ALL ABOUT HEALTH AND BEAUTY FOR THE BLACK WOMAN

A grown-up and certainly more complete book than Melba Miller's Black is Beautiful Beauty Book (p. 319), Sims' encyclopedic tomelet consists of more than enough information (does nail polish really have to dry for twelve hours?) on personal health and beauty for the uninformed black woman. From skin and hair care to mental and physical well-being the author explores the special needs, problems and attitudes--and how to cope with same--faced by the American woman of color. Basically sound advice on dental care, hygiene, drugs, and doctors, however, would be more satisfactory if the author had made more specific recommendations and referrals. The list of organizations accompanying the final chapter on hospitals and health agencies is most useful; unfortunately this is not provided throughout. This book is not, surprisingly, for the clothes-horse or lady of leisure but for the working woman/mother/housekeeper who may not find ""blue-jeans a liberating garment"" but ""symbolic of hard work,"" menial jobs and racial more than sexual inequality. She feels that a modern black woman may find elegant dress a more valid symbol of freedom. Subscribing to the less-is-more theory of grooming and taste, Sims has managed to compile a maximum of information, informed by personal experiences (both as high-fashion model and as working mother), into a fairly concise--considering the wide range of material covered--twelve chapters--each of which reverberates, ever so slightly, You've come a long way, baby!