If it is Cleopatra-like beauty that you aspire to achieve, then include cow milk, ghee, urine and dung in your beauty treatments.
At least that's what the Gujarat Gauseva and Gauchar Vikas Board says in an advisory on its website, according to a report in The Times of India.
A chapter titled "Gaumutra, Essential treatment for women's eternal beauty", lays down steps of the beauty treatment.
- massaging the face with cow milk for 15 minutes,
- another 15 minutes of massage with cow ghee and turmeric
- 15 minutes of face massage with cow urine
- applying a face pack of cow dung
- washing it off with neem water after 15 minutes
Well, before you twitch your nose or diss the board's regimen or try to argue whether Cleopatra used cow or donkey milk, here are a few more of those weird beauty treatments used across the world.
Dosa batter
The humble dosa batter can be used to remove a tan on the face.
Image source: By ನಳಪಾಕ, via Wikimedia Commons
The rice in the batter is said to tighten the skin and the lentils work as a scrub.
Bull semen
It strengthens the hair shaft and promotes growth. Apparently.
Bird poo
The excreta of our avian friends is to have properties that can work wonders for our skin.
New York facialist Shizuka Bernstein explained to Daily Mail "The bird poop facial works because of an enzyme that breaks down the dead skin on the upper layers of the face. The nightingale poo acts as an exfoliate that brings out the dirt and dust that builds up in the skin and leaves the customer feeling refreshed."
P.S. Victoria Beckham loves it.
Sheep placenta facials
One Direction star Harry Styles swears by it.
Stem cells, which are rich in nutrients, from the placenta of prime New Zealand livestock are extracted and flash frozen. "They are then mixed into a gel containing gold flecks which are slathered over the face after it has been exfoliated, exposed to steam and had pores opened by LED light from a handheld device," this report explains.
Vampire facial
Well, for starters you don't necessarily have to be a vampire to get this facial.
Also known as Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP), this treatment was made popular by Kim Kardashian.
kimkardashian/Instagram
"It includes the use of platelet-rich plasma which is taken from the patient's own blood. The platelets further stimulate collagen and elastin growth, so it's essentially a "turbo charged" Dermapen treatment. It's especially good for patients who cannot complete a full treatment plan of four [standard Dermapen] treatments (Ed note: that costs $2,500) or whose collagen has been weakened by age or the environment," Dr. Jon Turk, a plastic surgeon, told Elle.
Bee venom
This is a skin enhancing treatment that promises to plump up skin by tricking it into thinking it's been stung.
Among its most popular users is Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton.
Snake massage
If you are afraid of reptiles, this may not exactly be for you.
But there are plenty of people out there who are okay with snakes- sometimes six-foot pythons- slithering across their bodies, all for a massage.
The massage is believed to give an "adrenaline rush" and according to Buzzfeed, has been marketed in Indonesia, Israel, Russia, and Thailand.
"Together, the big and small reptiles achieve a gradation in massage pressure in the same manner that a regular massage practitioner will apply pressure at different intensities in one regular massage session," an Inquisitr report states.
The snakes are fed before they are allowed to give a massage. Thankfully.