Brooke Shields' Hair Isn't Full of Secrets (That's Because She Told Us All of Them in This Interview)

Shields, who just introduced a new shampoo and conditioner to her Commence haircare brand, chatted with PEOPLE about her own hair journey, celebrating women over 40 and more

Brooke Shields is an open book.

Seriously, the icon doesn't gatekeep anything, which is why she wanted to start her haircare brand Commence in the first place.

Shields has built a platform around supporting women, amplifying their voices and addressing their feelings around aging. With Commence, she specifically designed a problem-solving haircare line for women over 40 with products designed to address scalp health. (One of those products was the 2-in-1 Instant Shampoo, which sold out within the first month of launch and had a 23,000-person waitlist!)

"It's designed for women over 40, no matter where they are in their lives and how their life has looked prior," Shields tells PEOPLE. "It's really about a rejuvenation with regards to hair. And it should be encouraging because it's not just about solving problems, but it's about preventing future problems."

The latest drop from Commence, out now, includes the Shine Enhancing Detangler which helps protect hair from UV damage and protects color, the Detoxifying Shampoo, which includes the first-ever foaming oat ingredient found in haircare and cleanses the hair without stripping or irritation to the scalp, and the Probiotic Smoothing Conditioner, meant to deeply nourish and hydrate hair will aligning the biome of the scalp.

All products are plant-based and under-$30.

Below, we talk to Shields about her own hair journey and how the Commence community has helped her connect with women across the country.

Be honest, is that all your real hair?

"It's all me."

How often do you wash it?

"Every four or five days. I often will work on a Monday, get my hair blown out, and then not wash it until Friday. And when my hair's dry, I douse myself with the instant shampoo, and I always put the leave-in conditioner."

How about color?

"Every four weeks, and that's pushing it. My hair would be all gray!"

Would you ever go fully gray?

"I'm not quite there yet, but it grows out all gray. It's kind of crazy. And that's a different texture too. So we can really address that with regards to products that are equally absorbent. Because a gray hair has a different coarseness to it."

Related: Brooke Shields’ New Book About 'Possibilities' of Midlife to Publish in 2025 — See the Cover Here! (Exclusive)

How about a short haircut?

"It just doesn't work on my face. I have a really square jaw, and I look very square and cheeky with short hair. And I have a cowlick. So the time that I had my hair really short, I had to physically do it, and I mean, it was a bad look. It was a lot of maintenance."

Do you recognize that your hair is iconic to so many?

"To me, there is a sex appeal to [long hair]. And now, I'll do a photo shoot and they'll ask the client, 'What do you want for the hair,' and the client will say, 'Well, Brooke Shields '80s hair,' I'm like, I'm coming back."

What do Commence products bring to the beauty space that was missing before?

"There should be a lightness in this era of a woman's life, and instead we're met with, 'Oh, so you're in menopause now,' or, 'You've had a good run.' The moment when your kids are gone it's like, 'All right, see you later.' What I want with this brand is a lightness. vibrancy and an excitement for this period of our lives. We really dove deep into the research of white space. And it's amazing how unaddressed the over-40 female scalp is. And nobody talks about the sexiness of the scalp and hair and the youthfulness. And when I say youthful, I mean vibrancy and vitality, not, 'Oh, I want to look like I'm in my 20s.' My kids don't have to do anything and they're just bouncy on every level. But I've lived 59 years and a toll has been taken, but you have to address all of it and really deal with scalp health. Nobody really talks about the scalp as skin."

Related: Brooke Shields Says 'Being Over 50 Is Not the End of the Line' but 'Beginning of a New Chapter' (Exclusive)

Why do you think everyone is so obsessed with women aging?

"There's something about the way this demo is marketed to, that just puts them in this bucket that they really don't occupy. I mean, the women that I know that are in their 60s are just starting new and unbelievable things. Their lives are their own probably for the first time in over 25 years. And there's a vitality to that we want in our brand. It should be really celebrated."

Do your daughters use Commence?

"Yes! I use the detangler with my 18-year-old when she wants me to French braid her hair. And it's great because it feels wet, but then it dries beautifully. When she wakes up in the morning, it's all dry, but it's wavy. She looks like a mermaid."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer , from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Speaking of daughters, how is empty nesting going?

"I'm so busy, which is very helpful. And because of the messaging that I'm reiterating all day long, I kind of have to live by that too. We're going to parents' weekend soon and Grier called me and said, 'I want you to wear cowboy boots and a little short dress.' I said, 'I don't think that that is appropriate and I do not want to.' And she's like, 'Mom, it'll just make you cooler.' And then my husband was like, 'You should wear Daisy Dukes.' I'm like, 'What?' I'm not trying to look backwards. I'm trying to go forward, but in a youthful way."

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.