Skin Cleanse, by Adina Grigore

The world wasn't exactly crying out for another book extolling the benefits of drinking less coffee, eating more dark leafy greens, and laying off the donuts, but Adina Grigore's Skin Cleanse condenses and simplifies about ten health blogs' worth of information into a fresh, cheerful, immensely readable guide to skin health.

Grigore is the founder of S.W. Basics, an all-natural skin care line based out of Brooklyn. Skin Cleanse is her attempt to write a comprehensive instruction manual for achieving healthy skin. The book covers a crazy amount of ground—skin-specific diet and exercise instructions, information about potentially dangerous skincare products, several recipes for simple, homemade alternatives, etc.—all explained via Grigore's friendly, informative prose.

Skin Cleanse doesn't address every common skin concern—there's almost no discussion of sunscreen, for example, other than a suggestion to get more Vitamin D and “choose your sunscreen carefully”. I would have been grateful if Grigore had replaced that vague “carefully” with a list of specific, effective ingredients to look for. On the other hand, I was genuinely impressed by the variety and scope of her suggestions for skin health, which range from the extremely specific (eat papaya after you eat junk food; the enzymes will help your stomach break the bad foods down more quickly and easily) to the general-but-still-useful (you should probably ignore that whole “5 little meals per day” advice, as very few of us actually eat “little” meals). The entire book can be read in a matter of hours, and serves as an excellent reminder that skin is our largest organ, and deserves just as much thoughtful, loving care as the rest of us.