Over the weekend, we tried the latest hair care collection to hit drugstores: Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy, a brand of shampoos and conditioners designed around the idea that feeding the scalp leads to healthier locks. Packed with vitamins and nutrients including vitamins B5, C, and E, plus essential oils and aloe vera, the products left our hair noticeably silkier. Clear’s celebrity spokesperson, Heidi Klum, experienced similar results. “Before I signed on, they sent me all the products to try out and I really liked them—they smelled great and made my hair super-soft,” says Klum. “I’ve been using the Damage & Color Repair formulas because I’m not a true blond. My hair gets bleached a lot, and so my ends are a little dry and color-damaged. I especially like the conditioner because it moisturizes without being greasy—the wrong conditioner can make it difficult to do hairstyles with a lot of volume or wave; my hair just goes limp and falls like a soufflé!”
You just shot several commercials for Clear. What’s up next?
We’re starting Project Runway soon so we’ve been having meetings about that, brainstorming ideas—who’s going to be on, who the guest judges will be, what kinds of challenges we’ll have for the designers. It’s our 10-year anniversary so we want to make it really special. My whole family and I are moving to New York City in June to film the show. We always shoot in the summertime because that’s when the kids are off from school. So right now, I’m getting ready to pack up—it’s a lot to pack up!
With summertime comes bikini season. Do you have any tips for getting in shape?
I actually exercise more in the summer, when I’m in New York, because my kids don’t have to go to school. When we’re in Los Angeles it’s harder to sneak away for an hour in the morning because I have to get them ready and feed them breakfast, and drive them to school. And then, after they go to school, I go to work. In the summer, though, I have an extra hour to myself. I usually run between 7 and 8 a.m.
Eating healthy helps too. For me, it’s definitely more about food than exercising because I don’t have enough to time to exercise—or maybe that’s just an excuse, I don’t know! If you don’t have a lot of time to exercise you have to be stricter about your diet. That’s what I do. I cut out a lot of carbs—you know, muffins, cakes, breads, toast, and spaghetti—and try to eat more vegetables, lean meats, and fish.
What’s your favorite healthy meal?
I like crispy baked chicken, fennel salad, kale salad—it’s yummy. I also like chicken vegetable soup. I eat that a lot, but without noodles. I’ll cook the noodles separately and add them to the kids’ bowls, but I’ll only eat the soup.
What do you carry with you in your purse, when you’re on the red carpet?
When I go to an event, I’ll take a little container of loose powder and blotting papers. I usually take blotting papers by Victoria’s Secret or Johnson & Johnson—they don’t have to be fancy ones. There are some out there with gold pieces in them and all this kind of stuff, but you really just need something to reduce shine. After I take the sweat and oil off my face with blotting paper, I’ll use this tiny Shu Uemura brush to apply powder. Oh, and I also bring snacks! Snacks are very important because sometimes you’ll sit somewhere at an awards show for hours. Chewing on a Power Bar can be good.
Your hair is in good hands now with Clear, but did you always have such perfect hair?
I’ve been doing this job for 18 years now and there have definitely been some dye jobs that weren’t as good. You know, for example, there was a time when I was really platinum blond. They kept the peroxide on for too long and it literally fried my hair off—I looked like I had a little pineapple on top of my head! That took awhile to grow out. I had to hide it and [use products] to keep it from standing straight up.