The lengths New Yorkers will go to for beauty. Shizuka New York, a high-end Japanese spa in midtown, has just introduced a new “Geisha Facial,” which promises to cleanse, brighten, and exfoliate a patron’s face—thanks to a secret ingredient: bird poop. For centuries in Japan, both Kabuki actors and geishas used uguisu no fun, or nightingale droppings, to clean off their thick white makeup and soothe their faces; apparently, guanine, found in the droppings, helped their complexions. Shizuka’s poop has been sanitized through exposure to ultraviolet light, then finely milled and mixed with rice bran. It’s applied as a mask and costs $180 for a 50-minute treatment. “The smell is neutralized,” maintains a spokesperson for the spa.
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