While Brooke Shields may be known for her iconic brows, when we sat down with the actress and author in a Studio 1A dressing room (where she had just wrapped up co-hosting Jenna & Friends), it was her hair that was the star of the show.
In part, because it looked so noticeably shiny and voluminous that we were dying to know her secrets — but also because last year, she launched her own company, Commence, a hair care brand designed specifically for women over 40.
Shields created the company to fill what she considered to be a white space in the beauty industry, for the woman somewhere between "youth" and "menopause" whose unique needs weren't being specifically addressed.
"This woman wants to spend on herself, she’s in an age now where life is starting to become more about her again because her kids are going away," Shields tells Shop TODAY. "And I think [brands] didn’t know what to necessarily do, and so they just picked that extreme and this extreme — and we see that in almost every medium. There’s this bracket in the middle that needed to be heard and paid attention to. They’re ready to talk and listen and ask, and they want problems solved."
Hormonally, she says, your hair starts to change when you hit 40, "and we need to address it without being shamed." When it came to her own hair, that showed up as scalp itching, dullness and thinning. "There was a frizziness that I had never had — [my hair] was just sort of lackluster."
The items in the line target these changes specifically, using ingredients like sulfur-rich peptides to help add thickness to hair and plant-derived stem cells to boost shine. And yes, she really does use the products herself.
Beyond the recent addition of hair care CEO to her resume, Shields will soon be reaching another major milestone: The star turned 60 in May of this year. And she didn't want to just be marking the occasion with a single celebration — she wanted to turn it into a year-long event, celebrating individually with different groups of friends.
"There are different friends for different activities and I don’t want to bring them all into a room and be stressed that they don’t know each other, it’s too much pressure for a party. And I would rather spend that money doing independent experiences with friends ... it's going to be a year — I've earned it."
She's also ready to embrace the many incredible things that come with the new decade, saying: “The narrative we have fed to women is that this is the beginning of the end. And to me, it’s the beginning of the beginning. When you look at the research on how the brain works and what happens to women in this era of their lives, it’s really quite extraordinary how confidence-boosting it really is."
But for anyone who may be approaching one of these milestone years with the feelings of apprehension that can be all too common, she offered some sage advice.
"Only look back, if you’re going to give yourself credit for all that you’ve done. Don’t look back and pine for your face without one wrinkle or when body parts looked different. Look back, and then switch the gaze to being excited about more to come. That is my whole approach."
Below, Shields walked us through some of her current beauty staples, from the Commence products that give her hair that noticeable volume and shine, to the mascara that has helped her lashes grow.
Shopping Diaries: Brooke Shields
While Shields has been the face of beauty brands in the past, creating her own was a very different experience. This time, she says she's been able to have a hand in every aspect, from the packaging to the science. "I love going into the lab and I love learning things about tensile strength and hyaluronic acid being quaternized, all of this stuff that I just find fascinating,” Shields says.
Take the brand's detoxifying shampoo, for example. "It didn’t lather at first ... so I kept saying, 'It’s got to lather.' We are attached to the bubbles, we are attached to the lather. And without it, we don’t feel like our hair is being clean," she shares. (Sulfates are typically responsible for the lather, and all of the brand’s products are sulfate-free.)
So, the brand's team of experts found a solution, using ingredients like Soapberry saponins and foaming oat to produce that satisfying lather, without stripping the scalp.
Shields says that out of all the products from the brand, this is one that has changed her hair the most — and it took "a lot of time and effort to create." She continues, "It's the only instant shampoo on the market that has quaternized hyaluronic acid, made small enough for the pore to accept. And it has it embedded in it, which means that it not only absorbs the extra oil, but it does deliver moisture where it’s needed."
Recently, Shields found herself on a wash day without the brand's Smoothing Conditioner ("My daughter probably took it to school," she says), so she used this in its place. "It absolutely was miraculous because it didn’t weigh my hair down. I was able to put more of it on and rinse it out. Which normally, you don’t, because it’s a leave-in, but then afterward I put a little bit extra, and it was good in a pinch."
The leave-in treatment is designed to hydrate and nourish hair while taming frizz and increasing shine.
As the latest guest co-host to join Jenna & Friends, we had to know Shield's secret to keeping her skin looking fresh and awake during early morning appearances. And for her, the secret lies in keeping her skin "really clean and very moisturized," Shields shares. Plus, these eye patches help.
They're designed to be reusable, so you can pair them with your favorite hydrating or brightening cream to help it fully soak into your skin.
Shields has been a longtime fan of Lumify's redness-relieving eye drops. (She raved about them when we first spoke in 2023, and still counts them as an essential now.) "You'd think I worked for the company. I would, but they don't need me to work with them because I give them free publicity all the time," she joked.
“My eyes are always bloodshot, with or without sleep,” she previously told us. "It's the only thing that really clears up my eyes."
Even if she's doing a minimal beauty routine in the morning, there are a couple of steps that she'll always make sure she does. Basically: "It's just about moisture and a lot of lash," she says.
And the first part starts with her lips. "[I use] lip gloss — not as in pretty lip gloss, but something really thick, like Laneige. Something that’s really, really, moisturizing." She adds, "I'll use a lip mask as lip gloss."
As for the lash part of the equation, she uses Grande Cosmetic's mascara, which is not only designed to help lift and lengthen lashes immediately but also helps them thicken over time. And Shields says that the formula "has helped my lashes grow."
If she had to choose a Desert Island skin care product, it would be Alastin's sunscreen, adding that it doesn't burn if it gets in your eyes, unlike other sunscreens.
More than just a sunscreen, it's said to provide skin with long-lasting hydration and protection from blue light.
Shields says this is one of the few products that she "will go back and get" again whenever she runs out, because "the smell is so good."
"It’s just a really thick cream," she says. "Because I fly so much and I get so dehydrated, a really rich cream is what I need always to have on."
More of Brooke Shields' favorite products
When we previously spoke with Shields in 2023, she told us that as she's gotten older, the way that she takes care of her skin — and her reasoning for doing it — has changed. She said she now takes a "simple approach to beauty," one that doesn't require too many steps.
“I now look at beauty as self-care, rather than vanity," Shields said. "Which, I used to associate beauty routines with inaccessible luxury and vanity. My mom would say, ‘soap, water and moisturize. Get it clean, don’t make it complicated for yourself.’ But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve enjoyed the process and the ritual of taking care of my skin. And it’s not now just for aging or wrinkles. I mean, that’s a good byproduct of your skin looking healthier, but now I enjoy the process, it's sort of my time for myself.”
And while she has her routine of go-to products, she also recognizes the role that overall health plays in how her skin looks.
"Sometimes, it's just about getting enough sleep and drinking enough water — but not too much water — and that ends up making my skin look better ... if I'm doing everything that's unhealthy, not sleeping and drinking too much alcohol, it's going to show up first in my skin. I think that people don't think of their skin as the largest organ of their body, but it is. And we have to treat it like that."
"I love the serum because it gets absorbed very easily, it doesn't stay on the top of my skin and it primes the skin for when you put on the [True Botanicals] Extreme Cream," said Shields, who was partnered with True Botanicals.
The formula features chebula, a fruit and powerful antioxidant that the brand says helps to target signs of aging, including fine lines and wrinkles, uneven texture and more.
Along with the above eye drops, Shields says that the Sally Hansen wax strips are one of her go-to drugstore finds. "I'll always pick one up ... if I don't have time to get a bikini wax or if I'm looking at my top lip and I'm like uh oh, when did that happen?"
Of course, we couldn't talk to Shields about her beauty routine without asking about how she maintains her famous brows. And her answer was pretty simple. "I actually only use GrandeLashMD, the growth serum ... I'm starting to see some positive results. I just have to fill them in now, because the gray is starting to come and they're thinning."
So what does she use to fill them in? (The answer might surprise you.) "A graphite pencil," she says. "Because I can make it really sharp, and if it's the right softness, it will come up on my skin and it looks like the flick of a brush. The times that I've tried to dye them or do anything else to bring them back, I end up looking rather freakish. I find a lot of pencils way too soft."
A makeup artist in Los Angeles introduced her to this hack. (And she previously shared on Instagram that the Prismacolor Ebony Pencil is the one she uses.) "And it's not lead, so you're not putting lead on your face."
As for her everyday makeup routine, Shields says it consists of "two to three products max." "I usually start, if there's something I need to cover up, I'll use in spots a Jones Road nice, light coverage [product] to even out my skin. But I very rarely put on full foundation."
This lipstick promises to add a pop of color and a glossy look to your pout.
On the gifting front, we had to know what Shields' go-to gift is when she's in a pinch. "If I don't really know someone, but I want it to be good, I'll find a really beautiful Diptyque candle," she says. "People seem to really like those."
She says that the L’Ombre Dans L’eau is one scent that she particularly likes — and she also uses it as a perfume. (The candle scent is not currently available, but the above pick is a bestseller from the brand.)
