Facial

If you're over 40, you probably remember that first time someone called you "Ma'am" or "Sir. " It almost surely hurt, no matter how young and fit you felt. Evidently, your age was showing in those wrinkles and sags. Some decide to live with it; others do everything they can to obliterate the evidence. Today there are more nonsurgical options than ever to erase lines, thanks to new developments in the world of fillers. Thirty years ago, a filler such as Zyplast (cow collagen) would be injected to bring a line or scar up to the level of the surrounding skin.

Whether perusing the beauty and personal care products at Target or Whole Foods or shopping online at Sephora, consumers are increasingly encountering the phrase "paraben-free. " What exactly does paraben-free mean, and why might it matter? We take a closer look — including sussing out pretty makeup products that are paraben-free. What are parabens? Parabens are the most widely used preservatives in cosmetics and personal care products such as soap, moisturizers, shaving cream and underarm deodorant, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

My neighbor's child, Daniel, was only 5 when she noticed that he blinked a lot. Reassured by numerous family members and friends (some of whom were physicians) that it would go away on its own, she tried to ignore it. Such tics are, in fact, common. Almost 20% of children develop one before age 10.

Humans can out-smile, out-smirk and out-glower every other animal on the planet, all thanks to an array of facial muscles lying just below the skin. The muscles flex and twitch throughout out the day whether we think about them or not. Lately, facial muscles have been getting a lot of attention. Many books, DVDs and websites claim that it's possible to lift sags, smooth out wrinkles and generally turn back the clock simply by giving the face a regular, vigorous workout. Carolyn's Facial Fitness, an exercise kit sold online for about $40, includes a DVD demonstrating 28 exercises that contort the face in ways you probably didn't know were possible, a CD to help pace the exercises and an instruction booklet.

What's in a face? David Perrett has spent his career trying to find out. The author of "In Your Face: The New Science of Human Attraction" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), Perrett is an experimental psychologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and head of its Perception Lab. Using computer graphics, Perrett's team tweaks faces on-screen to explore how they help us choose the best mates, whether you can trust a face, the cuteness factor in babies and what faces reveal about overall human health.

Ten years ago, a spunky sprite with a 1,000-watt smile and a girl-next-door name, Mary Lou Retton, vaulted from the Los Angeles Olympics across television screens into the homes of millions of Americans who fell in love with her. Sweet 16, 4-feet-9, a red-white-and-blue, stars-and-stripes ball spinning through the air, she made an entire country cheer on Aug. 3, 1984, when she landed firmly on her feet and flung up her arms, absolutely sure of a perfect 10 that gave her the first U.S.

When mental illness began to bring a premature end to Vaslav Nijinsky's career early this century, the renowned ballet dancer turned to visual art for self-expression. Unfortunately, until recently his works were dismissed as the idle, worthless doodlings of a madman. "The drawings are psychopathic charts," wrote American painter Marsden Hartley in the early 1940s, "and that is all that can be said of them."

Kraft Zesty Italian dressing has been on the market for years. It's nothing new. But enter the Zesty guy with his tight white tee, tanned muscles and artfully trimmed facial hair and all of the sudden, the new Kraft dressing ad is playing on repeat.  The new Kraft dressing campaign features the Zesty guy in three different videos with the dressing. First he lights a fire with the dressing and conveniently burns his shirt off. In another video he playfully slaps some dough and again ends up shirtless.

Jermaine Jackson says he took a biting musical swipe at his superstar sibling, Michael, because his younger brother had frozen him out of his life. In an interview, Jermaine explained that the cantankerous lyrics to his song "Word to the Badd!!," which criticize Michael for allegedly changing his skin color and obtaining plastic surgery, were written in retaliation for eight months of unreturned phone calls.

Maybe we can blame snakes for our wrinkles. After all, as the story goes, it was a snake that tempted Eve, getting her expelled from Eden and doomed to a mortal life filled with fine lines and wrinkles. So isn't it about time that the slithering serpent made amends? More than a half-dozen skin-care companies think so, incorporating a synthetic venom into their formulations to help diminish signs of aging. The products sprang from an "aha!"