(1)The use of cosmetics (facial make-up and hair care) leads to more favourable appearance ratings by others (both males and females). For make-up there were more favourable ratings on all of the six appearance scales, and for hair care there were more favourable ratings on four of the six appearance scales. (2)The use of cosmetics leads to more favourable ratings of personality as perceived by others (both males and females). Facial make-up enhanced ratings on eight of the fourteen personality dimensions tested and hair treatment led to more favourable ratings on ten of the scales.

Synopsis This review demonstrates the importance of outward appearance (especially of the face and head) in physical attractiveness and describes the methodology and results of objective experiments which assess interpersonal attraction, others' perceptions of the physically attractive and self-perception. It shows that, although cosmetics have been used, inter alia, to manipulate physical attractiveness in some of these experiments, there are little data showing benefit of cosmetics per se to the individual. Consequently, the review is a first step in designing objective studies to test the hypothesis that cosmetics are of demonstrable benefit to the user.

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It is presumably meant to imply that the average size of population expected to include nine such patients is 450 000-1 800 000. This figure is probably too high but in any case the total population from which the nine patients were ascertained is undefined and presumably unknown. The probability that the size of this population falls within 95% confidence limits of the above estimate is likely to be quite high. Moreover, three specialised rheumatological centres were involved so that the likelihood of biased ascertainment is considerable. Among 104 successive men with ankylosing spondylitis ascertained here, one has seropositive peripheral erosive polyarthritis with a rheumatoid olecranon nodule, his HLA typing including B27. The prevalence of this grade of rheumatoid arthritis is 1 00' in males.4 We therefore interpret the evidence as providing no support for a non-random association of the two diseases and indeed it would be surprising and even more interesting if such cases were not encountered. All the present clinical, immunological, and genetic evidence points to the likelihood that there is no aetiological connection between rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis.

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