Hotel Wailea Offers Bird Poop Facial

By Laura Greene

Most women love spa treatments and what’s not to love? Massages, facials, haircuts, manicures – they all make us feel pampered which is great after a long day at work.

Uguisi no fun. Image by the Shizuka New York Day Spa.

Waxing, laser hair removal, tweezing and threading are perhaps less enjoyable but we do it anyway, all in the name of feeling and looking good.

In recent years there have been a few variations from the normal spa menu, with items added that have made headlines around the world. Who could forget the hair conditioning treatment made with bull sperm? Or perhaps the ‘Dream Girl Treatment’ – a massage that will set you back $25,000 as your spine is manipulated with a million dollars worth of real diamonds? Or how about the current worldwide pedicure fad that uses Garra Rufa fish to nibble away at any dead skin on your feet?

Well, one of Maui’s luxury hotels, the Hotel Wailea, offers a treatment to rival them all – ‘The Geisha Facial.’ Reportedly used by modern celebrities such as Victoria ‘Posh Spice’ Beckham, the facial is made of  ‘uguisi no fun’ which translates as nightingale droppings. Dehydrated doo-do0 that reportedly works wonders for your skin.

“Many Japanese, who enjoy the elegant things in life, have long loved the singing of the nightingale. In addition to its singing, the nightingale provides us with an unexpected gift. The dropping of these birds does wonders for the complexion!” says the hotel’s website.

The treatment has been used for years in Japan by Geisha and Kabuki actors who wanted to lighten their skin tone and to remove their heavy make-up. It then became popular with many other women in Japanese society, who wanted to cleanse and even the tone of their skin.

Nightingales tend to be found in plum trees in Japan, where their primary diet consists of hairy caterpillars, who eat the leaves from the tree. When the birds eat, they start to digest the protein from the caterpillars and the chlorophyll and other extracts from the plum leaves. The enzyme used to break this meal down are the enzymes released into the bird’s droppings. Ta-da, you have the perfect ingredients to make gorgeous skin!

The droppings lose any bacteria and smell once they have been dehydrated and treated with ultra violet rays. They are then powdered, packaged and ready for sale. Available in a very small number of spas outside Japan, the powder is then mixed with water to make a paste for your skin.

The Hotel Wailea is the only spa on Maui that offers this facial, available in both 50 or 80 minute time slots. So if your skin is feeling a bit crappy, you know where to go!

This treatment is also available at Ten Thousand Waves Spa and Resort in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Shizuka New York Day Spa in New York City.

Hotel Wailea Maui
555 Kaukahi Street
Wailea
HI 96753
Reservations: (866) 736-2150 Contact: 808-874-0500 Fax: 808-874-8778
Email: [email protected]