Xochitl Gomez gives her hair a little flip as she shows off a major transformation.
Recently, the actress went blonde — Caramelo Blonde, to be exact — using Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Color in shade LC1.
“So many people have complimented me,” she says of the new look, which she was able to achieve without any bleach or brassiness thanks to the at-home hair color system’s technology.
For the star, the color marks a major change. “I’d never done anything to my hair before. I had virgin hair. So I was intimidated,” Gomez, 18, tells PEOPLE exclusively.
So intimidated, in fact, that she and her mom devised an idea: “Before I said yes [to partnering], my mom cut some parts of my hair and we dyed that at home,” she shares.
When the process was complete, Gomez was convinced. “Yo! I kind of mess with it,” she said, and sent a text that read “sign me up.”
Fast forward to Gomez wrapping her campaign in what the star described as a “full-circle” moment.
“My very first memory of Garnier is the Sleek & Shine oil back when I was doing auditions so long ago. I’d always come from middle school and my hair would be a mess from running and playing around. My mom would put a little bit before auditions. And, funny enough, I still use that to this day. So now getting to partner with them is wild,” she explains.
Gomez says prior to diving in, she never had the time to make a hair color transformation, plus, “it was mainly that I was always so comfortable with having such dark hair,” she says.
“I always just did haircuts. That was kind of my thing, a wolf cut or micro bangs,” she says, continuing, “But I always wanted to experiment and do something fun. And this opportunity was literally handed to me. So when you’ve already thought about it, but you didn’t have the thing to push you to go, I was like, ‘This is it. I’m going to be blonde now.’ ”
Not only does Gomez feel like her eyes “pop more” thanks to the lighter shade, she says her hair is easier to style.
“I feel like you can see a lot of more of the curls,” Gomez says of her current look. “I think when you have darker hair, you can’t really see that but now that it’s lighter, you can, which is great because it takes a minute to do my hair.”
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Ahead, Gomez shares more of what’s transformed her life, plus the mantra she lives by.
“I always just say: Just do it. Don’t let other people’s opinions affect the way you do it and your level of wanting to do it. Because at the end of the day, it’s you. It’s your goal, it’s what you want to achieve, and it’s the amount of effort that you want to put into it.”
“A lot of people say that they want to do whatever it is, but they end up not actually putting in the effort and time. And the thing is if you want something, you have to actually put the time and energy into it. And so I’d say if you have a goal, truly stick to it and do everything you can to get there.”
Dancing Like No One — or Millions of People — Are Watching
“I had such a great time on Dancing with the Stars. I really mean it when I say that I did not go onto the show thinking that I’d win. I thought that I’d make it halfway through the season.
Prior to the show, I was into doing music video treatments. [Editor’s note: Mapping out a creative concept for a video.] So when I started DWTS, I was like, ‘Wait, this is almost like doing a music video every week!”
Coming up with full idea and creatives for our dance every week was so cool. And I’m so grateful for [my partner] Val [Chmerkovskiy] because he was just like, ‘You want to do what? All right, I’m going to advocate for you.’
Since then, I’ve really enjoyed dancing. So every time I have a chance to, I do.”
Leaning into Good-for-You Apps
“The Peloton app has honestly transformed me quite a bit. Not only the workout aspect of it, but there are also meditations and those have really helped me. I mean, I’m always pretty grounded and pretty positive and I’ve always had a kind of really great mindset but it’s just to start off the day, or if you’re having a moment and you just need to center yourself.
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The instructors are really, really good. It gets me emotional just because they’re like, ‘Talk to your inner child. Talk to the person that was the one who created the dreams that you have now and the goals that you’ve had, and look at what you’ve accomplished,’ and ‘she’s so proud of you.’ I’m like, ‘Oh my God. Stop it.’ So that’s really kind of just transformed my gratitude and my mindset.”
Perfecting Her Eye for Style
“I’ve never gone to design school before, so the people at Hot Topic who have worked their entire lives to do what they do have been teaching me their ways and it’s been very fun.
I care so much about the actual business side of it, so I’m like, ‘Okay, if we can only have four zippers, where can we put those zippers? It’s [about] getting the things that I want, but also having the marketing and the numbers match up to that. The cost effect. I don’t know all the words!
But I’ve got the Pantone colors, girl. And, I’ve gotten to a point where I’ve made my own plaid. This collection that I have coming soon, it has a skirt with a five-color plaid that I came up with.
I can’t wait to really be able to say that the things that I’ve created have been fully things that I’ve envisioned. At the beginning, they were helping me a lot and now it’s gotten to a point where I’m like, ‘We can do this, we can do that. We have access to this kind of button? Okay, let’s do this.’ It’s been a gift.”
Keeping Good Company
“I love being able to be with my friends because the of true joy that I have [from our time together].
And, I always have fun with everything I do because I always have a mindset of, ‘If I’m not having fun, then why am I doing it?’ Work is work, but I don’t want to forget the things that I really actually want and need, like being outside and going on hikes. (Sometime this week I’m going to Sky Zone!)
I think it has a lot to do with my mom. I have a good mom. She’s always with, me everywhere I go. She can really spot if I’m not having a good time or if I’m like, ‘I can make it one more day,’ she’s like, ‘No, we’ve got to do something that’s just for us.'”
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