Under a new settlement agreement in California, the maker of Brazilian Blowout products is required to warn consumers and hair stylists that two of its popular hair-straightening products emit formaldehyde gas.

USA Far Ocean Group has recalled its "Vagifresh Ball" and "Vagifresh Gel," because the Food and Drug Administration found bacteria in the products.

Mercury exposure has been reported among users of skin-lightening creams produced in Mexico, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a recall warning for two batches of Organique Nourishing Night Cream made by HimalayaUSA, over concerns of contamination with fungus and the staphylococcus aureus bacteria.

The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission has issued a recall for about 25,500 handheld personal massage devices sold by the Fourstar Group of Bedford Heights, Ohio. The bug-shaped massagers have batteries that can leak and pose a burn hazard and possible skin irritation risk to consumers.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a recall warning for specific lots of Kotex tampons contaminated with a bacterium that could cause vaginal infections and other health risks.

A couple of years ago when I took my teenage son to the dermatologist, we asked the doctor to set the record straight on a number of acne myths: Did too much chocolate make it worse? (Possibly…) Could popping pimples cause scarring? (Possibly…) And was Proactiv worth the cost? (Absolutely not!) He said a topical treatment with any over-the-counter benzoyl peroxide product was an equally good and far less expensive choice, and that it would be great if someone would set the record straight for gullible parents and teens.

Jawbone, a maker of Bluetooth headsets and speakers based in San Francisco, has announced its next portable device. And oddly enough, it doesn't have Bluetooth connectivity or even anything to do with audio—except maybe sound health.

When it comes to the ingredients in common cosmetics, what the millions of people with celiac disease don’t know, might hurt them. According to research presented this week at the American College of Gastroenterology’s 76th Annual Scientific meeting in Washington, DC, the lack of readily available information about the ingredients in lip, facial, and body products means that people with celiac disease might unknowingly expose themselves to gluten.

In the quest to find the moistest moisturizer, Consumer Reports asked me and 25 other female staffers to do things we wouldn’t normally do: We periodically skipped showering and shaving our legs. When we did wash, we used non-moisturizing bar soap. To make sure our skin was truly crackly, we couldn’t use body lotion a few days before the test. But the sacrifice was worth it.

Cure acne from your smart phone? No, there really isn't an app for that. But the Federal Trade Commission says two marketers have clouded the issue and misled consumers into believing otherwise.

Most teenagers experience at least some degree of acne, and the problem sometime extends into adulthood. When it’s severe (or even when it’s not) it can lead to low self-esteem, depression, and diminished quality of life. Yet despite the scads of prescription and over-the-counter treatments marketed for acne, very little is known about their comparative effectiveness—that is, which of them works best, and for whom, according to a review published today in the journal Lancet.

That’s the suggestion of a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It asked how often, over a 12-month period in 2009 and 2010, teens got a burn that turned their skin red or hurt, and lasted for 12 or more hours. Among white, non-Hispanic teens ages 14 to 17, nearly half reported a sunburn.

The Food and Drug Administration announced last month that it was investigating the potential risks of spray sunscreens. Of particular concern to us is the possibility that people might accidentally breathe in the ingredients, a risk that’s greatest in children, who—as any parent knows—are more likely to squirm around when they’re being sprayed.

Chances are, you didn’t really think you could lose weight by rubbing Nivea’s skin lotion on your belly and thighs. But now even the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says the company has gone too far, ordering the maker of the cream to pay $900,000 and saying it can no longer claim in ads that regular use of its product Nivea My Silhouette! skin cream can reduce your body size.