WILD SPA BEAUTY TREATMENTS COMING TO A SALON NEAR YOU

The best way to find out what is really cutting edge on the spa scene, is to listen in on what the celebrities are up to lately in the way of new beauty treatments. No one had ever heard of cupping until July 2004 when Gwyneth Paltrow chose to wore a backless dress to a New York film premiere after having had the alternative treatment. BBC News wrote, "At first glance they looked like large love bites..." No one knew in those days that cupping is an ancient Asian practice that involves placing heated cups over the skin to encourage blood flow and to ease stress, aches and pains. It is considered a form of acupuncture.

Let Me Suck Your Blood Darling

And this past March when Demi Moore was on the David Letterman show Demi just had to tell Dave about her new beauty treatment. She was just back from Austria where she had gone to have leeches suck the old, er, her blood out. This is supposed to detoxify it, she told him. Is keeping the attentions of a younger man really worth all that I ask.

"I feel like I've always been someone looking for the cutting edge of things that optimize your health and healing," she told Dave. She said she planned to return for another leech treatment.

She's Got a Baby Face

And if Madonna is putting human placenta on her face why aren't you? Don't you want to look "baby-faced" cute? Why settle for just looking younger when you can work magic with human placenta creams? Eva Longoria swears by rubbing a lotion of EMK Placental cream into her face. The placenta is full of minerals , antioxidants and amino acids. This is just what you would expect from an endocrine organ designed to deliver food and oxygen to a growing fetus, and take away carbon dioxide and other waste products.

Break Out the Champagne to Go with It

And the rich don't mind flaunting it. Guess what Catherine Zeta Jones uses to keep her brunette hair shiny and lustrous? First she washes it with truffle shampoo, and we know truffles are expensive what with those pigs being trained to find them in the French countryside and all. Next Iranian Beluga roe is slathered on because it contains omega-3 fatty acids which produce collagen and keratin for incredible shine.

I know you are probably wondering as you read this if that canned salmon you have in the kitchen will work just as well. Keep it handy for the next treatment too.

If you think Catherine is excessive in her filthy rich ways, check out Angelina Jolie who is said to be working caviar into quite a lot of her body to remove post-pregnancy weight-loss wrinkles. She uses the eggs of the Baerli sturgeon raised on farms in the South of France, don't you know, in case you want to check with your spa treatment person.

The treatment can last up to three hours. First the actress is wrapped in tight bandages so that her body can sweat out the toxins before the cream is applied to tighten the slackened skin and make it firm again.

Gone Fishing

Next time you go to your spa don't be surprised if someone asks you to put your feet in the lovely new fish pond. The latest rage is having garra rufa (Doctor fish) nibble the dead skin off your feet. It costs about $35 for 15 minutes, and, of course, YouTube has videos of it being done. This is very popular in some Asian countries. It's a pedicure that tickles.

Just Don't Do That On My Car Roof

How about an ancient Japanese traditional geisha practice used as a facial that uses "uguisu no fun" or nightingale dung as its main ingredient? Of course the droppings are first sterilized. Then they are ground into a fine white powder and mixed into a mask. It is said to have a slightly musky smell.

It is supposed to lighten, brighten and balance skin tones that have been damaged by acne or the sun. An enzyme called guanine in the droppings apparently bleaches and exfoliates the skin. Kabuki actors and geishas have been swearing by the stuff for hundreds of years.

Okay, now that you know what the weirdos are doing, go to your regular spa appointment and tell them to give you "the usual".


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