The NorthParan.com Book Buzzlist: Beauty Books For Black Women

Of course, we’re beautiful. But seeing evidence of this in beauty and fashion magazines and on the runways and other media that proclaims to be for all women continues to be elusive. Thank God for sites like Coco & Creme, AfroBella, BlackGirlLongHair and Clumps of Mascara, which give us up-to-the-minute beauty and hair tips, secrets, advice and tricks to help us put our best faces forward. And thank God NorthParan.com assembled these books into one awesome list, pointing us to tomes that celebrate all that is incredible about us from head to toe.

 

1. Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present

By Deborah Willis

As a student in the 1970s, Deborah Willis came to the realization that images of black beauty, female and male, simply did not exist in the larger culture. Determined to redress this imbalance, Willis examined everything from vintage ladies’ journals to black newspapers, and started what would become a lifelong quest. With more than two hundred arresting images, many previously unpublished, Posing Beauty recovers a world many never knew existed.

 

2. Alek: My Life from Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel

By Alek Wek

Alek Wek has been the face of ad campaigns for companies ranging from Coach to Michael Kors to Nars and has worked the runways on behalf of designers such as Diane von Furstenberg and Christian Dior. Yet her defining moments extend beyond the runways of New York, Milan, Paris, and London.

 

3. The Beauty of Color: The Ultimate Beauty Guide for Skin of Color

By Iman

The first beauty and make-up book to address skin tones from across the spectrum-including Latina, black, Asian, Indian, Native American, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern, as well as multiple ethnicities, The Beauty of Colorfeatures: Skin care basics with specialized beauty regimens for skin of color; Makeup 101, what you really need for every skin tone; How to create ten amazing make-up looks with easy step-by-step instructions and photos.

 

4. Dr. Susan Taylor’s Rx for Brown Skin: Your Prescription for Flawless Skin, Hair, and Nails

By Susan C. Taylor

This unique book will help you enhance and protect the health and beauty of your brown skin, as well as your hair and nails. Dr. Susan Taylor, a Harvard-trained dermatologist, bases her advice on more than twenty years of experience treating patients in private practice and at the Skin of Color Center in New York City, which she founded.

 

5. The Style Checklist: The Ultimate Wardrobe Essentials for You

By Lloyd Boston

While the editorial pages of high fashion magazines can offer inspiration, they can't help you find what works for your looks and lifestyle. But Lloyd Boston's The Style Checklist offers basic guidance to help make your everyday commute your runway. With solutions to common fashion problems and a lot of how-to advice, this book simplifies and demystifies how to achieve style.

 

6. THANK GOD I’M NATURAL: The Ultimate Guide to Caring for and Maintaining Natural Hair

By Chris Tia-Donaldson

THANK GOD I’M NATURAL is a must-read for any black woman who has suffered hair loss or breakage caused by relaxers — or has grown tired of spending thousands of dollars and their entire Saturday afternoons frying their kinky tresses into submission. Featuring the advice of celebrity stylists for Jill Scott, Lauryn Hill, and Erykah Badu(among others), readers will get ALL the information they've always needed — to look good

The North Paran Book Buzzlist is a weekly feature produced by NorthParan.com that gives readers an entertaining digest of the most fascinating books that are being talked about by the black community today. Remember: For every book you purchase at NorthParan.com, a new book will be given to a child in need.