Spa Treatments Too Bizarre To Believe

Odd beauty regimens aren’t new. The recent popularity of treatments that use animals and animal byproducts and non-synthetic ingredients is.

A-Rod may not be the only supposed catalyst in the demise of Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s marriage. Ritchie has allegedly cited Madonna’s bizarre spa treatments, such as her nightly ritual of lathering on a $790 jar of cream before hopping into a plastic body suit, as a factor leading to their impending divorce.

While this may be a bit over the top, bizarre spa treatments are not new. What’s unique is the recent popularity of treatments that utilize animals and animal byproducts and other all-natural ingredients.

These include snake massages, caviar hair treatments and leech detoxification.

“Consumers are always looking for that ‘special’ ingredient,” says Bonnie Bonadeo, director of program development and education at the Professional Beauty Association, a nonprofit trade association that represents beauty manufacturers, distributors, salons and spas. “Creative and bizarre treatments create attention, and the awareness of what spas are doing around the world has spawned some atypical treatments in the United States.”

While these spa treatments do not make up a large segment of the overall beauty and spa market, Leslie Baumann, M.D., director of the Cosmetic Medicine and Research Institute at the University of Miami, says recent celebrity connections to these regimens have increased their interest among non-A-listers.

Peculiar Pampering

The Geisha facial, which includes a scrubbing with nightingale droppings, is offered at Shizuka New York Day Spa in New York City. Nightingale droppings are said to have been used to clean the faces of Geishas who wore heavy white makeup that often contained lead. The natural enzymes of the droppings break down dead skin cells.  The modern-day facial mixes the droppings with Japanese rice bran to neutralize the scent, sanitize and enhance the exfoliation effects.

The spa began offering the $180 treatment last January and performs about two facials per week. Their biggest clients are tourists who are curious to try the treatment, but many of their regulars are Midtown professionals.

By Jeanine Poggi

Published October 11, 2008

Forbes.com, Style Section

 

Other Shizuka New York Day Spa 2008 Press Releases
Beautiful with Bird Poop (RTL TV in Germany) – That Americans come up with crazy, weird beauty treatments is nothing new to us. At least we thought so until our New York reporter Silke Haas told us she had a facial with bird droppings!
Shizuka New York featured in BeautyNewsNYC.com – Candice Sabatini of BeautyNewsNYC.com features Dr. Shah’s Pore Reduction treatment with Botox at our Manhattan Day Spa.
Shizuka on NBC’s Today Show – TV host and beauty expert Jill Martin interviewed Shizuka as she and her assistant applied the Geisha Facial® mask and massaged it into Kathie Lee’s and Hoda’s skin.
Bird Poop Facial is the Soup’s Clip of the Week
My, What Lovely Armpits – The Underarm Overhaul was featured in the June 9, 2008 issue of New York Magazine.
Inside a Big Idea – Donny Deutsch interviews Shizuka Bernstein about the Geisha Facial® on CNBC’s The Big Idea.
Geisha “Bird Poop” Facial on CNN – The Bird Poop ‘Geisha’ Facial was featured on CNN on June 10, 2008 for its use of powdered nightingale droppings.
Shizuka in The Daily Telegraph (London, UK) – New York’s women take their beauty seriously. Their efforts to stop the hands of time and make the most of their looks are awe-inspiring…
Geisha Facial® “para la cabeza de Juan Carlos” – Shizuka Bernstein appeared on Mega 97.9’s El Vacil—n where she applied the bird poop facial mask from her Geisha Facial® on to host Juan Carlos’s head.
All Shizuka NY 2008 Press Releases