The Herbal Body Book: A Natural Approach to Healthier Hair, Skin, and Nails [Paperback]

Stephanie Tourles (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 1994

This is the book that began Storey's best-selling series! Readers will discover how to transform common herbs, fruits, and grains into safe, economical, and natural personal care items. Includes more than 100 recipes for facial scrubs, shampoos, lip balms, moisturizers, and more!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

It's fun, easy, and healthy to make your own personal care products at home!

The Herbal Body Book is a virtual "cookbook" of recipes for skin and hair care products made with pure, natural ingredients. Page after page, it's like having beauty expert Stephanie Tourles at your side, showing you the best ways to use herbs for their cosmetic properties.

In more than 100 recipes, Tourles explains step-by-step her secrets for transforming common herbs, fruits, grains, oats, and more into practical products including:

-- All natural facial scrubs for normal, oily, dry, and even sensitive skin.

-- Silky moisturizers for hands, feet, and face.

-- Rinses for hiding gray hair and bringing out highlights.

-- Chemical-free insect repellent.

-- Mouth-tingling herbal toothpaste.

-- Flavored lip balms for kids as well as adults.

Plus, there are recipes for a full range of powders, foot baths, soaps, and shampoos.

Each recipe includes application, storage, and usage tips. Many of the recipes include gift-giving ideas and suggestions for personalizing products to suit individual taste.

About the Author

Stephanie Tourles is a licensed holistic esthetician in both Massachusetts and Maine, with over 20 years experience. Trained in western-style herbalism, she specializes in the use of herbs as they pertain to skin, hair, nail, and foot care and regularly creates herbal cosmetics and treatments for her clients and friends. She is also a certified aromatherapist, with extensive training in the nutritional sciences, and is the author of several books on natural body care including The Herbal Body Book, Naturally Healthy Skin, and Natural Foot Care. Stephanie resides in Orland, Maine with her husband and pets, and spends her spare time hiking, organic gardening, and cooking.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (January 9, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882668803
• ISBN-13: 978-0882668802
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #83 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Cooking by Ingredient > Herbs, Spices & Condiments

More About the Author

Stephanie Tourles is a licensed holistic esthetician in both Massachusetts and Maine, with over 20 years experience. Trained in western-style herbalism, she specializes in the use of herbs as they pertain to skin, hair, nail, and foot care and regularly creates herbal cosmetics and treatments for her clients and friends. She is also a certified aromatherapist, with extensive training in the nutritional sciences, and is the author of several books on natural body care including The Herbal Body Book, Naturally Healthy Skin, and Natural Foot Care. Stephanie resides in Orland, Maine with her husband and pets, and spends her spare time hiking, organic gardening, and cooking.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book, although not necessarily for beginners, July 17, 1999

By 

C. Pieniozek (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Herbal Body Book: A Natural Approach to Healthier Hair, Skin, and Nails (Paperback)

This book has a lot of great info and recipes, but if you are not an experinced soapmaker, you probably will not have the ingredients you need. First there are a lot of things you have to get at the grocery/drug store: distilled water, glycerine, corn meal, oatmeal, olive oil, baking soda, cornstarch, honey, vegetable oil, vodka, witch hazel, epsom salts, castor oil, etc. Then you have to get a lot of things from mail order or specialty stores, like essentail oils, jojoba oil, coconut oil, herbs, sea salts, sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, benzoin, beeswax, cosmetic clays. Another point you have to take into consideration is that about 1/2 of these recipes have to be made each time you use them; you can't store them. There are some recipes you can make and store, but not a lot. However, if you do have a lot of these ingredients, and want to make homemade products for yourself, this is a great book to buy. It is definitely worth the money. And if you are even remotely interested in getting this book, then you must be interested in herbs and natural body products, so you probably wouldn't mind purchasing the ingredients.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's OK but it is not great, September 7, 2002

By 

cathy schuttler (West Plains, MO.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Herbal Body Book: A Natural Approach to Healthier Hair, Skin, and Nails (Paperback)

I bought both "The Herbal Body Book" and her book "The Herbal Home Spa". I have tried several recipes from both books. Some work ok, but others are not worth the effort. For example, a cleansing lotion as thin as water ( no exaggeration), or a shampoo that left my hair feeling worse than before I washed. Not all recipes are bad, and some are downright fun to make and use. I don't regret these as a starter, but rather than buy the rest of her series, I will switch to another author.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full of ideas that make great gifts., December 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Herbal Body Book: A Natural Approach to Healthier Hair, Skin, and Nails (Paperback)

Not only is this book full of natural and easy to make beauty concoctions, it's recipes often make great gift items. The book suggests some creative packaging options, and the creative person will be able to think of many more on their own. Some of the ingredients are a challenge to come by, but between the resources referenced in the book, and searching the Internet, you should be able to track most of them down.