surgery. As a plastic surgery website puts it:
To fix “violin hips,” you’d need a procedure known as fat transfer surgery. This involves two parts: liposuction and fat grafting (or fat injections). Liposuction removes fat from another area of your body—typically the abdomen or flanks (“love handles”)—and then the fat is injected into areas where it’s desired.
Essentially, the fat is relocated where it’s considered more aesthetically pleasing.
When fat is injected into the hips and buttocks, the procedure is commonly referred to as a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) or a Mini Brazilian Butt Lift (Mini-BBL).
I don’t enjoy pointing out who might have had butt surgery, just like I don’t like saying, “that person is on steroids,” because judging others' bodies is distasteful and unnecessary. Plus, unless you know their medical history (which is none of your business), you’re likely making incorrect assumptions anyway.
So, are there people with round hips who haven’t had surgery? It’s possible! Humans come in all shapes and sizes! But it’s unrealistic to think there’s something wrong with your body just because you’ve seen someone with different anatomy from your own.
