Persian-inspired "bull testicle" treatment used in Hollywood?!
Iranians, inside and outside Iran, have earned the unfortunate distinction of being too image-conscious. Guardian recently reported Iranians have "the highest rate of nose surgery in the world." You may blame some of this on Hollywood celebrities who are role models for many Iranians, but don't be surprised if many of these celebrities themselves owe their looks to Iranian-owned salons and spas in Los Angeles.
Oscar's televised red carpet arrivals is watched by an estimated one billion people worldwide. It's a night when women - and men - spare no expense to out-dazzle other Oscar-goers. Reuters recently reported that Hollywood celebrities go to "extreme" lengths to look their best, including a Persian-inspired "boiled bull testicles"! hair treatment, $250,000 black diamond nail varnishes, bird "excrement"! facials, and vampire facelifts.
It is reported that some celebrities are treated by an Iranian owned Santa Monica-based all-natural hair treatment bar, which uses bull testicles! Owner Samira Asemanfar says her Persian family had used them for generations, boiling testicles bought from a local butcher to extract a broth of protein and hormones that's added to treatments to strengthen and repair hair. "Clients have told us their hair felt thicker, more repaired, more fortified. One client said her hair grew faster," said Asemanfar.
Other celebrities are willing to go to other extreme to perfect their look and make a statement on the red carpet. In the past, the ever-youthful actress Demi Moore, 50, has admitted to having leeches put on her skin to detoxify her blood. Gwyneth Paltrow once arrived at a premiere with her back covered with circular bruises from "cupping," a kind of acupuncture said to encourage blood flow and ease stress.
Angelina Jolie told Vanity Fair in 2011 that her sons Maddox and Pax had pedicures in which fish "eat the dead skin off your feet" while music impresario Simon Cowell was reported to carry pocket-sized inhalable oxygen shots to maintain his looks.
This year, there's a twist on the long-practised use of injectable dermal fillers to smooth facial creases and plump up the skin. Enter the Vampire FaceLift, which mixes filler with the patient's own blood. The process involves removing a tube of blood from the patient, isolating certain components and then mixing it with a dermal filler to inject back into the skin.
For those who are needle-averse, bird poop could be the answer to brighter skin. A New York Day Spa in Manhattan offers a Geisha Facial, an hour-long treatment that involves applying nightingale bird droppings in powder form to the skin. The droppings are imported from Japan, and are said to contain natural enzymes which exfoliate the skin.
If expense is not an issue, another way to stand out on the red carpet is to arrive with a manicured set of nails containing 267 carats of black diamonds. Los Angeles' Armenian luxury jewelry designer Azature Pogosian has created a black nail polish containing small, full cut diamonds that he said "add a three dimensional sparkle" when applied on the nail. The price tag for one bottle at London's Selfridges department store is $250,000.
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