Some icons are defined by a moment. Brooke Shields has been defined by decades. At 61, she is as much a part of the cultural conversation as ever\u2014only now, the conversation is one she\u2019s helping to lead. Between her role as cofounder of Commence, the wellness brand quietly reshaping how women talk about midlife beauty, and her scene-stealing turn in You\u2019re Killing Me<\/em> (yes, Season 2 is officially happening), Shields is operating at a frequency that most would envy at any age.<\/p>\n She has always been watched\u2014scrutinized, celebrated, debated. What\u2019s changed is that she is no longer simply the subject of the story, but writing it. In our intimate chat, she opens up about the rituals that keep her thriving, and why the most radical thing a woman can do is simply trust herself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI was really starting to feel good about myself\u2014happy with things that might have bothered me in my 20s. My kids are off to college, and I just thought, \u2018I feel good about where I am.\u2019 Then I noticed that wasn\u2019t the message being I started analyzing how the beauty industry marketed to women, and saw this huge white space. We jump right from \u2018hot girl at the bar\u2019 to Depends and dentures\u2014nothing in between. All the women I know who are 40, 50, 60 are fabulous. They\u2019ve raised families, run companies, they have time and means to invest in themselves.<\/p>\n So, I started an online community, Beginning Is Now, <\/em>just to see if I was alone in feeling this way. Women flocked to it\u2014Zooms with 50 women over 50, 40 women over 40. Very quickly, people asked, \u2018What are you selling?\u2019 It was never about a product, but they started saying, \u2018There are biological changes no one is addressing\u2014thinning hair, dull hair\u2014how do you keep your hair healthy?\u2019 That conversation grew into: Why not address those changes through scalp care the way we treat our faces? That\u2019s how we developed our first products.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe nuance of product development. Going into the lab and asking, \u2018Can you make hyaluronic acid a smaller molecule so the scalp can actually absorb it?\u2019 They looked at me like I was crazy. A few weeks later, they\u2019d quaternized it\u2014but it was still a wet formula that would clump in rice powder. So I said, \u2018Can you encapsulate it, like an M&M, so it only releases on contact?\u2019 And they found a way.<\/p>\n When you rub it into your scalp, the rice powder absorbs excess oil, and the hyaluronic acid bursts open and delivers moisture right where it\u2019s dry. They called it a smart product. It\u2019s the only instant shampoo on the market with hyaluronic acid embedded in rice powder\u2014and no benzene, non-aerosol, so it\u2019s not harmful to your lungs or the environment.<\/p>\n We\u2019re even rethinking the bottle\u2019s squeezability, because women dealing with arthritis or limited grip strength shouldn\u2019t have to struggle with it. That\u2019s the stuff I love. It\u2019s definitely a lot of work though. The hard part is fundraising\u2026we\u2019ve done well, our launch was strong, but that money goes right back into inventory because we keep selling out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m part of it. Naomi Watts with Stripes was really first. I want to make sure we address it thoughtfully. I don\u2019t want us to be reduced to just being \u2018the menopause brand.\u2019 But it is important to talk about it without shame. Think about it: Getting your first period, acne\u2014none of it is fun, but it happens. Menopause is the same. I just want to bring that conversation in with the right tone for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTaking care of myself and listening to my instincts. Sleep is everything! When I don\u2019t sleep well, everything suffers. I can\u2019t process alcohol the way I used to. I don\u2019t feel good if I don\u2019t work out. And then it\u2019s the things that calm me\u2014needlepoint, reading, a walk on the beach, Rummikub with friends. Single-focused things that don\u2019t involve technology. That \u2019s the most healing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI love the physical comedy. With mystery shows, I always have to fight to keep it in because there\u2019s always pressure to play it straight. But the comedy is what differentiates us from every other mystery on every other channel. And it\u2019s what makes the genuinely emotional moments between these two women really land. We think of it as a triangle: Are we doing the forensics, the sleuthing or the banter? That balance makes it unexpected, and honestly, it\u2019s just a fun, easy watch.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m holding my breath until mid-June, and then, I\u2019ve told everyone, \u2018Don\u2019t call me!\u2019 Once the new season starts, it\u2019s around the clock again. I\u2019ve been traveling constantly. I was on a 5 a.m. flight to Austin yesterday, came straight from the airport and now I\u2019m flying back. It\u2019s a lot. But now that we\u2019ve got the second-season pickup, I\u2019m hoping to get to the beach, do some crafts, be with my kids and friends and just be quiet for a bit. And maybe organize my basement.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some icons are defined by a moment. Brooke Shields has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Commence is more than a hair-care line\u2014you\u2019re encouraging women to talk about midlife and beauty. What makes now the right time?<\/h2>\n
put out there. From the beauty industry, the message is: Once you\u2019re over 40 and no longer able to bear children, you lose all your currency.<\/p>\n![\"Brooke](\"https:\/\/cdn.sanity.io\/images\/0vv8moc6\/newbeauty\/73603a62331376452f4f192ad6048896a93dde5d-1400x2000.png?w=1200&auto=format&q=70\")
It\u2019s a new field for you. What\u2019s been the most interesting thing you\u2019ve learned?<\/h2>\n
![\"Brooke](\"https:\/\/cdn.sanity.io\/images\/0vv8moc6\/newbeauty\/4f9fc88757e77bd6bf555fcb6fa41e3d5123ddc7-1400x2000.png?w=1200&auto=format&q=70\")
Do you feel like you\u2019re helping to lead the conversation around menopause and midlife?<\/h2>\n
You use the word \u2018wellness\u2019 a lot around the brand. What does that word mean to you right now?<\/h2>\n
![\"Brooke](\"https:\/\/cdn.sanity.io\/images\/0vv8moc6\/newbeauty\/a2e60df6fadb08cc3d0db60fafbde595b34cc939-1400x2000.png?w=1200&auto=format&q=70\")
You have the second season of You’re Killing Me<\/em> coming up, and you\u2019ve called it \u2018bizarrely autobiographical.\u2019 What drew you to it?<\/h2>\n
After a packed couple of weeks and months, can you rest this summer?<\/h2>\n