Anne Akers Johnson

The only real "hair style" book I'd actually recommend for longer hair, this book shows an array of creative styles while making other classics easier than ever. It's divided into two sections, one for those already experienced with hair styles, and one for beginners. If you have issues with french-braiding, it's made more clear cut on doing it yourself here. I envy the ability to do the upside-down french braid...directions are clear but this is just something that will take a mountain of show more practice to eventually turn out right.
With a visually pleasing layout, excellent instructions and clear photos are provided for about thirty-two hairstyles, some simple and some complicated. There are styles to suit medium-lengths and then much longer. Covered are various forms of twists and braids, cornrows, herringbones, ropes, rolls, and buns. Theres also a section on using hair sticks. Whether you're sniffing around for a casual work-updo, a prom formal, or just everyday fun, this book is highly recommended. show less

When The Natural Beauty Book unexpectedly arrived at my post office box this week I was uber excited, because I haven't read a klutz book in a billion years. I used to love this little books "back in the day". They would always have really cool topics and come with some nifty freebies. I am happy to report that I have become a born again Klutz fan. But don't worry, I won't go knocking on your doors...yet.The nifty freebies included with The Natural Beauty Book included, a facial loofah, show more headband, nail brush and file, buffer, pumice stone, muslin bag, and two essential oils. What a fun mix of cute and girly stuff! The book itself is filled with a lot of great advice about looking good and being healthy. I was pleased that they included a page about living a healthy lifestyle. Some of the tips included were, drinking enough water, eating a balanced diet, and exercise. These were all very good tips to give to young girls.The entire book suggests a natural beauty routine and is filled with various all natural recipes. I decided to start off with one of the recipes on page 12: Extra Gentle, Everyday Polishing Scrub. I chose this one, because it was the easiest, and I already had the ingredients in my kitchen. All I did was follow the simple instructions in the book.The final verdict: my skin was noticeably softer and the recipe was easy enough for me to skip my daily soap and water routine.I skipped over the facial steams, toners, masks because I was feeling lazy. I plan on trying some of them in the near future. I'm especially looking forward to trying the lavender steam, lavender toner, and the simple oatmeal mask. I absolutely love the smell of lavender and the oil that comes with the book is A .Up next were the hands & feet sections. I'm normally a total mess when it comes to there parts of my body. I'm chronic nail biter and feet just gross me out, period. The hands sections had soaks, masks, and buffing tips. Most of these looked like a lot of fun and they made me wish I didn't bite my nail so much.The final verdict on the hands section: I need to stop biting my nails so I can try some of these things out!The feet section also has also has soaking recipes. I'm looking forward to trying the lavender soak very soon. Exfoliating recipes include a sugar scrub and banana moisturizing exfoliant. I couldn't try any of these out yet as I did not have all of the ingredients.The final verdict on the feet section: Feet are still gross to me, but I could make them less gross by trying out some of recipes in this section of the book.Up next is hair. Errr. I'm very high maintenance when it comes to my hair. My hair is the most girly thing about me. I did learn some new though, like that lemon juice is a natural replacement for hair gel or hair spray. Did you guys know that? I must go out and buy some. Some of the hair recipes sounded a like scary to me. An Egg Conidition Mask?! WTF? ummm I don't think I'm going to try that one. If anything I'll give the lavender (sense a theme here) oil treatment a try. I could totally walk around all day with my hair smelling like lavender. Yummy! I will be trying that one out tomorrow morning.The last section is titled Bath. This chapter is filled with bath salt recipes (loves it), infusions, and rubs. This was probably my favorite section of the whole book. I simply cannot wait to try some of these recipes out.Overall, reading The Natural Beauty Book was a very fun experience. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to replace their daily chemical-filled beauty regimen with one more natural. show less

When The Natural Beauty Book unexpectedly arrived at my post office box this week I was uber excited, because I haven't read a klutz book in a billion years. I used to love this little books "back in the day". They would always have really cool topics and come with some nifty freebies. I am happy to report that I have become a born again Klutz fan. But don't worry, I won't go knocking on your doors...yet.The nifty freebies included with The Natural Beauty Book included, a facial loofah, show more headband, nail brush and file, buffer, pumice stone, muslin bag, and two essential oils. What a fun mix of cute and girly stuff! The book itself is filled with a lot of great advice about looking good and being healthy. I was pleased that they included a page about living a healthy lifestyle. Some of the tips included were, drinking enough water, eating a balanced diet, and exercise. These were all very good tips to give to young girls.The entire book suggests a natural beauty routine and is filled with various all natural recipes. I decided to start off with one of the recipes on page 12: Extra Gentle, Everyday Polishing Scrub. I chose this one, because it was the easiest, and I already had the ingredients in my kitchen. All I did was follow the simple instructions in the book.The final verdict: my skin was noticeably softer and the recipe was easy enough for me to skip my daily soap and water routine.I skipped over the facial steams, toners, masks because I was feeling lazy. I plan on trying some of them in the near future. I'm especially looking forward to trying the lavender steam, lavender toner, and the simple oatmeal mask. I absolutely love the smell of lavender and the oil that comes with the book is A .Up next were the hands & feet sections. I'm normally a total mess when it comes to there parts of my body. I'm chronic nail biter and feet just gross me out, period. The hands sections had soaks, masks, and buffing tips. Most of these looked like a lot of fun and they made me wish I didn't bite my nail so much.The final verdict on the hands section: I need to stop biting my nails so I can try some of these things out!The feet section also has also has soaking recipes. I'm looking forward to trying the lavender soak very soon. Exfoliating recipes include a sugar scrub and banana moisturizing exfoliant. I couldn't try any of these out yet as I did not have all of the ingredients.The final verdict on the feet section: Feet are still gross to me, but I could make them less gross by trying out some of recipes in this section of the book.Up next is hair. Errr. I'm very high maintenance when it comes to my hair. My hair is the most girly thing about me. I did learn some new though, like that lemon juice is a natural replacement for hair gel or hair spray. Did you guys know that? I must go out and buy some. Some of the hair recipes sounded a like scary to me. An Egg Conidition Mask?! WTF? ummm I don't think I'm going to try that one. If anything I'll give the lavender (sense a theme here) oil treatment a try. I could totally walk around all day with my hair smelling like lavender. Yummy! I will be trying that one out tomorrow morning.The last section is titled Bath. This chapter is filled with bath salt recipes (loves it), infusions, and rubs. This was probably my favorite section of the whole book. I simply cannot wait to try some of these recipes out.Overall, reading The Natural Beauty Book was a very fun experience. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to replace their daily chemical-filled beauty regimen with one more natural. show less

Between this book and the I Can't Believe I'm Crocheting dvd I learned to crochet. Originally I signed up for a class that only confused and discouraged me but this book set me back onto the path of successfully and not confusing crochet!

While I had learned the actual stitches from the dvd this book slowly and patiently showed me where each stitch goes with great illustrations highlighting the specific stitch. There is information given on yarn, gauge, tools, the stitches and the projects of show more course.

In most craft books there are always a few duds in the projects but this book had great projects that I actually wanted to make and use. I'm still trying to make a perfect flower and master the granny square but I've basically made everything in the book already!

I would highly suggest this to anyone that wants to learn to crochet. The instructions are simple and easy to follow, the projects are fun and it comes with all the tools you need to get started in the kit! show less