I looked at my reflection and despaired. As an exhausted young mother I felt ugly and saw that a new dress or face cream would never help. I was at risk of passing on a habit of feeling miserable about my looks to my baby girl--if nothing changed. Soon afterward Phoebe Baker Hyde made a vow: to give up new clothes, makeup, haircuts, and jewelry in hopes of revealing something she had always paid lip service to but never quite believed in--her inner beauty.

The Beauty Experiment chronicles Hyde's quest for self-acceptance in nothing but her own skin. In thoughtful,...