Beauty in bizarre
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham swears by it, and unbelievably many follow suit. It is known to soften and brighten the complexion as it has strong natural enzymes. We find out how good is having your face slathered in bird droppings.
Dr Swati Srivastava, a dermato-cosmetologist known for sketching beautiful faces across the country states that this trend is still relatively new in India, but the use of bird droppings to prepare a skin hydrating and lightening facial product is already a catching up trend in the West. Made popular by high-profile Hollywood celebs including the paparazzi favourite Beckham couple and the latest one to jump the beauty bandwagon is a self-confessed fan of the bird poop treatment, Tom Cruise.
Nightingale droppings
The use of Nightingale excrement as a beauty product might have become a talking point only in recent years, but the idea actually dates back to medieval Japan and Korea. The droppings are not taken from just any bird that fly past. But picked up specifically from the Bush Warbler bird, which is a kind of a Nightingale. The poop from this bird is formulated into a product used to make the skin smooth and glowing. And mind you, special care is taken to disinfect it first. The poop is dried, scraped and then exposed to UV rays. This helps in sterilising it by destroying all harmful bacteria. It is then crushed into a powder and used as a facial product.
Soft and supple
The key ingredients that make the otherwise waste product into a sought after skin refining item are urea and guanine. While urea moisturises the skin, keeping it hydrated and preventing drying, guanine provides a shimmery effect bringing a radiant glow. Moreover, it contains whitening enzymes that help in removing blemishes and acne.
Lately, beauty care providers have devised a new formulation that adds rice bran to the bird poop to also lend exfoliation qualities to the product.
Rice bran is known to be a good exfoliate and helps remove dead skin cells, adding a scrubbing agent to the overall impact of the treatment. Rice bran is mixed up with the poop powder, also to balance the mushy odour of the dropping.
Go for Geisha
The practice of using nightingale poop originated in Korea and was introduced to Japan way back in the eighth century. Its use as a beauty product is believed to have caught up in 17th century Japan, when it became a traditional part of a Geisha’s beauty regimen. This aspect also explains why the treatment is often referred to as a Geisha facial.
While in the western world, Geisha facials have become an instant hit, but in the Indian market it is still in its nascent stage. Some Japanese creams containing bird droppings have recently come to occupy the beauty market shelves here.
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