A quick glance through the pages of this gorgeous book and you might think it a cookbook. In a sense, it is a cookbook, but you won't be using the recipes for your next meal. Filled with recipes for natural body care, The Body Book is designed to help teens create a home spa using the included spa kit and ingredients from their fridge.
The book comes with an attached box of "home spa" essentials: a facial brush, headband (for holding hair off the face), shower cap (for use with the book's hair masks), pumice stone, nail brush, nail file, buffer (suggested to be used as a natural alternative to nail polish), muslin bag for bath infusions, and three essential oils (tangerine, mint, and lavender).
Emphasis on treating the body right--from the inside out--is laid out from the start of the book. Friendly advice to teens is included concerning fluid intake, a balanced diet, getting sufficient sleep, exercise, and protection fron the sun. The meat of the book is divided into recipes and suggestions for caring for the face, hands and feet, the hair, and the whole body.
The ingredients for most of the book's recipes are easy to find, and the recipes mostly feature only a few ingredients. The benefits of the various food items are explained--we learn that strawberries are natural astringents, ground oatmeal softens skin, avocado and honey are helpful moisturizers, and more. Some of the book's recipes include an oatmeal scrub for toning and softening the face (prepared with oatmeal, lemon juice, and yogurt); a simple to prepare, energizing "minty steam"; a lemon soak for the hands (prepared to help whiten and strengthen the nails); a tropical banana conditioner for the hair; and an invigorating ginger-honey bath.
Besides offering a nice range of luxurious recipes, the book gives easy-to-follow instructions for natural manicures, pedicures, facials, hair rinses, bath infusions, and more.
The result is an economical and healthy approach to caring for the body. Those wary of body care products with endless lists of ingredients they have never heard of will take special delight in The Body Book. Many of the recipes in the book are, technically, edible. This means that users can feel confident that what they are putting on their body is safe enough to actually eat.
The beautiful photographs and pleasing layout of the book make it especially inviting. The pages are of heavier stock and the book is spiralbound so that it lies flat when open. This comes in handy during the preparation of the recipes. Best of all, The Body Book creates opportunities for making a project out of body care, with feel-good results.
