The latest fashion trend that seems to be sweeping Japan involves making ones forehead resemble a bagel.
"Bagel-heading" as it's commonly referred, is accomplished by injecting 400 cc of saline into the forehead with a needle until it swells. The technician then presses a finger in the blob, creating a bagel-like hole.
The fad will be featured on an upcoming episode The National Geographic show "Taboo." It will follow three people who undergo the injections as part of the Japanese "body modification" scene."
One subject said the process was relatively painless. He said he felt the saline trickling down inside his forehead, citing a "slight stinging sensation" before experiencing a "relaxing, tingling sensation."
It takes about two hours before the forehead completely swells. Once swollen, technician pushes into the forehead to create the look.
One onlooker in the video described the resulting look as "cute."
It takes about 16 hours before the swelling to completely disappear.
The bizarre body modification process was started by Japanese artist Ryoichi "Keroppy" Maeda, a photographer and journalist who documents various body modification techniques. In a 2009 interview with Vice, Keroppy said he conceived the idea after meeting fellow artist Jerome. The two experimented with saline a few years later and the idea became a reality.
"...You can inject it anywhere you want, really. It's usually just the forehead, but sometimes we do scrotal infusions as well," Maeda told Vice.
He said while the process seems shocking, there are "far more extreme" practices such as ear pointing, navel removal and even amputation.
"...People who like extreme body modification want to find their own way of doing things, and they're always looking for new ways to do that. The more progressive the scene gets, the more these people have to experiment and go their own way," Maeda concluded.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
