Leeches, Bees, & Tons Of Needles: Explore The Wild Beauty Treatments Beloved By Celebrities

While even the wealthiest of celebrities can appreciate a budget drugstore beauty find, there’s an altogether separate realm of beauty that aligns better with the collective idea of fame and fortune: this is where the experimental facials, high-tech products, massages, diets, and therapies come into play. These treatments feature cutting-edge ingredients, occasionally controversial techniques, and hefty price tags to boot. Various celebrity beauty treatments are as different as the A-listers who love them, but every therapy strives more or less towards the same goal: glowing skin and an “exceptional” body (whatever that means). Often working with unconventional methods, these treatments themselves are a fascinating look into the sect of the beauty industry regularly obscured from public view.

Luckily, for fans and observers everywhere, social media makes it easier than ever to take a closer look at exactly what their favorite celebrities actually have to do to achieve and maintain that elusive red-carpet-ready radiance. Though Beyoncé may sing — albeit tongue-in-cheek — that she “woke up like this,” knowing that her marble-smooth visage is at least in part thanks to a $175 facial (and not superhuman genetics) is comforting. Scroll on for the ultimate list of go-to celebrity beauty treatments, who swears by them, and exactly how they claim to work.

Jennifer Aniston

On the more conventional end of the spectrum is Aniston’s documented love for cryotherapy, in which the Murder Mystery 2 actors seals herself into a negative 175-degree chamber. “I just tried cryotherapy recently when I was having some injuries and I was amazed,” she told Shape in 2017. “First of all, that three minutes feels like four years, but it did really help I have to say! I’ve had every injury you can imagine.” Thought to aid in everything from increased workout performance to tighter skin and a faster metabolism, the treatment is also beloved by fellow stars like Alicia Keys, Jessica Alba, and Harry Styles.

Demi Moore

Brace yourself, one of Moore’s documented treatments is not for anyone with a weak stomach. While in Austria, she experimented with a (admittedly dubious) technique to slow signs of aging: she let actual leeches literally suck her blood. Back in 2008, she explained to David Letterman, “It detoxifies your blood and they have a little enzyme that when they're biting down on you, gets released into your blood and generally you bleed for quite a bit and your health is optimized. It detoxified the blood and I’m feeling detoxified right now.”

Meghan Markle

There’s a lot to admire about Markle and her perennial glow, but her sharp jawline and taut skin might be more accessible than you’d think. Before her marriage to Prince Harry, Markle was very vocal about her love for the buccal massage, a mouth muscle massage. Buccal fat pads, located just below your cheekbones, are what contribute to that full-faced baby-like look typically associated with youth. In a buccal massage, a professional massages that area of the face both outside and inside the mouth to stimulate blood flow, drain any excess fluid, and encourage collagen production. The end result is a snatched-looking jawline worthy of its own crown.

Kendall Jenner

For Jenner, the mind-body link is all-important, and many of her most talked-up beauty rituals involve spiritual and physical elements. In 2022, Jenner told Forbes that one of the first things she does upon waking is an “ice facial” — in other words, she dunks her face in a big vat of icy cold water. “It’s amazing for your skin but also really incredible for helping with anxiety,” she said.

Vanessa Williams

It seems like every civilian and celebrity alike gets injectables these days, but it’s still a rather taboo topic for many — just not the ever-candid Williams. She’s been up-front and transparent about the resources she relies on for her fresh, radiant complexion, which includes some carefully-administered Botox. “If I’m doing anything on camera, I’ll do a Botox regimen to keep my face soft so that I don’t look like I have a perpetual frown,” she told NewBeauty in 2018, adding that she loves the ZIIP microcurrent device as well as Ultherapy skin tightening/lifting treatments.

Kim Kardashian

It’s no surprise that the most infamous celebrity beauty treatment of all time is associated with the perpetually internet-breaking star Kim Kardashian. The vampire facial, designed to utilize the client’s own blood as a key component of the process, became a beauty and pop culture moment when Kardashian uploaded a photo of herself undergoing the treatment seemingly covered in blood. In reality, its a Dermapen packed with nano-sized needles to grab the client’s own platelet-packed plasma, which helps stimulate collagen and improve skin elasticity. Kardashian did however reveal in 2018 that she “regrets” the facial because of the pain factor.

Rihanna

Have you ever seen Rihanna not emit her own glow, like a literal star, on the red carpet? Of course not, and it’s largely thanks to this $800 facial she swears by before big events. But because this is Rihanna we’re talking about, it’s no ordinary facial. Performed at her go-to spa, Tracie Martyn in New York City, the treatment is known as the Electro-Fusion facial and combines a series of proprietary micro-current, light, and radiofrequency treatments to sculpt the face and coax out an otherworldly radiance.

January Jones

When standard accessories like bubbles, oils, salts, candles, and scrubs don’t seem to cut it, January Jones likes to add a very different ingredient to her baths: beer. Jones is already into cooking up all sorts of bath potions with creative add-ins — she calls the baths her “human stew” — but last year, after reading up on Cleopatra’s reported beauty routines — the Mad Men star dumped a big, icy mug of beer straight into her bath for purported extra hydration. As for whether the beer bath is truly effective, you’ll have to either take your chances and try it, or simply take Jones’ word.

Gwyneth Paltrow

It would be the oversight of the century to create an entire list dedicated to wonderfully weird celebrity beauty treatments and not include Gwyneth Paltrow, the queen of experimentation. Paltrow has tried quite a few homeopathic and obscure remedies over the years, but her bee sting therapy might take the cake. As the name would suggest, Paltrow subjected herself to actual bee stings in an effort to reduce inflammation. "I’ve been stung by bees. It’s a thousands- of-years-old treatment called apitherapy," Paltrow told the New York Times in 2016. "People use it to get rid of inflammation and scarring. It’s actually pretty incredible if you research it. But, man, it’s painful." With the very real risk of life-threatening allergic reactions, this treatment is probably best to just read about.

Beyoncé

Queen Bey herself hasn’t been spotted looking anything less than immaculate since approximately 1995 (and not even then), which is the best possible endorsement for her beloved hydrafacials. Also adored by Kate Winslet, the transformative treatment is an extremely exfoliating and ultra-moisturizing way to reveal a baby-faced glow. The facial combines salicylic, glycolic, and hyaluronic acid to eat away at dead skin, bacteria, and debris with the help of a suction vacuum. The esthetician will also alternate with a rush of oxygen and antioxidants to ensure nothing about the treatment is too irritating. Ring the alarm because it sure sounds like Beyoncé stumbled upon the skin facial jackpot.

Eva Mendes

Sure, the photos Eva Mendes shared of one of her favorite beauty treatments known as monothreading, are a bit jarring — considering the shot showed Mendes with seven needles jammed into her neck. But it’s somewhat understandable as to why Mendes is so into the treatment. Dr. Mariana Vergara, who regularly performs the procedure on Mendes, says the needles look far more painful than they actually are and help “activate collagen synthesis.” Mendes says she didn’t even know she has seven in her neck, and judging by her selfies, it definitely seems to be working.

Hailey Bieber

Known as the Skin Witch, Hailey Bieber’s favorite facialist Emma Goodman, infuses medicine-backed therapies with metaphysical treatments like crystals, energies, and moon cycles to give her clients an other-worldly glow. For Bieber, as well as all her other patients, the Skin Witch focuses on inner calm and body relaxation, with massive infusions of oxygen, to keep the young star looking perpetually camera-ready.