Hair icon Brooke Shields reveals the celeb whose hair she’s ‘admiring’ right now

Brooke Shields has spent most of her life working “for everybody else,” but now a new era has commenced for the woman whom many have admired for so long.

The entrepreneur is continuing to harness her “own power” as she begins the last chapter of her 50s by helping women of a certain age “address the root” of hair concerns. Her new hair care line, Commence, targets women over 40 and hopes to answer “specific problems that happen over a certain age,” according to Shields.

In an interview with TODAY.com, the 59-year-old actor and mom of two opens up about how her online community inspired this line of products and the celebrity whose hair she admires, especially in this moment.

Fans of Shields may already be familiar with her online platform Beginning Is Now — which was also touched on in her 2023 documentary, “Pretty Baby” — where women came together to connect with her about problems they faced as they got older. Shields says that feedback led her to start Commence.

“The word ‘commence’ said so much more that people could understand quickly and remember,” Shields says, noting Beginning Is Now is “the impetus” for Commence, “and I think that that was what we were running into, is people were sort of unable to access it immediately. Whereas ‘commence,’ it’s one word. It means beginning. It’s everything.”

She also explains the importance of starting her line with a few “unique” products with “extreme efficacy” that are “not out there on the market,” rather than diving in with multiple products at once. Commence offers three products: a 2-in-1 instant shampoo, 3-in-1 leave-in conditioner and thickening root serum.

Like serums that go on other areas of skin such as the face, Shields says the scalp is often overlooked.

“There is no instant shampoo on the market that has hyaluronic acid incorporated in it because hyaluronic acid is a liquid form,” Shields explains, touching on the topic of scalp health “as the root of healthy hair.”

“I wanted women to have it be something that was in their lives, that immediately just sort of conjured a fresh start — a beginning, yes,” she continues. “And this idea that there are answers to specific problems that happen over a certain age. Elasticity of the skin — it’s the same as your scalp.”

Shields also says she wanted a leave-in conditioner that can be applied to wet or dry hair.

She notes the products work on color-treated hair and “all hair textures.”

“It’s completely color-safe, plant-based, (works on) different textures,” she adds.

There’s one detail, Shields says, that was “most important” to her — one that many women can relate to.

“You notice how big the font is,” Shields says, pointing to the products. “I don’t need my glasses in the shower. Every woman I know over 40 has put body lotion in their hair at one point, thinking they were shampooing it. Literally, I wear my glasses, they fog up. … They had a small font, I was like, ‘Nope!’”

“Everything is geared towards what happens over a certain age and just addressing it,” she continues. “Not saying, ‘Oh, poor me.’ Or thinking it’s the beginning of the end, but actually kind of going, ‘OK, so this is a current challenge. My eyes aren’t what they used to be.’ So now you can see something and not feel horrible about yourself in the shower.”

While Shields has always had thick, long hair that served as the source of inspiration for many women since she started in showbusiness as a child, the model reveals the celebrity whose hair she’s “admiring, especially now.”

“Andie MacDowell … has been able to cross over, and she always had naturally curly hair. I always loved that — if you don’t have it,” she says, pointing out her own hair isn’t like that and is “naturally bent in certain places.”

Shields adds even one of her daughters has “unbelievable hair” after quickly diffusing it the moment she steps out of the shower. Shields and husband Chris Henchy have two daughters: Rowan, 21, and Grier, 18.

She also admires MacDowell for embracing not just her curls, but her gray hair.

“It looks great on her. I mean, I’m definitely not there yet!” she jokes.

Shields recently turned 59 and once shared with us the advice she’d give her children about getting older: “Make the most out of every single chapter, because they’re all unique for something different.”

As she’s reaching the end of this chapter of her 50s, we asked Shields what was unique about this decade for her.

“There was so much that was unique because it’s the first time I harnessed, literally, my own power and didn’t wait for someone else to tell me how I was supposed to feel or think or be: That had become very comfortable for me.”

She says she never imagined she’d start her own company but realized there was “a real, real whitespace for it.”

“It really did occur to me. I’ve worked for everybody else for so long, why not really, really, really invest in what this is while maintaining that connection with the community, because women deserve to not feel shut out. They deserve to feel that they’re entering something exciting and full of possibility or really relaxing but yours — on your terms.”

She also notes how relationships are changing and kids are moving out of the house.

“You’re starting to realize who you want to be in this era of your life, and you’re not worried about checking the box,” she says, adding there’s also “a simplicity” to this time.

“I don’t punish myself if I sleep in late because I didn’t maximize from 6 to 10 and get everything (in).”

She also says a lot of women feel that but that they're also in “no-man's-land.”

“The minute you drop off that second, third kid, you’re sort of like, ‘Oh, wait a minute, I’ve only been Mommy for over 23 years, this is weird. I don’t know who to be.’ You have to get to re-know yourself, differently — where you’re not myopically focused on keeping humans alive.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com