Blake Lively on Her New Hair-Care Line and the Bad Cut Husband Ryan Reynolds Once Called a “Hit Job” (2025)

It’s no exaggeration to say that Blake Lively’s hair is a celebrity in its own right. Since the actress soared to fame on Gossip Girl in the early aughts, her long, lush golden waves have been a thing of public fascination, teetering on obsession. This is true whether she’s wearing her hair loose and natural or woven into the sky-high Lady Deadpool ponytail .

“I’m very all-or-nothing; my hair is either air-dried, or it’s a look,” Lively tells InStyle. On this particular day, it’s giving “fluffy ’90s supermodel,” slung over one shoulder above her sequin Dauphinette mini-dress. The occasion? A party to debut her new hair-care line, Blake Brown (a nod to her father, Ernie Brown), which, to no one’s surprise, has sent the Internet into a tizzy.

Seven years in the making, the eight-piece Blake Brown range hinges on a unique system that skips conditioner in favor of an alternative shampoo-and-mask-only approach. A leave-in potion, dry shampoo (“We’re not allowed to say it’s volumizing, but it’s not not volumizing,” she says), and styling mousse are also in the mix. Even with its accessible pricepoint (running $19 to $25 and available exclusively at Target), it feels distinctly elevated with its clean-minded formulation, warm, woody scents, and sleek, sustainable gold packaging. Most of all, it mirrors Lively’s deep-rooted passion for hair care and salt-of-the-earth disposition in every sense.

Below, Lively chats all things hair with InStyle, from her mousse-and-mask-happy hair-care routine to the “horrifying” cut that Ryan Reynolds insists was a “hit job.”

InStyle: You’re a hair icon to so many. Who are a few of yours?

Blake Lively: I look at hair through lots of different decades, so there’s not any one person as much as time periods. When I say I like dry hair, what I really mean is that ’90s fluffy, big hair. It’s like product-y. But not in a stiff way. It’s product-y in a fluffy, messy rock ’n’ roll way with jeans, a white tank, and a leather jacket. But I also love ’20s finger waves or pre-Raphaelite hair that’s just long, messy, with braids and tendrils. Oh, and ’80s too. So it’s more like decades, time periods than it is just one person. There are so many people whose hair I look up to, so to just name one person would be kind of silly because there are just so many different colors, textures, and cuts. There are people whose hair I love that will never be my hair. But I still love their hair.

IS: How is your hair an extension of your personal style?

BL: It’s always just whatever story I want to tell or whoever I want to be that day. So often when I’m feeling shy, and I want just in my personal life, then my hair is just normally kind of up in a bun that I just tie. But if I’m feeling shy and I have to go somewhere public, I tend to go bigger with my hair because if I have big hair, I kind of feel the most lioness-like. I lean into it instead of leaning away from it. If I feel like I’m going to go with this bold look, then I feel more comfortable in my skin saying I am, even if I’m not actually. It has made it real. I guess that’s the principle of manifesting, but less about manifesting and more about pretending you’re comfortable there, and then suddenly you just are.

IS: Your hair often has a cool, air-dried ease to it. What is your off-duty styling routine like these days?

BL: I don’t do much to my hair and don’t have to do much because I have healthy hair. It’s thick, it’s long, it’s healthy. So it’s one of those things where you just have to get out of the bad habit of doing a lot to your hair and not overworking your hair.

If I want it to look nice, I’ll wash it–wash meaning like shampoo-mask–and then I’ll put the All-In-Wonder Leave-In Potion, always even after I mask. Then, I’ll put the Glam Mousse in my hair, mostly the roots, before pulling it through the rest of my hair to the ends. And then I’ll blow-dry it, but not with a brush or anything. I’ll use a brush at the root just for volume, and then I just air dry everything else. Then, just brush it out. If I want the curls to be more defined, I’ll do multiple buns, usually three or four, on the top of my head, and then take them out.

IS: Besides a blowdryer, do you ever use hot tools on your hair?

BL: I like hot rollers because I can multitask. So I’ll throw hot rollers in, and then I’ll do my makeup, and I’ll get ready and do everything I need to do. And then, at the last minute, I can just take it out and brush it. Then you get big, bouncy, fluffy hair that has nice volume. And with mousse, it’s great. In my experience, when you use heat with mousse, it really activates it. I also use hot sticks if I want my hair to look curly. I’ll get three different-sized barrels to define the curls with different curl sizes. I’m very all-or-nothing, though, so my hair is either just air-dried or it’s a look.

IS: It’s hard to imagine, but have you ever had a hair-gone-wrong moment?

BL: I had someone give me a horrifying haircut, to the point where my husband thought it was a hit job. It took three years to [grow back].

It was really rough. Not everyone noticed it like I did, but I noticed it. And that was really because my hair is such... If I’m feeling insecure about other parts of me, my hair is just the constant thing; I know if my hair is down, I feel good. I feel like me. I feel in my skin. And aesthetically, obviously, there are internal things, but we’re talking about hair. So aesthetically, hair is the thing that I’ve always felt consistently confident with. So when someone takes away your security blanket, you’re like, yeah, that was a bummer. But it didn’t lead to anything good. Except for I cut my own hair, and that was the time where I was like, you know what? I’m just going to keep cutting my own hair.

IS: How did you learn to cut your own hair?!

BL: My mom always made me cut her hair just because she’s crazy. I was not good at it. She would give me kitchen scissors and say, you can’t mess it up. And I did, and I could, and it was awful. But then I just started trying and asking questions. And people let me cut their hair, and then I cut my own. I’m just trying to maintain what I have in a healthy way. And if I see a piece, oh, it’s gotten a little long, it would be nice to shape my face. I don’t ever paint by numbers. I have a funky-shaped hairline, and I like to eyeball things.

IS: Your hair color is stunning. How do you find the right balance between hair color and hair health?

BL: My hair colorist, Rona O’Conor, just takes such good care of it. My hair is always better after I’ve seen her! But I don’t color my hair often. I like roots; they feel more organic and natural. I really only color my hair when I look, and I go, “Oh god, I’ve really got to deal with this.” That’s when I’ll color it. She also lives in L.A., so she’s only in New York every so often anyway. So I think because I don’t do too much, too often, it stays healthy.

IS: Yes, and even through the different hair colors you’ve worn throughout your career. I think about red hair a lot!

BL: Yes! When my niece and nephew were little, I took them to Rona because I was making my hair red for a movie, and I was like, “Make my hair their color!” They not only have red hair with fiery red, but they also have so much blonde in their hair. Just so pretty and soft. So I matched them, took a family photo with them, and gave it to my sister for Mother’s Day with her husband. Then, I acted like I was her. I thought it was funny, and she loved it!