From vampire facials and red wine baths to purposely being stung by bees and bitten by leeches—these are some of the craziest beauty treatments Hollywood’s A-listers swear by.
While we struggle to keep up with the latest and greatest beauty treatments, procedures and products that are constantly being released and promised to give us that Hollywood glow, some of your favourite celebrities are taking somewhat peculiar approaches to beauty and resorting to both strange and almost comical treatments that are nothing short of extreme. From eating clay and bathing in red wine, to purposely being stung by bees and rinsing your hair in soda—these are just some of the left-of-centre beauty treatments that, let’s face it, you probably shouldn’t try at home.
Velaterapia
Suncream as a highlighter
Eating clay
Actress Shailene Woodley eats clay in an effort to cleanse her body, admitting on David Letterman’s late night television show that she eats a teaspoon as it “binds to other materials in your body and helps your body excrete those materials that aren’t necessarily the best for you.”
Cranberry juice mask
When Nicole Kidman was a redhead, she reportedly masked her hair in cranberry juice after shampooing with the aim of sealing hair cuticles and boosting her mane’s colour and shine.
Washing Hair with Coca-cola
Model Suki Waterhouse revealed she rinses her hair with Coca-Cola as she doesn’t like the fact that her hair is left flat and limp following a normal shampoo and condition. “Coca-Cola makes it tousled, like I’ve gone through the Amazon or something,” she told Us Weekly.
Bee sting therapy
Gwyneth Paltrow’s beauty habits can generally be considered quite left of centre, however it’s the bee sting therapy that she underwent with the aim of combating inflammation and scarring that really caught our attention. “I’m open to anything,” the actress told the New York Times of her beauty routine. “I’ve been stung by bees. It’s a thousands of years old treatment called apitherapy. People use it to get rid of inflammation and scarring. It’s actually pretty incredible if you research it. But, man, it’s painful. I haven’t done cryotherapy yet, but I do want to try that.”
Oil pulling
Paltrow also resorts to an old school dental practice coined oil pulling that involves moving a tablespoon of oil around in your mouth for 10 to 20 minutes. The technique, which must be done on an empty stomach, is said to help improve oral health and remove toxins.
Apple cidar vinegar face cleanser
According to Scarlett Johansson, apple cider vinegar also doubles as a facial cleanser. The actress revealed in an interview that she discovered the beauty secret while researching natural skincare, “It’s a nice way to treat your skin if you don’t want to use all those harsh chemicals that a dermatologist would recommend.
Vampire facial
The vampire facial, received by the likes of Kim Kardashian in a 2013 episode ofKourtney and Kim Take Miami, is also known as a blood facial which involves drawing blood from your arm, spinning it to extract platelet-rich plasma and then applying it topically or, using a needle, injecting it into your face.
Honey & beer conditioner
Catherine Zeta Jones, the woman with one of the most enviable manes on the planet, has revealed to The Daily Mail that she uses a mixture of honey and beer to condition her hair. “I smell like the bottom of a beer barrel for days afterwards,” she added, “but it’s very good for the hair.
Brushing teeth with strawberries
Catherine Zeta jones has also confirmed that her secret to achieving the perfect set of pearly whites is brushing your teeth with strawberries instead of toothpaste. “I brush my teeth with strawberries because I was told they’re a natural teeth whitener and it really works,” she revealed. “They taste better than most toothpastes, too.”.
Blood detoxifying leeches
Demi Moore revealed in 2008 that she took to Austria for a cleanse complete with blood-sucking leeches. “It detoxifies your blood and they have a little enzyme that when they’re biting down on you, gets released into your blood and generally you bleed for quite a bit,” Moore told David Letterman on his late night television show of the medically-trained leeches. “And your health is optimised. It detoxified the blood and I’m feeling detoxified right now.”
Milk facial spray
Milk facial spray It’s rumoured that supermodel Cindy Crawford sprays milk on her face—as you would with say, a rose-water facial mist—in an effort to keep her skin hydrated, crediting the dairy product’s high calcium and protein rich make-up with softer, healthier-looking skin.
Japanese geisha facial
Victoria Beckham is said to be a fan of the traditional Japanese geisha facial, one that is widely-known to be made up of bird excrement. The nightingale droppings used are reportedly sanitised via ultraviolet light and transformed into a powder that is used to boost the skin—brightening, healing and restoring its natural glow.
Haemorrhoid cream on eye bags
Sandra Bullock has previously admitted to using haemorrhoid cream to rid herself of unwanted eye bags and reduce puffiness. “I didn’t realise that putting haemorrhoid ointment on your face is acceptable in the beauty business,” says Bullock of the peculiar practice. “But apparently, butt cream helps lines around the eyes!”
Smelling grapefruit oil
According to the Daily Mail, Jennifer Lopez is known to sniff grapefruit oil before sitting down for a meal in an effort to suppress her appetite, as it reportedly affects liver enzymes and encourages weightless.
Red wine baths
Take a leaf out of the Desperate Housewives star’s book and indulge in a little TLC with the help of a glass or two of red wine. The actress has revealed that she adds a cup of old red wine to her bath and uses the sediments that sink to the bottom as an exfoliator. “The only bad thing is you can’t drink the whole bottle of wine,” she added in Kym Douglas’s The Black Book of Hollywood Beauty Secrets.
Face yoga
Rashida Jones told Refinery29 that while she doesn’t know if it actually works or not, she does take part in the practice of face yoga—which involves contorting and stretching your facial muscles. “I can’t tell if it really makes a difference, but it feels like it wears out my muscles and I’m doing something important,” she confessed. “I don’t know, I think I like it. But I definitely can’t do it in public. It looks really stupid.”
Bathing three times a day
Victoria’s Secret model Irina Shayk has spoken out about her love of baths, adding that she enjoys taking them a total of three times a day—yes, three. “I’m Russian so there has to be candles, Russian TV, food and lots of bubbles,” she told Hello! magazine. “Nothing can be worse when you travel and work all day than sitting in a small, uncomfortable bath. That’s not me.”