Blake Lively Shares Her Best-Kept Hair Secret—and the Reason Her New Haircare Line at Target Doesn't Include Conditioner

Blake Lively is beloved for many things: she's a mom of four, she's Ryan Reynolds' wifey, she plays iconic TV and movie roles, she's one of Taylor Swift's BFFs, plus she even styles herself for red carpets! But her most buzzed about trait is her gorgeous, long blonde hair. So, after seven years of concocting formulas, Blake's adding a new role to her resume as founder of Blake Brown, an eight- piece hair collection available at Target where everything is under $25. The morning after her big night out at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere (where she gushed about meeting members of NSYNC and Avril Lavigne), Blake sat down to tell us all about the mane event.

Why hair?

BL: "The same reason that I love this line, or the idea of this business, is the same reason I'm a foodie. You have to eat and you have to drink water so you may as well make this necessity something that is an elevated experience and something that's joyful—that's where the fragrance element comes in. I was always interested in hair; hair is something that if I'm not dressed or I don't wear makeup; if I tend to have something make me feel like me, or feel more done up, it tends to be my hair. Hair was always a very important thing to me."

Share a little bit about your hair routine.

BL: "My hair was super damaged after my first film; it was crazy; like sprigs and sprouts. I went to a hair salon and they were like hair needs two things: strength and elasticity. So protein equates strength and you need elasticity so that if you brush it, it won't snap. So they said you want to go between a protein, strengthening shampoo and a nourishing, moisturizing one that gives you elasticity. They said to use up this bottle and mask then use up this bottle and mask—I had heard of a mask as a speciality treatment but not in place of a shampoo, and they were like 'we don't use conditioner.' So I started using masks almost 20 years ago now; I don't ever use conditioner. So when people are like, 'how do you have great hair?' It's like, I use a different hair system than my family is asking. I wanted to replicate the systems and the patterns that I already love. I use masks every shampoo. You can do it to your hair type—you can use just a little of the mask or I tend to use a bit more. I never put any mask above my roots because my hair gets oily. I just listen to my hair. And you use it just like you do conditioner, whether you have 10 seconds to run it through your hair or 10 minutes. If my hair needs a little more love, sometimes I'll leave a little bit of the mask in; I don't fully rinse it out and put it in a ballerina bun for a few days. In a wash, you'll be like this is great product but in six months, you'll see the overall change in your hair."

The shampoo and masks in the collection include:

• Wild Nectar Santal Fundamental Nourishing Shampoo ($19)
• Wild Nectar Santal Fundamental Nourishing Mask ($20)
• Sandalwood Vanille Fundamental Strengthening Shampoo ($19)
• Sandalwood Vanille Fundamental Strengthening Mask ($20)

Walk us through the rest of the products.

BL: "The Leave In (Bergamot Woods All-In-Wonder Leave-In Potion; $19) is not just a leave in, it's everything. It smells so good; it helps define curls, brush through that chaos, gets rid of frizz; it's just like magic. I use the leave in every time I shower. And then Mousse (Blackcurrant Vanille Glam Mousse; $19), it gives volume, hold, body—if I use mousse first, it makes it look like I have extensions in; it triples the size of my hair. The Dry Shampoo (Amber Vanille Dry Shampoo; $20) is bonkers—it extends your hair; I'll use it on fresh hair, though. It makes it not clump together as much and it gives it some fill and some grip and grit without feeling grimy—I used it and went like seven to 10 days [without washing] to test it. The Pre-Mask (Milky Sandalwood Rich Reset Pre-Shampoo Mask; $25); creating a vegan elasticizer was nearly impossible until I talked to a friend who is a trichologist who suggested using seaweed. I'll leave mine in overnight in a braid and then wash it out and to me, it feels like your hair is virgin hair. I walk around feeling mine all day because it feels like newborn hair."

What makes these products different?

BL: "I wanted to make them smell like smells I would want to wear, make them at a more accessible price point, and I wanted them—and the packaging—to be clean. And first and foremost, performance; it has to be great haircare. So that's why it took seven years. And price point—I want to try and make it work across as many people as possible so I've been testing it for seven years on my family and friends. It took a really long time to get it right and at that price point. But here we are and I couldn't be more proud of it."

Where did the name, Blake Brown, come from?

BL: "My dad's last name is Brown and my dad took 'Lively' from my mom; she's a very shy Southern woman so I thought that was a really cool thing. My dad was like, I'll just take your name. It was a non thing. And now it's always like 'are you going to take your husband's name?' Why isn't also a question if they're going to take ours? So it was just a way to honor him in a sense and that name doesn't carry on. I wanted it to have my name on it because it is really personal to me; I put so much work into it but I didn't want to rely on my name that people knew because that feels like cheating because I am a brand. It felt like I was trying to borrow from that goodwill too much. I wanted people who didn't know who I was or care who I was or hated me to still love the brand because I think it's that great."

Talk to us about the scent.

BL: "We worked with an actual perfume house to create them. I wanted them to smell woody, like the candles that are in my house and the fragrances that I layer. I like something that's familiar, but like mine. So we have a lot of different fragrances across ours so that when you do combine them, they complement each other. And they last—especially the dry shampoo. The strengthening one is a bit more woody, then it's like smooth it out with vanilla and the nourishing—that wild nectar santal feels like what moisturizing would smell like—and that black currant crazy, and vanilla, so good. Milky sandalwood; we redid that one so many times. It's also all food. I like smells that are a little bit like, smell like home, food, and fragrance—I have a gourmand palette; there's like a yumminess to it."

What was the inspo behind the packaging?

BL: "I wanted them to look pretty in my house. I drew this; I drew these bottles. I wanted them to stack together. This is 100 percent PCR, which they told us not to do because there'd be imperfections, but I like it. If you look at it, it's faceted like jewelry; it's meant to look like different metals. It's all been recycled and can be recycled. Being 'clean' is also our buying patterns—my husband is buying a whole different set; I'm buying a different set so there are half empty bottles lying around so if we just bought the same set it would be a lot more efficient as well."

Give us your best hair advice.

BL: "I look at my hair as like, the more I take from my hair; the more I have to give back to my hair; it's not like an infinite well.

I tried the line and beyond the fact that it smells incredible (my husband asked what my new perfume was!), my fine, curly, highlighted hair looks healthy, fuller, and feels super soft. If you want hair like Blake (I mean, who doesn't), you can shop the collection at target.com on August 4.