Weird beauty craze: Placenta

The weird beauty secrets of Tom Cruise, Miranda Kerr, Elle MacPherson and Victoria Beckham have been revealed, and now one of them is available on the shelf!

The wacky and wonderful secret ingredient loved by Victoria Beckham is being rolled out in stores - in the form of Placenta Shampoo.

RELATED: Tom Cruise likes bird poo facials

The ingredient - made up of extracts from animal placenta that forms around the fetus in the early stages of pregnancy - has long been a favourite of Victoria Beckham and other A-list stars in expensive facial creams and is claimed to help combat the signs of ageing by rejuvenating the body's cells.

Placenta fan Victoria Beckham re-living her Posh Spice days during the Spice Girls' performance at the London OIympic Games Closing Ceremony. Source: Getty

One of the latest off-the-shelf products to bring the craze from Hollywood to the household is La Bella shampoo and conditioner, the Daily Mail reports, which uses a 'special placenta enzyme' from cows and sheep to restore hair.

RELATED: Miranda Kerr's bizarre beauty secret

But using animal placenta is apparently no new anti-ageing beauty ritual.

La Bella Placenta Shampoo. Source: Amazon

"According to Kentaro Yoshida, director of the Yoshida Clinic in Japan that specialises in dermatology and author of the book Placenta Power, the Chinese have been using placenta as a remedy for aging skin and shiny hair for over 2000 years," writes Huffington Post's Erica Cheung.

RELATED: Elle MacPherson reveals her anti-ageing secrets

"Yoshida also claims that placenta was employed as a heath treatment in Ancient Egypt and that Marie Antoinette used it as a beauty elixir (that's right, as a drink!)."

_