Kabuki actors discovered it. Geishas swear by it. Now beauty-conscious women in fashionable New York is crazy about it. And now this beauty elixir has reached our shores. What is it? Japanese nightingale droppings.

What’s that stuff you rubbing on your face?

While this may be the first that you’ve heard of bird poop facials, as we’ve mentioned already, they’ve been around for quite a while in Japan. Uguisu no fun is a traditional part of a geisha’s beauty regimen. Shops in towns with geisha houses (called hanamachi) sell these to them, including their distinctive clothing, shoes, wigs, instruments and cosmetics.

Japanese Maiko dancers, or young Geisha, stand in a Garden prior to performing at a tea ceremony

Both geisha and Kabuki actors have traditionally worn heavy white makeup. Originally, it was made with ingredients like zinc and lead, which proved to cause serious skin disease and other problems. Then it was discovered that using uguisu no fun completely removed the makeup as well as served to condition and soothe the skin. Although the makeup is no longer made with these ingredients, uguisu no fun had secured its place.

Popular in Japan till now. The West soon caught on with a handful of spas that offer the treatment as part of their facials. Posh Spice is probably the most famous fan of the treatment.

Posh Did It, And Love It

Victoria Beckham, a convert of Geisha facial. She tried it and loved how great her skin looked. She also use a cream derived from nightingale poop at home.

Victoria Beckham, who has long had a problem with keeping a clear complexion, is now reportedly raving about the so-called Geisha facial.

“When Victoria was in Japan recently she was admiring the local women’s clear skin and discovered it was down to these facials,” a friend of the 34-year-old star recently told Closer magazine.

The nightingale dropping facial has also been featured on Oprah Winfrey’s Show.

So is there any real reason to add it to your beauty regimen? Read on to get the poop on, well, the poop.

The Science of Nightingale Dropping

Most bird excrement is white because of the uric acid, which isn’t soluble in water, but different birds have different poop compositions. Japanese nightingale excrement contains large concentrations of nitrogen-rich urea and guanine.

Urea:

• Common ingredient in skin care products that you may use daily.
• Reduces water loss through the skin’s epidermis and retains skin moisture.
• Accelerate the process of skin cell and skin regeneration process.
• Helps other ingredients of skin care products to penetrate better within the skin surface.
• Urea based skin care products are ideal for people with dry skin, and extremely beneficial for skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis.

Guanine:

• Amino acid in a form of natural enzyme with bleaching qualities.
• Creates a shimmery, iridescent effect, giving a glowing look on skin.
• Clear out skin blemishes and brightens dull skin.
• Has light chemical peeling action, but without the redness and burning, resulting in a fairer skin tone.

From Birdcage to Your Face

Red-billed Japanese Nightingale

Spreading wild bird poop on the ground to use as fertilizer is one thing, but gathering it to put on your face is another. You might imagine people tracking nightingales and running around to scrape the poop off various surfaces, but there’s a very specific process that goes into making bird poop into an ingredient. There are nightingale farms in Japan that exist solely for the purpose of harvesting the poop. Wild nightingales eat things like insects and berries, but at the farms, the birds are caged and fed a diet of organic seeds.

After their poop is collected from the birdcages, it is sanitized, using an ultraviolet light. After the poop has been dried out (with a dehydrator), it’s ground into a very fine white powder.

Wild bird poop can contain bacteria, fungal spores and other unhealthy substances, but uguisu no fun is safe and clean due to the birds’ special diet, controlled habitat and the purification process.

Geisha Organic Facial, Our Signature

Our signature facial uses Chidoriya skin care range from Kyoto. When combined with our unique Japanese Ki massage method requiring no less than 300 strokes, the active ingredients are fully optimised to beautify your skin. In addition to uguisu no fun, this facial treatment also includes thorough cleansing, exfoliation, meridian massage, and lymphatic drainage with jade roller, which all involves only natural ingredients, such as rice bran, camellia oil, azuki red beans, and peach moon water that have been traditionally used for beauty care in Japan for centuries. It is an amazing (all natural and organic) way to lighten and whiten the skin. Due to its hypoallergenic properties, this facial is highly recommended for those whom has dry and sensitive skin.

Chidoriya

A little history about Chidoriya. Born in the Kyoto City, Chidoriya was established in 1949 in Kyoto, Japan. In the first years, Chidoriya focused on making original beauty goods for Maiko dancing girls and Geisha. The ageless beauty of Geishas and Maiko girls has long been known in Japan and throughout the world, hence they have always been the fashion and trend setters in Kyoto. Over the past 60 years our reputation for excellent products has established our unique clientele of fashion and beauty professionals. We are pleased to introduce Chidoriya products in Singapore.