Janice Cox

This book is great in that it's easy to read, fun to skim through, and filled to the brim with useful recipes and ideas. From hair care, to skin, to lips, to homemade makeup and bath products, Cox covers just about all of it. Some herbs and natural remedies are covered with interesting folklore and background, such as the Hopi wedding Indian ritual.

The reasons it only earns an average rating, however, is due to several issues. For one thing, it really is just beauty from the kitchen. The show more vast majority of these recipes are all those you make at once and use only once. No actual 'cosmetic' recipes or long lasting toiletries. Lotions and creams are pretty basic and are actually old fashioned, such as with borax and beeswax, not highly recommended ways of making lotion. Very little on herbs are covered, mainly with veggies and fruits and stuff such as that.

The craft ideas are very basic but good ideas, such as creating a personalized hair brush. There are some great recipes for soaps but no beginner instructions or many safety precautions. The list is not long for these but she does cover just about everything in natural beauty, I just wish she covered it for more than just 'kitchen quick fixes' show less

fantastic set of recipes, though the ingredients might need to be tweaked a bit if you are looking to go wholly natural or with an eye to sensitive skin. easily enough adapted to practically any need or preference, this collection covers the basics and then some.

Some nice ideas, but I found fewer usable ones than I had hoped. Heavily dependent on being able to find plain liquid soap without any nasty chemicals - if I could find that locally, I wouldn't need the book!

Of the 250, I'll probably never use more than 2 or 3.