Dove Cameron has been obsessed with the idea of transformation since the age of eight. While her peers were getting into lip gloss and nail polish, Cameron was dying her own hair at home, with henna at first and eventually graduating to box dye. “Once I realized I could put colored streaks in my hair, it was over for everyone,” she says. “I became a box dye girl from the time I was in the single digits.”
Twenty years later, Cameron is the same hair color chameleon. Over the past six months, she's debuted burgundy red, espresso brown, and honey blonde hair colors with the help of her longtime colorist Jacob Rozenberg and hair color brand Schwarzkopf. “Jacob and I have used the brand quite a bit in the past,” he says. “She makes a special sauce with Schwarzkopf formulas that work magic on my hair.” Today, Schwarzkopf appears to be announcing Dove Cameron as an official brand ambassador, where she'll join the ranks of Sofia Vergara, Chris Appleton and Troye Sivan to help promote the brand's color products in the salon and at home. While Cameron considers her many hair transformations to be a “huge part” of her identity as a musician and actor, she's content to keep her current mid-tone blonde (a shade that more closely mimics her natural color) , using Schwarzkopf's Keratin Blonde when active. rotate to keep its color bright, at least until the next transformation comes.
Ahead, Cameron talks to NYLON exclusively about her all-time favorite hair colors, how being a Capricorn affects her beauty habits, and the perks of sharing your skincare routine with your boyfriend.
Do you remember what first got you interested in beauty?
It started when I was really young, which was funny because I grew up with a mom who didn't wear a dot of makeup and maybe ran a brush through her hair once in the morning. She wore clear nail polish and jeans every day, but was always very effortlessly glamorous. She wore rings on all her fingers and dyed her hair bright red and fire engine. So I always knew there was an art to how you presented yourself to the world.
But I think I started my beauty journey out of necessity because my skin was very dry growing up. So my mom ended up putting her really nice adult moisturizer on my skin, and I was like, “Wow, this is great.” And then, I was in the theater as well, so I wore a lot of makeup and wigs.
How has your relationship with beauty evolved as you've grown?
I think I've always used beauty to express myself. I went to India a lot when I was a kid, because my parents' business was out of India, and it was very popular to dye your hair with henna, so I dyed my hair when I was eight. I was obsessed with the idea of different characters and transformation, and that definitely seeps into my music. It's a big part of my acting identity.
What's your favorite hair color you've ever had?
It is very difficult. I love my platinum blonde; on a day when my hair has had a bit of a break, I go back to it. It's so much maintenance. I'm doing my hair all the time and I use so much heat that I might have to compromise for a while. But I also really love espresso – it was such an important moment in my life, I'll probably go back to it one day too.
The hair color I have now is pretty similar to my natural blonde. Jacob [Rozenberg] and Schwarzkopf were able to get me back to my almost natural color with some honey highlights and some undertones – there was so much brown underneath that it was quite an experiment to get us here. But I feel very myself in these three hair colors; it is the me that I feel at that time.
What goes into the decision when you decide to dye your hair?
I get bored of everything except my natural color, because it works best with my skin tone and my eyebrows and eye color. It's not really cerebral as much as it is a feeling.
I dyed my hair brown very impulsively. I think there was this huge collective feeling that he had done that along with coming out of the closet and releasing “Boyfriend” and entering a new, more masculine, darker era, when he really hadn't. I had dyed my hair months before that song came out. It was like I had to throw away everything that was before and try something new. [Hair color] it's always very emotional for me. this [blonde] color was also instinctive; it seemed like it was time to return to a balance that felt closer to home.
What is your best hair? maintenance advices?
I try to stick to the general rules of keeping it warm. If I want to create a natural wave, I twist my hair into a low bun and let it air dry. I have been using a lot of castor oil; it works like a gel, because I love to slip my hair into a really simple low ballerina bun or a low braid or a low pony. It feels practical and also classic, beautiful and expensive.
At home I would use Schwarzkopf Keratin Blonde Pearl Blonde as it lifts and tones the hair and includes a purple conditioner to maintain the brassy colour. I'm a big fan of it these days.
What else is part of your daily beauty routine?
I have very dry skin so I can't use anything that strips me of oils. But I'm lucky; My skin care is extremely low maintenance. I use three products. I use an oil cleanser: I've been using the Shu Uemura Oil Cleanser for seven years now and it's really changed my skin. I use the Clarins Double Serum, and then I use a very thick Weleda Skin Food cream. It's super simple.
Every time I've tried to introduce something fancy or new, my skin absolutely hates it. All these $400 creams, my skin says, “Absolutely no shit.” It's funny because I think people think I'm over the top. The part where I'm over the top is that I have this Déesse LED Face Mask. My boyfriend simply calls it “the face”. The first time he walked into my room and saw it plugged into the floor, he said, “What the hell is that?” And I said, “Don't worry; Are you OK. You'll live all night.” Now he uses it.
Do you use it every day?
It's more like every three days, because I usually don't have time. I put on the mask, lie down on a yoga mat and do the leg-up-the-wall thing for lymphatic drainage. I'll do this at the end of the night to relax and make sure my skincare is really seeping in before I go to bed. This is one of the weirdest beauty things I do, because if you walk into my house and see me lying at a 90 degree angle reading my book with this American Psycho with the face mask on, I think you'd get in. But I'm a Capricorn, I'm so practical I can't justify sitting for 20 minutes.
Is there anything else in your beauty routine that you share with your boyfriend? [Måneskin’s Damiano David]?
It's a good kind of self-care. She has her own skin care routine. The first time she showed me the skin care, I thought, “I'm so in love with you.” She loves perfume and cologne and puts products in her hair, which I find very attractive. I love a well-groomed couple. He's also a capricorn, so it's funny; it's something we do together at the end of the night.
Before the Met Gala, she said, “Show me all your wizardry. Let's dive in.” I wish I had more to do, I was trying to wring my brain out for more weird shit. One night, when we were very short on sleep, I think he recommended we make a bowl of ice cream, which was amazing. Then I love the Kora Turmeric Mask for a double whammy of pigmentation and exfoliation. We're going to make a cheap sheet mask together, which is always funny because it doesn't stay on your face. And then we'll do the LED mask together, but that's rare. He has his own. He is such a kind and sweet human being, I am very lucky. If I said “I want to paint your nails and put crazy shit on your face,” I'd say, “Let's do it.”
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