原文: 10 Bizarre Beauty Products

The lengths some people go to in the pursuit of beauty (failing that, youthfulness is pretty popular too) is really quite surprising. Even though we have been hearing for decades of the ridiculous-sounding things that our ancestors did to improve their looks and laughing derisively (seriously, the Egyptians used crocodile dung as a type of facial mask!), some of the products we use today are no less weird and disgusting. The list covers 10 of the most bizarre beauty products that are in use today – many of them can even be purchased online. While the top two items on the list are among the most well-known contemporary beauty products we hope you’ll see the reasoning behind their placement. In no particular order:

Collagen injections are used to smooth out frown lines, crows feet wrinkles, and smile lines as well as to give the appearance of full lips. Like botox, this procedure is quite common but where the main ingredient comes from is just bizarre. Notwithstanding the ninth item on this list - there are two main sources of collagen, a protein responsible for skin strength and elasticity, bovine (cow) and… human. About three in 100 people experience an allergic reaction to bovine-derived collagen which has prompted manufacturers to source collagen from aborted fetuses, placentas, and donated cadavers as the probability of an allergic reaction is virtually non-existent. Possibly the most morally outraging source of collagen is the rumored harvesting of collagen from executed prisoners in China, taken without the consent of the prisoner or their family and exported to the UK for socialites to shoot into their faces.

While the botox procedure to prevent frown lines and wrinkles may sound fairly familiar and commonplace if you think about what you’re having injected into your skin it really is quite bizarre. Botulinum toxin (bo + tox = botox) is one of the most poisonous naturally occurring substances on the planet and the single most toxic protein. Eating food contaminated with Clostridium botulinum can lead to serious food poisoning (the fatality rate is 5 to 10%) if there is toxin present. One microgram (1/1000000 of a gram) is lethal to humans. The amounts used in cosmetic procedures are consequently very small.

The neurotoxins produced by members of the cobra family of snakes (and some vipers and rattlesnakes) act on prey by blocking the nerve impulses to the muscles and inducing paralysis. Realizing that snake venom could produce a similar effect to that of Botox, the beauty industry has come up with a synthetic form of snake venom that is applied to the face as a cream rather than injected. It is meant to be safer and less invasive. The venom that was used to create the synthetic version comes from ‘snake farms’ in Brazil where thousands of snakes are ‘milked’ for their venom.

According to manufacturers of the product, placenta wrinkle cream derived from bovine placentas can slow down the appearance of visible signs of aging by moisturizing skin and combating wrinkles. Some companies also use plant placenta (yes, flowering plants have placentas!) and even human. Claims were first made in the 1940s (when this idea was first marketed) that the nutrient rich placenta gave off the benefits of hormones and stimulated cell growth. Since the FDA quickly decided that this constituted a medical claim, saying this became illegal in the US. The manufacturers changed these claims to say that the proteins present in the placenta moisturize one’s skin and hair.

How dedicated are you to having smooth, shiny hair? If you’re serious enough there’s the option (in the UK at least) to have a hairdresser massage bull semen into your scalp. The reasoning behind this “ewww” inducing idea? Hair is made up of protein, although essentially your hair is dead, and some proteins can help form a protective layer around the hair. Some people thought it would be a good idea to market protein treatments as a way of keeping your hair healthy anyway. The supposedly ultimate source of concentrated protein? Bull semen.

There is an old Japanese beauty secret making its way over to the western world. It’s called ‘uguisu no fun‘ or sterilized nightingale droppings. An enzyme called guanine (also added to various make up products for its pearly sheen) found in the nightingale’s droppings apparently does a good job of bleaching and exfoliating skin. Kabuki actors and geishas have been using uguisu no fun for hundreds of years to remove make up and to keep their skin soft. The joy of spreading bird excrement on your face doesn’t come as cheap as a jar of Olay though. It’s around twenty US dollars for one ounce. If you’d rather have someone else do the smearing, you can go to the Shizuka Day Spa in New York and $180 later your face will be smooth and soft.

If you’re willing to give the leeches a go, you might also be interested in letting a school of small fish nibble the dead skin cells off your toes. The idea is that you put your feet into a tank containing a species of carp (doctor fish) and wait 15 to 30 minutes while they feast on your calluses. Because the fish are toothless the process is meant to be very safe, as they can only suck off pieces of dead, flaking skin. In Turkey, where the treatment originated, the fish live in natural hot springs and are a popular skin care option for the people who bathe there.

Letting blood-sucking parasites attach their slimy bodies to you as a ‘detox’ sounds like a questionable idea. However, leech therapy, or hirudotherapy, has been practiced since 1020 AD for treating skin disease and helping patients recover from surgery. These days, leeches can be used in the treatment of varicose veins, reducing blood coagulation, and helping stimulate blood circulation in reattached organs that require critical blood flow. If you are more adventurous you can follow in the footsteps of celebrities, such as Demi Moore, and make your way to Austria to have your blood feasted on by the medicinal species of leech, Hirudo medicinalis.

This odd treatment isn’t plastered on your face, or combed through your hair, but eaten instead. Pig’s feet are being marketed as an edible way to combat wrinkles by New York restaurant Hakata Tonton’s owner. He figures that since the tootsies of the pig contain a high amount of collagen (which is used in anti wrinkle creams and lip injections) a person might as well eat them to gain similar benefits. Although collagen is one of the major proteins involved in maintaining skin and muscle tone, consuming a meal of pig trotters is almost certainly a less effective method of keeping the scalpel away than simply maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and staying out of the sun.

Because snails can heal and regenerate their shells using the slime they secrete the beauty industry is now using the slime of the common garden snail species (Helix aspersa) in beauty products. The myriad of claims for its efficacy range from getting rid of acne to improving stretch marks and scarring. The snail secretion, which is also used by the snail to reduce friction as it moves, seems to have anti-bacterial in addition to antioxidant qualities. If it works for the snail, why not put it on your face?

Contributor: downhighway61, and Tempyra

译文: 10种奇异的美容产品【Top List】

2008年6月16日Abhijeet Mukherjee撰写于Jeet Blog

      一些人去追求美貌（如果追求美貌不成功，追求年轻也是相当流行的）的程度是相当令人吃惊的。我们的祖先为了改善他们的容貌曾经做的那些听起来很荒诞的事情（比如说埃及人曾经把鳄鱼粪制成了一种美容面具），这数十年来，即使我们已经听说并且嘲笑着他们，然而跟他们相比，我们今天所使用的某些产品却也是同样的奇异和令人厌恶。这个排行榜囊括了我们今天在使用的10种最奇异的美容产品——其中很多甚至能够在网上购买到。当清单上的前两个项目成为了目前美容用品中最广为人知的产品时，我们希望大家能够看到他们在这个位置背后的原委。以下排名不分先后：

1.人类衍生胶原蛋白注射液

      胶原蛋白注射液是用来抚平皱眉线皱纹、鱼尾纹和笑纹从而使脸部的外观具有丰满的唇型。像肉毒杆菌毒素的注射，这套程序相当的普遍，然而它其中主要成分的来源却相当的奇异。纵然在清单的第九项——胶原蛋白主要有两个来源，这一种负责皮肤强度和弹性的蛋白，牛（母牛）和人类。大约在每一百个人里面就有三个人对牛源的胶原蛋白产生过敏反应，这种现象已经促使制造商们了解到从流产的婴儿、胎盘和捐赠的尸体做过敏反应试验的可能性在实质上是不存在的。有大量的谣言说，也许最不道德的胶原蛋白来源是来自于中国的死囚，并未经过犯人本身或者他们家属的同意而直接出口到美国并注射到社会名流们的脸上。

2.肉毒杆菌毒素注射剂

      注射肉毒杆菌毒素以防止皱眉线皱纹和皱纹的出现，这个听起来似乎还算比较熟悉和常见，如果你考虑一下你正在把什么东西注射进你的皮肤，那么你就会觉得真的是十分的奇异。A型肉毒杆菌毒素（bo+tox=肉毒杆菌毒素）是地球上自然产生的最具毒性的物质之一，也是单一的毒性最强的蛋白质。食用被肉毒梭菌污染的食品，如果存在毒素的话，将会导致严重的食物中毒（死亡率达5~10 %）。一微克（1 / 1000000克）是人类的致命量。因此，在化妆品中所使用到的数量非常小。

3.蛇毒面霜

      蛇中的眼镜蛇家族成员所产生的神经毒素（包括某些毒蛇和响尾蛇），作用于猎物后能够通过阻断肌肉的神经冲动，诱导麻痹。当认识到这一蛇的毒液可以产生类似于肉毒杆菌毒素的效 果，美容产业提出了一个综合的形式，确切地说相对于注射剂来说，蛇毒更加适用于面霜。这样做是为了更加安全并减少对皮肤的侵入。蛇毒，为了增加人造的蛇毒产量，在它们的来源地， 巴西的‘蛇农场’上，成千上万的蛇在为他们的蛇毒'挤奶' 。

4.胎盘抗皱面霜

      根据制造厂商的产品，来自牛胎盘的胎盘抗皱面霜通过对皮肤的保湿来减缓皮肤所出现的明显老化的迹象，并能够对抗皱纹。一些公司也使用植物胎盘（没错，开花植物是有胎盘的！）甚至是人类的。20世纪40年代（当这个想法首次面世的时候），这种营养丰富的胎盘由于能够产生有益于人体的激素并刺激细胞的生长而面临了索赔。美国食品及药物管理局迅速做出了决定，认为这已经构成了医疗索赔，并声称这在美国会变成违法行为。而制造商们改变了这些索赔，并指出在胎盘中出现的蛋白质只是起到滋润一个人的皮肤和头发的作用。

5.公牛精液的头发治疗

      你对拥有一头平滑亮泽的秀发有多执著呢？如果你相当的狂热，那么现在就有这个机会（起码在英国会有）让一个美发师按摩公牛的精液进入你的头皮。这一“ewww”诱人的想法的背后的原因是什么呢？头发是由蛋白质组成的，尽管基本上你的头发是死的，但是仍有一些蛋白质能够在发丝周围形成一层保护膜。无论如何，把蛋白质疗法作为一种让你的头发保持健康的方式去销售，一些人认为这将是一个很好的主意。而在这一假定中，浓缩蛋白质的最终来源将来自？公牛精液。

6.鸟粪面部疗法

      日本有一个古老的美容秘密，使他们在这方面几乎超越了西方世界。这种疗法被称作“没有乐趣的莺”或者是经过消毒的夜莺粪。在夜莺粪中发现了一种叫做鸟嘌呤的酶（由于它能够散发出珍珠的光彩，因此也被用来添加到产品的各式各样的外包装中），它在漂白皮肤和角质层的脱落方面有十分明显的良好效果。几百年以来，日本的歌舞伎演员们和艺妓们一直都在使用没有乐趣的莺去除瑕疵和弥补不足，保持皮肤的柔软。然而在你的脸上散布鸟类的排泄物并没有像散布一罐玉兰油那么便宜。它的价格大概是每盎司20美元。如果你想要让别人来做这种脏兮兮的活的话，你可以到纽约的静天水疗中心花费180美元，不久之后你的脸将会变的光滑且柔嫩。

7.鱼类修脚

      如果你乐意去拜访一下水蛭，那么对于让一间学校那么多的小鱼轻啃你的脚趾头使死皮细胞脱落，你可能也会很有兴趣。这个想法是你把你的脚放到一个充斥着大量某个品种的鲤鱼（医生鱼）的大缸子里面 ，在它们在享受你的皮肤硬结组织的时候等待15至30分钟。由于鱼类是无齿的，这也就意味着过程是非常安全的，因为他们只能抽走死去的，剥落的皮肤。在这种疗法的发源地土耳其，鱼类生活在天然温泉，对于在那里沐浴的人来说是一种广受欢迎的护肤选择。
8.水蛭疗法

      让吸血寄生虫把他们粘糊糊的身体贴在你身上以起到排毒作用，这听起来似乎是一个很可疑的想法，不过自公元1020年以来，用水蛭疗法或者药用水蛭疗法治疗皮肤病、帮助病人在外科手术中的恢复一直延续着。现今，水蛭可用于静脉曲张的治疗、减少血液中的凝结物、并在器官重新连接需要紧急的血液流量时帮助刺激血液循环。如果你十分热爱冒险，你可以追随名人的脚步，比如黛咪摩尔，出发到奥地利去用你的血液让这些医学上的水蛭——药用水蛭，享受一顿盛宴。
9.猪蹄饮食

      这种古怪的治疗方法并不是涂抹在你的脸上的，也不是梳过你的头发的，而是用来吃的。纽约餐厅Hakata Tonton的拥有者正把它作为一种可食用的对抗皱纹的方法在市场上销售。他指出由于在猪的脚趾含有大量的胶原质（可用于抗皱和唇缘注射），人们食用后也可能获得相同的好处。尽管胶原质是维持皮肤和肌肉张力的一种最主要的蛋白质，但比起通过消耗一顿猪蹄来使手术刀远离我们，单纯维持日常饮食、有规律的运动和充足的阳光照射将会获得更好的效果。
10.蜗牛粘液面霜

      由于蜗牛能够靠分泌出的粘液来治愈和新生它们的外壳，现在的美容业已经在美容产品中使用公共花园里面的蜗牛（耳轮型）的粘液。有无数的主张都声称它的功效已经延伸到了去除粉刺并改善疤痕和伤疤的作用。蜗牛在移动时用来减小摩擦力的蜗牛的分泌液，除了具有抗氧化性之外，还是一种抗菌药。如果它对蜗牛有这么多用处的话，为什么我们不把它放到你的脸上呢？
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