Her Bridgerton character lives in high society, but actress Ruby Barker is far more down to earth in real life – revealing her go-to hair product is a supermarket steal costing just £1. Ruby, who shot to fame as Bridgerton’s Miss Marina Thompson, spoke exclusively to OK! about her beauty secrets and how it’s taken time to learn how to look after her locks.
“I used to chemically straighten my hair and it completely destroyed it,” she told us, recalling her teenage years. “I was a racial minority, all the girls had lovely straight hair but I didn't know how to do it properly.
“My mum’s white so she didn’t have the skill or anything to help, and my dad’s Caribbean but he’s bald so he didn’t bloody know either! Thankfully I found the Black hair community on YouTube and that's where I learned how to take care of my hair.”
While Ruby invests in curl specialist brands these days, she’s got a favourite fallback option too. “I really like Camille Rose and Mixed Chicks, but if I’ve run out of time to order those, there’s an Alberto Balsam conditioner [£1 here] that’s literally a quid at the supermarket."
“It’s in scents like coconut and strawberry and it’s the cheapest bottle you can get. I just whack it in my hair and it's absolutely fine. You don't need to spend like an arm and a leg to have great hair.”
Great hair is certainly what Ruby has now, but she admits it’s been a journey. “It was so damaged [from chemical straightening] I ended up shaving it all off and I grew it out from the start. I was 15.”
She adds: “I think Frankie from The Saturdays and Rihanna gave me the confidence to do it, because they did the short hair look. I did get nicknamed Hedge though, because that’s literally what my little Afro looked like!”
The star also shared another hairy issue she’s still facing today. “The thing I like least about my looks is that I have very dark, thick hair and a lighter complexion, so sometimes I have to bleach my moustache,” she told us.
“This is just something that a lot of girls with dark hair have to do. I've had to do it since I was 11 years old. I'm not saying that I'm growing a Charlie Chaplin but sometimes I'll get a little dark shadow and I'm like, ‘oh mother of God!’”
Ruby, who’s just been introduced as the new celebrity ambassador for Müllerlight yoghurt, shared her skincare secrets with us too.
“My skin does get quite sensitive from screen make-up,” she told us. “I’ve just been using CeraVe, and that's very soft, very gentle. I've got a lot of friends who are models and they swear by that. I’ll also give Dermalogica a go, they do a loose powder exfoliant that’s really good if you like something that’s not too harsh. I like Kiehl’s as well, they do a cannabis sativa oil that’s good for redness.”
In terms of salon options, Ruby gives the thumbs up to dermaplaning, a treatment to both exfoliate the skin and whisk away peach fuzz at the same time.
“It’s good,” she says. “It's a bit scary having a medical scalpel taken to your face but, basically it's just like the most extreme exfoliation you can possibly have. You’ve got to stay very still – you don't want to flinch or sneeze, that's for sure! But my skin looked great. I really do swear by it but you need to make sure that you go to a certified professional. Do not let anybody touch your face if they don't know what they're doing.”
Wise words Ruby!
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