10 BIZARRE WAYS TO KEEP YOUR YOUTH
The market in anti-ageing products is worth £110billion annually but if you’re prepared to get experimental, you can fight off the years on a budget
AS THE novelist George Orwell said, “At 50, everyone gets the face they deserve.” Try telling that to Ruby Wax. The 64-year-old comedian has revealed that she combats the ravages of time with a cold shower every morning.
“I have started to bathe and shower in really cold water as I’ve heard it gives you a youthful complexion,” she says.
And the scientists, it seems, agree. Arun Mason, director of the Vivo Clinic, explains: “A cold shower brings the blood flow to the surface of the skin and reduces the pores, which can make the skin look more flushed and youthful.”
Figures show that global demand for the anti-ageing market is worth about £110 billion a year, set to rise to £170 billion by 2021. But why spend money on expensive unguents and creams when, like Ruby, you can simply use cheap, natural – if unusual – alternative ways of cheating Mother Nature?
Here are 10 of the strangest (if not necessarily best) anti-ageing treatments currently available.
GEISHA FACIAL
An ancient remedy, the “geisha facial” is a traditional Japanese skincare treatment the principal ingredient of which is nightingale droppings. Unfortunately, you can’t simply collect your own droppings – the nightingales in question are of a specific breed found only on the Japanese island of Kyushu. But with Victoria Beckham and Harry Styles supposedly fans, it’s worth bearing in mind if you’re ever in the area.
SNAIL SECRETIONS
The rejuvenating power of snail slime was first recognised by the Ancient Greeks but after it was observed that Chilean snail-farm workers in the 1980s had remarkably smooth hands, the serum became a common extract in anti-ageing products.
If you can overcome your squeamishness, allowing the molluscs to secrete over your face will pay dividends – the serum is rich in allatonin, a natural healing agent, and moisturising glycolic acid.
BREAST MILK FACIAL
Mothers have known for centuries that breast milk has a wealth of natural healing properties for their babies, including eczema and eye and ear infections… so it was only a matter of time before the same logic was applied to grownups too. Whether dabbing it on as a skin cream to tackle acne, or going for the full facial, the all-natural vitamins and enzymes will give you smooth, hydrated, elastic skin – just like you had when you were a baby.
CACTUS MASSAGE
If the idea of a smart rub-down with nature’s most prickly plant doesn’t exactly scream “beauty therapy” to you, think again. In Mexico, cactus-oil massages are being hailed as the latest way of boosting skin rejuvenation: cactus extract is a close cousin to aloe vera, with rich hydrating and detoxifying benefits. It’s also an excellent way of healing sunburn, apparently.
GRAPEFRUIT SCENT
According to scientists at the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, the smell of pink grapefruit can fool people into thinking you’re younger than you are. The boffins tested a range of scents on a model in her 40s and asked 50 strangers to guess her age.
“Pink grapefruit had the greatest impact on a man’s perception of a woman’s age,” said neurological director Alan Hirsch – with the majority of men believing the model was six years younger than her true age.
NIBBLING FISH
Fish spa pedicures is a treatment that does pretty much exactly as you’d expect: after immersing your feet in a tank full of tiny fish, you simply lie back and let the tiddlers nibble away that nasty dead skin. And try not to think of all the other feet that have been in the tank before you.
LEECH BLOOD LETTING
Used as a cure-all treatment in the Middle Ages, the application of slimy bloodsuckers may be scorned by modern medics… but it remains a popular beauty treatment.
The film star Demi Moore is supposedly a big fan of leeches as a way of detoxing and improving circulation.
However, it’s not recommended you try this at home – possible side-effects include infection, anaemia and, perhaps most disgustingly, the chance that the leech could “migrate” further into your body.
BEER BATH
In what might be the Czech Republic’s greatest contribution to the beauty industry, spas in Prague are offering “beer baths” – in which guests immerse themselves in a tub of the amber nectar kept bubbling at a pleasant 37C. A 30-minute dip is said to release anti-ageing vitamins, carbohydrates and proteins as well as act as a natural skin moisturiser. Just try not to drink the benefits away.
CHOCOLATE BODY WRAP
The good news: covering yourself in chocolate will help you look younger. The cocoa butter found in chocolate cream is high in calcium, potassium and magnesium – all minerals that help keep the skin hydrated, nourished and healthy. The bad news: eating chocolate will not have the same effect.
BEE VENOM THERAPY
While the nasty bit in a bee sting has been used by doctors to help treat rheumatoid arthritis, neuralgia and multiple sclerosis, it has also been endorsed by Gwyneth Paltrow as a means of combating wrinkles. “I’ve been stung by bees,” she said. “It’s a thousands of years old treatment. People use it to get rid of inflammation and scarring. It’s actually pretty incredible if you research it. But man, it’s painful.” Probably best to just take her word for it.