Kelsea Ballerini's Off-Duty Bun Doubles as a Hair Treatment

Kelsea Ballerini is entering a new era. First and foremost, the award-winning country superstar just turned 30, and based on the fact she carries Lapis Lazuli in her purse and knows her sun, moon, and rising signs, we would guess that she's well aware that her Saturn Return is nearing completion. Which, for the non-astrologically inclined, is a period between the ages 27 and 30 that's all about releasing what doesn’t serve you, becoming more aligned with your authentic self, and undergoing life-changing personal growth.

Secondly, she just cut her long hair into a bob. Perhaps because of the stars, or just because of a spur-of-the-moment decision, she has officially joined the “Bob Renaissance” and couldn’t be more in love with her decision.

Last but certainly not least, she's new face of Pantene, embarking on the “Road to Repair,” a 12-week challenge to repair hair health with the brand's products—like her favorite Miracle Rescue Mask.

We caught up with Ballerini backstage at her Pantene shoot to talk the products always in her bag, her haircare must-haves, and her "Hannah Montana" life.

The One Thing That Keeps Her Hair Healthy

"I have to be honest, I've tried a lot of different things. But right now, what's really working for me is giving my hair off days. When I don't have to be in my Hannah Montana life, I'm always in a slicked-back bun, and I'm always using Miracle Rescue. There's the 10-in-one [spray] that's really incredible and the leave-in treatment you can do. [They give] your hair a little bit of yummy, good things but also [give you] the model off-duty look, which I'm always down to do."

The Secret to Her Tour Hair

"I wear a wig on tour now. I'm not even ashamed! I'm really on the journey of getting my hair healthy. Also, on stage, everything is larger than life, so I like being able to add length if I want to make it look fuller. It's really hard on my hair to add that [with] extensions, I would rather do it with a wig that I can take off at the end of the night, with a nice mask underneath, and then my hair is refreshed underneath it all."

The One Difference Between On-Stage and Everyday Kelsea

"I feel like I get to step into a different version of myself for tour. She's very glittery. She's very confident. I feel like stage me is a very turned-up version of normal me. Real-life me, now, is the person that I protect the most. This season of my life, offstage me is just criss-cross-apple-sauce on the couch talking to a friend. That's the place I'm getting the most life right now."

The One Thing Turning 30 Taught Her

"I just turned 30, which I'm really loving, and I went through a lot of changes in my life personally in the last year. I feel like I'm finally really, truly on the other side of all that and just really basking in the afterglow of doing a really hard thing that has now resulted in a lot of beauty and a lot of love and a lot of light and healing."

The One Product She Always Brings on Tour

"Honestly, the Repair Mask because that's what I'm putting on my hair every night. Also, my dog—those are the two things that I must have on the tour bus at all times."

The One Product She Discovered on Social Media

"You can get these [tools] that you put in the freezer, and you put them under your eyes. It feels so good, and it's so deep puffing; they're my new go-to."

The One Thing She Does Before Bed

"I try to do the five-minute journal [every night]. I don't do it every day, but I really try to. You just say three things that you're thankful for in the day and three things that you could have done better. It's kind of a nice bookmark for that chapter of life that you're in, and a good accountability for the ways that you want to grow."

The One Thing She Does Every Morning

"One thing that I do in the morning is be grumpy. I'm just not a morning girl. Maybe I haven't grown out of that. I really expected that I would because I do a lot of early mornings, but no, I’m giving garden gnome energy in the morning."

The One Thing She's Unapolgentic About

"Standing up for myself. It's new; I've said this often, but I have spent so much of my life really trying to be palatable for everyone. No one is for everyone. When you let that go, you become more yourself. You become better for the people that you are for, and then you lose the dead weight of people that you're not for. It's kind of beautiful."

The One Virgo Trait She Identifies With

"I'm a Virgo rising, Virgo sun, Cancer moon. So basically, I like a plan, and I cry every day. I have to make sure that I have time allotted in the day to cry. It makes a lot of sense that I'm an artist because the Cancer Moon is giving songwriter, the Virgo Rising is giving artist, and the Virgo Sun is giving loves a plan to get to my next goal."

The One Skincare Product She Swears By

"Sunscreen. There's a girl named Maegan Griffin, she's one of my dear friends. She's also a boss lady, she started this company called Skin Pharm, and she knows all the science behind it. I don't know any of that, but I trust her with my life. So, I use her sunscreen."

The One Beauty Mistake She'll Never Make Again

"Well, for the longest time, I wouldn't let anyone touch me with blush—it wouldn't happen. I was very anti-blush, and now I feel like I owe blush an apology. Don't know why, just a feeling.

"I [was also] really committed to gauchos. I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm just not saying they're right, [but] I won't personally be repeating that for my own journey."

Her Earliest Beauty Memory

"I played in my mom's [makeup]. I just have always loved the idea of self-expression through glam, hair, makeup, dressing up, all of it. Since I was a little girl, I just loved to play dress up. My mom and dad would take me to thrift stores, and I would be able to pick out a couple of glittery things and put them in my dress-up trunk, and on weekends, that's what I would do. I put on a sparkly little dress and played in my mom's makeup. Then, I would go around the neighborhood, and that was my perfect weekend."

The One Thing She Always Keeps In Her Bag

"I have some crystals—[Lapis Lazuli], it's supposed to encourage clear communication and genuine community—in my purse. 

"I have chapstick in my purse. I have watermelon gum in my purse. I have a camera in my purse because that's my new hobby; my boyfriend was like, 'Hey, you need a hobby,' so now I like to take pictures. I have bandaids, boob tape, and a Tide-to-go pen. I call it my 'oh shit' bag."

The One Thing That’s Essential to Her “Everything Shower”

"It’s a hair mask, body scrub—like, full body scrub. I'll do a face mask in the shower sometimes. Sometimes I'll just sit there and ponder because that's also in my everything shower—thinking about my life, maybe give a little concert, try out some new lyrics."

The One Beauty Secret She's Picked Up on Tour

"Less is more. When I see pictures of myself on stage at 20—I don't regret it because it was part of the journey I was on—but I had so much makeup on. I still love a full glam moment, don't get me wrong, but I think there was part of me that thought that I needed to have my hair and my makeup look perfect, so I felt like I was a person I 'needed' to be. Now, I don't really feel that way. I often just opt out for less is more."

The One Piece of Advice That Changed Her Life

"This is not beauty advice, but it's so beautiful, so I'm going to call it beauty advice. Oftentimes in life, when we are presented with something not going how we thought it was going to, our natural reaction is to either go into drought or firehose. The growth in the lessons comes from watering the grass every day. Don't go into drought, don't firehose, just be consistent, show up. I think that's been really, really healthy advice for me. My friend Brad Paisley gave that advice to me a couple years ago. It stuck with me. 

"I also have a garden now. It's my little baby, and she's giving me some very, very juicy tomatoes this season. So watering the garden is also literal for me. Now, I have to water the garden [or] it would be a waste of tomatoes."