To what lengths will you go to look “young and beautiful”? Will you give your blood for it?
Fashion designer Victoria Beckham has spent 1,200 pounds on a new moisturiser. It’s made from her own blood. Read that again. A cream made of your own blood!
The 44-year-old took to her Instagram stories to share that she is now using the anti-ageing property by Barbara Sturm, a doctor loved by celebrities for her ‘vampire facials’, reports dailymail.co.uk.
The former Spice Girls singer said that her blood had been used to “create healing factors made by her own cells” and called it “highly anti-inflammatory and regenerative”. Her verdict? She felt her skin to be “amazing, super hydrated, clear and very soft”.
Well, such bizarre attempts at attaining the prescribed standard of beauty are not new for celebrities world over. Here’s a list of the weirdest tricks out there.
1. Vampire Facial
In 2013, American reality star Kim Kardashian posted a selfie of herself covered in her own blood and brought into mainstream light the ‘vampire facial’. The treatment, the sight of which may gross out many, apparently uses one’s own blood to help promote the healthy activity of their skin cells.
However, last year, the reality TV star reportedly admitted that she regrets getting the painful procedure done. And went ahead to say that it’s the one treatment “she’ll never do again.”
2. Penis Facial
Don’t blame me. That’s what they’re calling it. Celebrities like Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett swear by this treatment. Kate Beckinsale, a few months ago, took to Instagram to praise the ‘penis facial’.
The treatment, performed by celebrity facialist Georgia Louise Atelier uses Epidermal growth factor (EGF) serum. In simpler words, the serum is derived out of the foreskin of Korean babies during circumcision, explaining why Bullock likes to call it the ‘penis facial’.
Yes, it’s as disgusting as it sounds.
3. Injecting ‘Young Blood’
It’s the stuff of scary fiction. This so-called anti-ageing procedure runs on the belief that injecting fresh blood taken from young donors into older people’s veins will rejuvenate your organs and help keep you young.
A startup by a Stanford Medical School graduate has come up with this bizarre idea. Blood seems to be the new beauty drug. In 2017, the company enrolled people in a clinical trial designed to find out what happens when the veins of adults are filled with blood from the young. They haven’t released any results of the trial yet, but the founder said they got “positive results.” The start up though is up and running, and it can cost you 8,000 dollars. Yup. A neat 5,60,000 rupees.
4. Bird Poop Facial
Are you even surprised anymore? It’s another one of Victoria Beckham’s trusted tricks. She used to reportedly rely on this thing popularly known as bird poop facials. Don’t worry, one doesn’t just smear the poop directly on your face. (Though by this time, I don’t put it past people to do that either.)
Japanese Geisha Facials, as they’re called, use nightingale feces as a gentle exfoliate which is supposed to rinse the skin of dirt and dust. The feces are specifically imported from Japan in powdered form.
5. Snake Venom Facial
I’m telling you this business is not for the faint-hearted. The snake venom facial is touted to be the new botox. The treatment involves injecting synthetic viper venom into the patient's face or can be used as an ingredient in creams. It’s supposed to relax muscles on the face, thereby being a minor botox substitute.
It comes from the logic that it will copy the effects of hemotoxins found in the venom of the Malaysian Pit Viper, that is, relaxes the face.
6. Placenta for Skin Care
The placenta is a large, flat organ that develops in a person's uterus during pregnancy. It provides oxygen and nutrients to the foetus as well as removes waste for it.
Get why it’s on the list now? Some skin care products use placenta as an ingredient. It’s believed that these placenta-based products will reduce the appearance of wrinkles, due to their high collagen levels.
There are so many such peculiar procedures that keep coming and going out of fashion. But where do you draw the line? And where are credible studies that support these beauty practices?
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)