Middle-aged men are going under the needle to get a ‘poker-face’, says Danielle Gusmaroli
The quest for eternal youth, men are finally catching up with women. The modern male has now discovered a weapon that females have had in their armoury for more than a decade: the Botox injection.
Since its launch in Britain almost 14 years ago, Botox has become the fastest-growing treatment in the cosmetics industry.
Marketed as a quick anti-ageing fix, it is used by 100,000 Britons a year. And according to statistics published last week by Transform, Britain’s leading cosmetic surgery group, a fifth of all patients are now men. In the past 12 months, there’s been a 50 per cent increase in male patients signing up for the treatment.
The Harley Medical Group, which has 11 clinics nationwide, says 45 per cent of its clients requesting such non-surgical treatment are male, mostly from “metrosexual” centres such as London, Manchester and Brighton.
Botox for men is such big business that it’s even got a nickname: Boytox. The growing acceptance among men has been fuelled by celebrities.
“Botox is no more unusual than toothpaste,” says X-Factor judge Simon Cowell, 48. “It works. You do it once a year. Who cares?”
Certainly not Cliff Richard, 67, Donny Osmond, 49, or Peter Andre, 35, who have all admitted to some muscle-freezing jabs. Male executives are not taking to lunchtime injections in greater numbers just to smooth away the signs of ageing. The treatment – which contains botulinum toxin-A, a bacterial nerve poison that causes a serious form of food poisoning known as botulism – reduces elasticity in the forehead. This makes men look more inscrutable, which enhances their authority in the boardroom. Apparently, the same “freezing” effect that gives some women a startled appearance leaves men with a poker-faced assertiveness.

telegraph.co.uk

Ah, yes, the unpredictability of reality TV.
Tuesday night: Carly Smithson walks the line (sorry, Daughtry) between undercooked and overheated on the Beatles’ ballad ‘Blackbird,’ and does it beautifully — with a nifty combination of vocal power and emotional restraint. Not an easy line to walk.
Wednesday night: She’s in the bottom three!
Yes, indeedy. Have to confess — didn’t see that one coming
On a night when there are so many legitimate candidates for the Gong Show losers’ circle, how could one of the previous night’s most accomplished performers find herself in the Idol crosshairs?
This is one of the joys of reality TV. It’s what happens when you let the TV audience decide — not that there’s anything inherently wrong with. It’s that sense of fan ownership that makes American Idol the crossover cultural phenom that it is. Why, no less an expert Simon Cowell said as much, at a TV critics’ press conference last year.
But when you let the audience decide, strange things can happen. And so, Carly Smithson — the Irish lass and former Carly Hennessy, who gave Simon as good as he gave it out Tuesday — finds herself in the bottom three.
And 48 hours after St. Paddy’s Day, too. Is nothing sacred?
Of course, it’s all a ploy.
Kristy Lee Cook and Amanda Overmyer also land in the bottom two — no surprise there — but one of the quirks of American Idol is that one of the bottom three is declared safe almost immediately. And tonight, that person is — Carly. Makes you wonder if it was set up that way all along, to inject some suspense before the inevitable reveal.
So, the evictee will either be Kristy Lee — the pundits’ consensus pick to go — or Amanda, who I suggested after Tuesday’s show to be the more likely candidate for an early exit.

communities.canada.com