Natural Beauty at Home: More Than 250 Easy-to-Use Recipes for Body, Bath, and Hair [Paperback]

Janice Cox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2002

A revised edition of the bestselling guide to easy and effective home beauty treatments from America's natural beauty expert

Beauty in modern America is a multibillion-dollar industry, and consumers spend hundreds of dollars on beauty products only to discover that they aren't satisfactory or effective. Natural Beauty at Home includes over two hundred of Janice Cox's recipes (many have been passed down through three generations of her family) for everything from shampoo and mouthwash to face masks and lip gloss, so readers can customize their beauty regimen, save money, and have fun, all at once. In this new edition, Cox has refined over twenty years' worth of simple and self-indulgent recipes for body and soul, including:

- cleaners and scrubs
- creams and lotions
- massage oils and aromatherapy
- hair-care products

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Get her book and you'll never look at fruit the same way again. You'll also never pay high department store prices for creams and lotions that can be made simply and cheaply at home."-Times-Picayune

About the Author

Janice Cox is a homemaker and mother who has been making her own beauty treatments since she was in the sixth grade. She lives in Medford, Oregon, with her husband and two daughters.

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; 2nd edition (August 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805070222
• ISBN-13: 978-0805070224
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Janice Cox is America's natural beauty expert. She has been making her own beauty treatments and products for over thirty years. She is the author of three books on Natural Beauty: Natural Beauty at Home, Natural Beauty for All Seasons, and Natural Beauty from the Garden all published by Henry Holt and Company in New York. Her books contain over 600 recipes for Body, Bath and Hair care products. They have been best-selling guides for almost ten years.

She recently completed a book project with her oldest daughter Lauren who is a freshman at UCLA. It is titled EcoBeauty, rubs, scrubs and bath bombs for you and your friends published by Ten Speed Press in Berkeley, California. It will be in bookstores September 2009.

Her recipes and ideas have appeared in a number of national magazines and newspapers over the years. She currently writes the "Body & Soul" Column for Herb Companion magazine and the "Beauty in Bloom" section for Herb Quarterly magazine.

She has also appeared on many national television and radio shows discussing the topic of natural beauty. Mrs. Cox has turned her passion for home beauty into a full time career and has become a popular speaker for groups concerned with looking and feeling their best.

She lives in Medford, Oregon. For more information please visit her website at www.JaniceCox.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

132 of 132 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly fascinating book August 21, 2004

By S. McKinney

Format:Paperback

I bought this book because of a friend who developed an allergy to the aluminum used in anti-perspirants/deodorants and wanted to know if I could come up with some hand made creation to help her out. I have my own soap and toiletries business so I am constantly playing around with recipes for soaps and beauty treatments and this book sounded very interesting.

And it is. Janice Cox is an amazingly clever and inventive person whose pleasant personality comes through in the pages of this book. I was happy to find four different recipes for deodorants, but there was SO much more.

I have stopped spending major dollars for a small tube of a certain famous brand's hair dressing creme -- I now just make my own, slathering mayonnaise and honey and mashed avocado and egg yolk on my hair, which has never looked better. The recipes for facial creams and masques and potions and powders are endlessly fascinating, if you like this sort of thing.

If you are weary of paying top dollar for boutique or spa beauty treatments that you have already halfway suspected could be made at home (better and more cheaply), then this is definitely the book for you. Have fun with it and take note of how these simple, down-home beauty recipes actually WORK.

136 of 145 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Do your homework first... March 2, 2007

By NIU mom

Format:Paperback

I was VERY disappointed in this book for several reasons:

1). The author mentions the use of mineral oil and petrolatum as a moisturizer (for those of you that don't know these are byproducts of gasoline and are AWFUL for your skin, the cosmetic/beauty industry only use it because it is dirt cheap and never goes bad).

2). It is not practical to put your time and effort into making something for one application (will we really see results after just one use?). I suppose you can multiply the recipes but most of the recipes need to be used ASAP or they spoil. Needless to say I have not found a happy medium!

3). I have coarse curly hair- I tried one of the "hair packs" and needless to say it was a MESS! It took several shampoos to get all of the stuff out of my hair.

In conclusion, I would reccommend you research what products are actually good for you and not just convienient for the makers!

120 of 128 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Okay, but recipes need many adjustments February 22, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I had high expectations of this book, especially because Ms. Cox says sh e is a chemist, in the introduction. I was a bit disappointed. Although many of her ideas are good and innovative, it seems like she hasn't spent much time refining her recipes. The cold creams came out more like lumpy, bubbly goop, rather unnerving if you're expecting something like Ponds. Plus she doesn't tell you that if you opt to use the blender, you will spend an hour scrubbing and cleaning out the thing. If you want cream, the best recipe can be found in Rosemary Gladstar's Family Herbal (Rosemary's Perfect Cream). The Mermaid lotion in this book turned out like opaque white gelatin and felt like it too, although using Irish Moss as a moisturizer is a nice idea. All in all, it's an okay book for a beginner. The recipes I've tried, although disappointing in appearance and texture (and labor intensive, as far as cleaning up goes), perform reasonably well, so I guess that makes them okay. If you're going to give them as gifts, warn the recipients that they will look kinda weird, but feel okay.