Keke Palmer Shares the Three-Step Routine Behind Her Buoyant Natural Curls

Hey Vogue, it's Keke

and I'm gonna show you guys my everyday hair routine,

skincare, and makeup.

So let's go ahead and get into it.

This is my favorite product to use with La Roche-Posay.

So when I do any kind of product,

I do check and see what kind of people

have reviewed the product particularly.

And I think it's important to know

that Black people used the product

as somebody with, obviously, Black skin.

[gentle music]

Next, I wanna use Paula's Choice BHA, which is an exfoliant.

I'm trying to clear up leftover hyperpigmentation and stuff

and I think exfoliating really helps with that personally.

During my pregnancy, my skin was absolutely amazing.

And when I had my son,

I think it was just like the over excess amount

of progesterone that helped level my skin out.

But then after I had him,

kinda like almost immediately reverted back.

If you have severe acne

and it's really mentally putting you in anguish,

which it had for me,

that might be something really good to invest in.

A dermatologist and an esthetician, I will say,

and then good products.

Next I'm going to actually put on

this Dr. Dennis Gross mask.

I really do love doing the mask thing. It just feels so fun.

You're in your bag. Very cutesy.

Don't look at this one nail

because it's chipped and I'm pissed.

Why would they do this the day that I'm doing the Vogue?

[gentle music]

I love all the things that allow me

to spend more time with myself.

When I started doing my natural hair,

I wasn't sure like how to wear it.

A lot of people do wash and go's.

A lot of people do twist outs.

But I wanted to figure out what was the style for me.

And I realized that I really loved flexi rod sets.

I just take it out just like this.

It's not too, you know, much.

I just try to make sure I keep it in its form.

[gentle music]

I am a girl that likes to do protective styles,

which for me usually means a wig.

And I think it took me a long time to get to the place

of being able to really appreciate my hair

and all its uniqueness and what it can do

and only it can do.

Now when I wear a wig,

it's not because I feel like I have to,

but it's because I wanna do something different

that I don't wanna do to my natural hair.

And when I wear my natural hair,

I actually have a different relationship with it.

I remember when I did Nope,

it was such a big thing when I was talking to Jordan,

he was like, You know what?

I think I want you to wear this hair for the movie.

And I'm like, You want me to wear this hair

in a major motion picture?

And he was like, Yeah, I think that's what we need.

I mean, this is Black American iconography.

This is what we need.

And I was like, Jordan, the man that you are!

We have to showcase all versions of beauty.

And we hear this all the time and we keep hitting ourselves

over the head with it, but it really is true.

I think him allowing me to wear my hair like that

in that movie and given that platform and that stage,

it continues to push forward

so that another little girl like me, you know,

maybe her mom has an easier time telling her like,

Your curls are beautiful and you are beautiful

because she's seen it.

[gentle music]

Okay, I need to sit down for the rest of this.

My hands are tired.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, I know it ain't!

Come on, honey. It's your girl.

This is how it looks when you take the rods out.

Very flat, very Shirley Temple..

I'm gonna use this Argon Oil Shine Mist

from Creme of Nature.

And what I'm gonna do is pretty much break a piece off

and then curl it out, okay?

So every little piece, I'm remaining the curl

as I'm separating it, just like that.

See, I just love all the things

that you could do with your hair, honey!

[gentle music]

This is honestly a very fun process.

I had to do this every day on Nope.

You know, I was a perfectionist.

I wanted of my hair to be everything in every shot.

So a lot of times with this particular style,

you have to set it every night.

[gentle music]

Phew, that really did something. I feel so, hello.

Now I'm gonna just pick it out a little bit

before I get into my makeup.

And honestly, as much as I love how this looks,

I really love it when it's like a day in.

Okay, we are all done.

I'm gonna finish the last bits of skincare.

So now I'm gonna put a little bit of this dermal water on.

Using this Neutrogena Hydro Boost Serum.

That's my son in the back, guys. He's making tons of noise.

Say hi, buddy. Say hi booty boo.

Oh, why you gonna embarrass me?

Act like that's not what we do. Got it? Cool.

Love you, pumpkin. La Roche-Posay Double Repair Moisturizer.

The real reason why my routine has changed as a mom

is because I'm tired.

Sometimes I have to really like pull myself

to do the routine.

Now I'm gonna put a little bit of Aquaphor.

Y'all know, good old Aquaphor, number one advanced repair.

Around my nose

because I've been getting cracked up over there.

Shout out to Winnie Harlow. I'm putting on the Cay SPF.

What I love most about it is that it's perfect under makeup.

And so if you're ready,

then I'm ready for us to get into the makeup.

I'm gonna start with the Anastasia Brow Whiz.

I learned how to do my makeup,

I think I was about like 11 years old

and I know that sounds like very young,

but it was because that was when my acne stuff

first started.

And so it was a way for me to like just find confidence.

So I'm gonna be going for a very casual makeup look.

I'm very much into like, Oh my gosh, did she do her makeup?

Maybe she did. She's such a fab girl, naturally.

I'm starting with the Double Wear, Estee Lauder.

[gentle music]

I just put on this NARS concealer.

I know it seems just like, girl, that color is light.

But honestly we're going for a highlighted vibe.

You gotta look like you woke up.

Okay, I am trying to look five.

Now I'm gonna also use Cookie.

[gentle music]

I definitely went down memory lane writing the book.

It was like a process of visiting,

I guess, all the most impactful projects that I've done

or the things that I feel like

I learned the most lessons from.

One obviously being True Jackson, VP

'cause that I feel like really set the trajectory

for me and my life and also like my brand.

I mean I think Akeelah and the Bee

obviously had a big part in that as well.

When the movie came out, it kind of bombed.

Like it didn't really do well in theaters.

It wasn't until years later that it played on TV

and that people really got a chance to see it

and became a like a high selling movie

that people bought back when DVDs was a thing.

Oh my gosh, millennials, what's going on?

But yeah, it was really cool sharing some of those stories

that I think now impact me differently.

And obviously, I've had so many different experiences

and a different levels of awareness that allows them

to have such deeper meaning.

[gentle music]

If I am not getting my makeup done for a job,

then yeah, I'm doing my my own makeup.

I feel like I got out of being a makeup girly

for a little while

because it started getting me down honestly,

having to always deal with so much texture stuff.

So I did kind of get out of it a little bit,

but then I found my way back.

I'm gonna spray a little bit of this

infamous Charlotte Tilbury spray.

I do it in between sometimes before I finish

because I feel like it really cements it a little bit.

[gentle music]

This is a tiny travel version

of the Charlotte Tilbury 4 Deep.

And I just use this for like a bronzing powder.

[gentle music]

This is gonna really place it.

This is my favorite freaking color.

It's She's Giving the name speaks for itself

because honey, I gives.

[gentle music]

Honestly growing up the person that I love like looking at,

That's So Raven.

I mean I loved Raven growing up.

I love the colors, I love the magic.

I love the creativity of her styling her own clothes.

♪ Into the future ♪

It's some Chanel loose powder.

That Disney Channel era,

anybody that didn't get to a chance to get into that.

Honey!

♪ Cheetah Girls ♪

♪ Gotta do what I gotta do ♪

♪ Got the brains ♪

♪ Gotta speak the truth ♪

♪ We're from around the world ♪

♪ The Cheetah Girls ♪

You know what's so funny?

When I think about Moesha,

I had gotten my first record deal with Atlantic Records

and they had me in the studio with Babyface.

And he happened to be in the studio with Brandy,

and he knew that I was a big fan of hers

and I grew up watching Moesha.

So he had asked her to stay over a couple, you know, hours

after, while I was recording, when she was finished,

just to say hi to me, you know,

because I was such a big fan.

And because she's awesome, she did.

Just putting a little bit of contour on the nose.

She also brought me a journal,

my very first journal that I still have.

I have had it for years.

And she wrote a note in the front where it says,

I am who I am because you are who you are. Brandy.

And I didn't know what that meant at the time.

But obviously as I'm older, I mean simply put,

it's about representation.

Like the wheels keep turning. We all represent each other.

And as an artist myself,

I feel the same way about my audience,

where I can be because you can be.

And who better to give you your first journal than Moesha?

And how crazy is it that Brandy

also was the first ever Black Cinderella

and then years later,

I had no idea that I would be the first Black Cinderella

on Broadway.

I've always been pretty quirky and silly.

Like honestly, everybody in my family is like that.

All the Palmers, like when people talk about the Met Gala,

they're like oh, oh, oh,

like my whole family does stuff like that.

We're very singy songy.

We're very kind of like Girl, stop!

A lot of people from Chicago are this way.

I mean I feel like it's also like cultural community.

Like I grew up in a church.

Everybody says what's on their mind.

This is, again, She's Giving,

but this is the side of it that's not cream.

And I would definitely also say like,

from my head to my toes, it's all real.

Yeah, you know?

[gentle music]

This is Kosas Air Brow.

It's good to be back kicking it with Vogue.

The last time I kicked it with them

was on the Met Gala Red Carpet.

Honey, I had such an amazing time doing it,

but it was absolutely a lot of work, honey okay.

Not just everybody can fill Andre Leon Talley's shoes.

Obviously, what the Met is for is to bring us all together

to continue to collaborate and to give back to fashion

so that fashion can keep telling stories

'cause it's very expensive, as all art is.

It's so funny though, the last time that I went,

so I'm there and I'm like talking to Ayo Edebiri

and we're like, Hey girl, Hey girl.

And then behind me, I look and I see Chris Hemsworth

and I'm looking at Chris Hemsworth

because obviously it's Thor, you know, I'm just like.

But he's staring at me back

and I'm like, What is he staring at me back for?

Like is he really looking at me

or he is looking at somebody behind me?

And I turn behind me. No one's there.

He's like, Keke, yeah, I'm looking at you. It's you, Keke.

And I'm like, Yes, me, Keke.

And he's like, Yeah Keke, we wanna do this movie.

We gotta figure out this movie with you.

I don't wanna pitch right now,

but I gotta let you know.

So he's talking to me and talking to me about this movie

and he quickly starts to pitch this idea

and he's like, Wait a minute, wait a minute.

Before I go into it,

I gotta get you with my buddy real quick.

We're producing it together.

He taps the back of this white man.

The white man turns around, it's Matt Damon.

He pitches me this movie and Matt Damon's like,

looking like we in Good Will Hunting, he's like.

It was a moment in time

and I'm like, Yo, that's crazy.

Not me linking up with Chris Hemsworth at the Met Gala

and him tapping his homeboy who just happens

to be the Matt Damon.

I had to take off that damn robe.

It started getting hot in here.

The sun was moving. It was just too much going on.

I'm putting on this Forever lip liner and what is the color?

The color, it is Cacao.

[gentle music]

So I'm using Huda Beauty. It is the color Trend Setter.

[gentle music]

The Vanish Airbrush Powder by Hourglass.

But it honestly is really good. Look at that.

It just kind of blurs everything out

and just meshes it together.

[gentle music]

I'm gonna put a little bit of this Chanel on,

just on this apple area.

[gentle music]

I just wanted to make sure I shouted out Gigi Brows.

This is what I use to go underneath my eyebrows.

It just is a quick way to highlight them

without having to do the whole brush thing.

You can literally do it just like that.

[gentle music]

Then I'm going to use a little bit

of this lash luscious by Maybeline.

I have on falsies, but they are on their last leg, sweetie.

Nice little tip that I know many of us use.

When the lashes are on their last leg,

the extensions, put mascara.

Gives them a little bit more life.

Doing the spray.

Angel Share, Kilian. Is that basic?

Baby, this is Keke Palmer.

Hair's done. The fro is fro. The face is naturally beat.

We're ready to go outside and say, Hey! Yeah girl.

Sending you love.

You know, just very like in and out.

It's like, does she have makeup on? Does she not?

Does she have makeup on? She does, but you wouldn't know.

Holler at your girl. Thanks Vogue for chilling with me.

[gentle music]