Blonde Ambition

Claudia Schiffer’s long blonde locks have been the subject of much admiration since she began modeling more than 25 years ago—so really it’s about time she launched a hair care line. This January, the beauty icon brings her line of shampoos, conditioners, treatments, and hair color (and yes, there is a Claudia Schiffer shade), made in collaboration with the German brand Schwarzkopf, stateside. “I’m German, and I grew up with their products,” the model explains of the partnership. “I remember my mom always washing me and my two siblings in the bathtub with the head shampoo [Schauma]—it was kind of an iconic ‘70s product.”

Schiffer was involved in every aspect of creating the essence ULTÎME collection—from the design of the bottle to the scent, which was inspired by her favorite Diptyque candles and features notes of sandalwood, amber, and jasmine. “I actually asked them to give me the smell just as a fragrance, so now I have that,” she adds with a laugh. “I can’t tell you how much fun it was. As a model, I get hired to front companies and products and, yes, I do choose obviously the best of the best, but it’s not that you love the product as much as if you’d done it yourself.” And she has reason to love it: every product boasts pearl essence, biotin, or omega oil. “You have to treat your hair like you treat your face,” she says definitively. “If you’re doing masks and exfoliations and god knows what else to your face, you should be doing the same thing on your hair. What I’ve learned is it’s a constant upkeep.” In other words, she did not wake up like this.