Extract of snail slime is used in skincare products.

Uguisu No Fun, a Japanese cleanser made from dried bird feces

You might find things like insects, snail slime and avian fecal matter disgusting, but how people use these things on their bodies can be much more cringe-worthy.

Spa day with cockroaches

Big, fat cockroaches are thrown in a blender with yogurt and powder to be made into a green paste. A lady gladly smears it on her face, where you can still see some intact cockroach legs.

A set of pictures of "cockroach masks" are making the rounds on the Internet lately. Did it trigger your gag reflexes?

Whether the pictured masks are truly useful or not, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theories tell us that cockroaches, although frightening and unsanitary, can be taken orally or used externally for medical and cosmetic purposes.

According to Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica), a classic TCM textbook, cockroaches can help in relieving internal heat, encouraging blood circulation and assisting the descending of qi (energy flow).

When college student Yang Xinwen, 22, suffered from skin allergies, her doctor prescribed a medicine called Kangfuxin Liquid to use on her face and help the wounds to heal.

Yang read the ingredients, and found out that the drug is actually made from extract of dry cockroaches. Feeling nauseous, Yang used it anyway, and still felt lucky that at least she didn't have to drink it.

Be extra careful with your Chinese medicines, and read about the ingredients, word for word, if you want to avoid any close encounters with insects.

Slime away skin woes

Snail slime has become a hot novelty in skin care industry in recent years. The slime extract is believed to help heal skin and maintain hydration.

Search "snail cream" on Taobao.com, China's largest Internet retailer, and more than 10,000 items will pop up, with prices ranging from 60 yuan ($9.61) to more than 1,000 yuan. And the top seller had more than 6,000 orders in the past month.

"The snail creams imported from Korea have been one of the most popular items in my store," said Chen Jing, owner of a shop selling imported cosmetic products in Chaoyang district.

Hoping for instant results, one of Chen's friends even let the snails crawl all over her face, leaving the slime on her, which she gently patted in later to ensure the skin absorbed it.

Chen said, "I use the snail cream myself, but I'll never try live snails. It's so creepy."

Well, why draw the line there? If we are fine with eating snails, why not plaster them all over our faces?

Bird feces facial

"Uguisu no fun" literally translates to "nightingale feces" in Japanese. Well, the "no fun" part in the name is really to the point, since the feces is used as a facial cleansing product.

The cleansing powder made of dried nightingale excrement has been used by the geishas in Japan for hundreds of years for whitening their skin and dealing with acne scars. The enzymes in the poop can both cleanse the face and help lock in moisture inside the skin cells.

It has been listed as one of the most popular products by Cosme, an influential Japan-based beauty community website. And the powder has made its way into Beijing, too. 

Like many other high school students, Wang Shuhan, 17, is troubled with pockmarks. Wang bought a 26-gram bottle of nightingale powder at 85 yuan half a year ago. Wang seems to be fine with the fact that it's made of bird poop.

"It smells funny, but still acceptable," said Wang. She mixes a little bit of the powder with her facial cleanser whenever she washes her face. And she has found "the pockmarks are gradually becoming lighter."

So the next time you're unlucky enough that some bird poops on your head, control your temper by remembering it's good for your skin.