A Tour of Unknown Parts
From the Sphinx to Mona Lisa, from strangers in a crowd to the people we love, the face beguiles us. It is our social signature, our passport into the hearts and minds of those around us, and provides a constant flow of richly complex information.

Why have a face?
We don't strictly need one. Many creatures, like sea urchins, starfish, clams, jellyfish, and protozoa, disdain it entirely. Others have partial faces. The microscopic rotifer has a pair of eye-spots on a rod in a feeding cup, an almost faceless face.

Why Have a Hairless Face?
We treasure smooth facial skin and can respond very badly to interruptions in it like acne and wrinkles. A particular grotesquerie is hair all over the face, the rare werewolf syndrome. Yet hair coats the faces of most mammals.