Teri Hatcher wants to get real. “I kind of haven't been keeping up on myself,” she tells Glamour from her home in Los Angeles. “I don't know if other people feel that way, but before COVID, I exercised regularly and ate healthy, but it's been easy to let things slide.”
Which, to be clear, is perfectly okay. But after months of uncertainty, the 55-year-old actor says she's rediscovered why it's important for her mental health to keep up with the self-care routines she had before the pandemic. “When you do little things to take care of yourself, whether it’s eating right, taking a walk, drawing a bath, or even getting the gray out of your hair, it’s just a great boost of confidence,” she says. “Then you feel like you do everything else better. I get reminded of that every time.”
That's why Hatcher, who's best known for her leading roles on Desperate Housewives and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, is now working with Madison Reed, the at-home hair-color brand you've probably heard ads for on your favorite murder-mystery podcast. “I've been using store-bought color for years, mostly being a single mom and working and not having time to go to a salon,” she says. “It was just easier to dye my hair on my own terms, which is usually late at night while I'm bingeing a TV show with a glass of wine.” Relatable.
She's one of the many who have taken up coloring their hair at home this year—and has even been talking her friends through the process. “I've never heard so many women talk about their gray hair before,” she says. “One of my girlfriends was freaking out and sending me pictures of her gray hair, and I said, ‘I’ll shoot a video so you can see how to do it.’” (And in case you're wondering, Hatcher swears by the Radiant Hair Color Kit in Sandrio Brown 6.5 for “a really great medium brown.”)
Now she's hoping that by putting it all out there, women—and men—will know that doing it yourself isn't as scary as it looks. “I get that you might think you don't know what you’re doing and you don’t want to mess up your hair, but the instructions make it easy,” she says. “The truth is it’s hard to mess it up.”
With that in mind, Hatcher was game to play Glamour's Big Beauty Questions, where she gave us her refreshing take on hair campaigns, beauty advice, and the perfect inexpensive way to re-create a spa experience at home.
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Glamour: Since your hair always looks amazing, what other products do you swear by?
Teri Hatcher: I use Madison Reed’s de-frizzing, smoothing cream called Tame that I really like, because I have frizzy, curly hair. And I use its espresso reviving gloss, which really helps with brassiness after swimming so much this summer. Shu Uemura also makes a nourishing oil for your hair that I’ll use a dime-size of, and then I use dry shampoo a lot since I only wash my hair two times a week.
Fill in the blank: I love my hair...
I always feel so great when I have a good hair day because I appreciate all the days I don’t feel like I have good hair days! But I always love my hair when I’ve taken the time to blow it out, because it just feels fresher and better.
What’s one beauty rule you swear by?
Drinking lots of water. I started trying to drink three liters of water a day, and I actually found when I’m doing that regularly, someone will ask me what I'm doing to my skin. It truly makes a difference. I don’t do it all the time, but I should.
What’s one beauty rule you think is B.S.?
The way women are marketed to in commercials and in magazine photos. I’m never going to get a beauty campaign now because I’m about to blast everybody! But women don’t know that all of those photo shoots are filled with amazing lighting—it’s all about lighting; it’s not about makeup. All those hair commercials are usually filled with lots of fake, clip-in hair, and that's fine because people should do what makes them feel good.
However, most women don’t know all of those secrets, so they look at these photoshopped, amped-up photos or commercials and think that’s what they should be capable of. That’s the expectation they put on themselves, and then they end up falling short. I put myself in that category. We compare ourselves to that high bar and we fall short of it and it makes us feel bad about ourselves. And that’s why I call B.S. on all of that. It isn’t really the truth. People don’t really look like that.
What’s the best beauty advice you’ve given your daughter?
I've always told her to be her authentic self. Whatever that is, it's good enough and it's right. She’s 22 now, and I’ve watched her go through stages where she’s worn more eyeliner or less, and did have bangs or didn't have them, and other than sunscreen, I’ve always encouraged her to rely on her inner beauty more than anything.
From my perspective as a 55-year-old woman, beauty fades—and you are always aware of that, but you really know it when you have it start happening to you. Then you have to look at, well, what is beauty, really? To me, it’s who you are, it’s your friends, it’s how you love people, it’s how you help the world or your community, it’s what you do with your time and your thoughts. So that's what I encourage her to focus on developing.
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You’re stranded on a desert island. What are the three products you bring with you?
I would definitely bring sunscreen. I love EltaMD's tinted moisturizer. And Pixi’s lengthening mascara, which doesn’t even look like you have mascara on—it just gives you a boost. And then, of course, I’d have to bring Madison Reed Radiant Hair so that I’d have confidence while I was flirting with dolphins.
Would you rather get a facial or a massage?
Oh, absolutely a massage. There’s nothing better the second they start massaging my shoulders. I have died and gone to heaven. I just love massages.
What’s your go-to perfume?
I have a lot of perfumes because I’ve always loved the way perfume bottles look, but I really don’t wear much perfume. It's a funny thing about me! What I wear is an essential oil. It’s called Focus and it’s primarily lemon, basil, and rosemary, and I really love that. I put a little on my wrist every day and feel like the smell is awakening and fresh.
Screw, marry, kill: lipstick, mascara, and highlighter?
I would marry mascara, as I mentioned it as one of the three things I would bring on my desert island. I don’t care about highlighter myself, so I would kill that, except for when it's in my makeup artist’s kit, because she knows how to use it! And then I’m going to screw lipstick? That sounds dirty! I don’t think I can say that out loud, but if you’re going to force me, that’s what I would pick.
What’s your favorite lipstick?
Perricone MD No Makeup Lipstick. It's a natural, rosy pink color that's really moisturizing.
You have $20 and free roam of the drugstore. What do you buy?
Epsom salts for a bath! I think bath salts are great, and you can buy a couple of no-brand Epsom salt bags if you only have $20. Then I’d spend the rest on some sort of essential oil like lavender or ylang-ylang or chamomile. You can put the salts in the bath and then drop the essential oils in. And then always Clorox wipes if you can find them!
What is your favorite way to take a moment for yourself?
I try to walk a couple miles every night either by myself or with a friend. I don’t look at it as exercise even though I walk a few miles, because it's just kind of that time to be quiet and notice the birds and the sunset. I really like slowing down and being in nature.
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Jessica Radloff is the West Coast editor at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram @jessicaradloff14.
