There are some pretty strange beauty treatments being used in spas today, from slithering snails to "beauty-boosting mucus" to a snake massage in Israel. People will pay just about anything for a spa facial that promises to beat mother nature. The Shizuka spa in Manhattan promises smoother, younger looking skin from a treatment derived from nightingale excrement, called "uguisu no fun," or as they call it the Geisha Facial.

The facial concoction uses the bird's fecal material (which is mixed with its urine, because birds only have one hole for both solid and liquid waste) mixed with ground rice bran. The spa owner, Shizuka Bernstein, says that nightingale droppings are prized because of the seeds that the bird eats contains an enzyme that exfoliates skin and leaves it smoother than before.

Around 100 men and women go into the spa for the treatment monthly at a cost of $180 per session. Bernstein calls the treatment a Geisha Facial in light of the gracious hostesses and entertainers from traditional Japanese culture. While the western world might cringe at using bird poop as a skin treatment, the practice has been used for close to 400 years by geishas and actors in the Japanese theater. The practice was introduced to the Japanese by the Koreans who used the material to remove stains from kimonos and was used in a similar fashion until its skin treatment properties were discovered during the Edo period of the 1600s.

But people shouldn't worry about the sanitary nature of the treatment. The excrement is usually sterilized by ultraviolet light, which is effective in killing most types of bacteria. It is then dried, powdered, and sold to companies who use it for spa treatments. The powder can be purchased online for as little as $20.

The rice bran is added for exfoliation of the skin and is massaged into the facial skin for a few minutes and then washed off. And yes, the treatment does not smell at all because it has been previously sanitized.

Nightingales have a high concentration of urea in their droppings, and this chemical is widely known to help the skin retain moisture. Many popular cosmetics use urea in their formulations. The enzyme is thought to help lighten the skin from blemishes.

Victoria Beckham, who has long suffered from acne, has used the procedure to improve the clarity of her skin.