The Green Beauty Guide: Your Essential Resource to Organic and Natural Skin Care, Hair Care, Makeup, and Fragrances

The Green Beauty Guide (GBG) is a wonderful reference that will have a place on my shelf for quite some time. I personally found this book particularly useful because I have an allergy to the paraben preservatives that are commonly used in beauty products and cosmetics so I have a little experience with what the author is talking about. However, thanks to the GBG I am now aware of several other ingredients that I should also be watching out for when I read labels and I've been able to add several new items to my beauty routine with confidence.

However, the Green Beauty Guide doesn't just put the spotlight on the things you shouldn't be putting on your face and body, but it gives you guidelines on how to actually find the products that don't contain the harmful ingredients which, believe me, is not as easy as it sounds. I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent searching through beauty aisles and cosmetic cases looking at itty-bitty ingredient lists - only to find parabens hiding away in products labeled as "pure", "natural", or "allergy-free". The GBG goes a long way towards debunking all of these common buzz word claims and gives the reader straight facts on the whole advertising/marketing game.

Which brings me to the part of the Green Beauty Guide that I love the most - a list (with ratings) of several recommended products grouped by function and suggestions on where these products can be purchased. And for those do-it-yourselfers out there - a list of recipes for making your own green beauty products including information on how to obtain, mix, and store any ingredients you need for the products you want to create.

I highly recommend this book to all women. Even if you don't have allergic reactions to your beauty products like I do, this guide will really help open your eyes to what you are actually putting on your skin everyday and might just inspire you to make some changes to the products you use. Over the just the past few years that I've been aware of this issue, the natural/organic/green cosmetics have really made some steps forward into the mainstream beauty aisles. It can only get better from here. (read less)