Ree Drummond Reveals How She Achieved Healthy, Extension-Free Hair: 'Been Through the Wringer'

Pioneer Woman goes into the smallest details of her hair journey!

On Friday, May 31, Ree Drummond shared a blog post titled “How I Finally Healed My Hair,” detailing her “several-year” journey to healthy hair (and no extensions at all).

Sharing a link to a post detailing the “crazy” trip on her Instagram Stories, the star, 55, noted that she and her hair “went through the wringer” together – and shared the memory of a photo of her healthy teenage curls.

Pioneer Ree Drummond Shares Photos of Her Newly Completed Home — Take a Look Inside!

“Hair I’m trying to get back to,” she captioned a photo of herself as a ninth-grader getting her hair done. But, she added jokingly, “Jello molds, not so much.”

Ree Drummond in ninth grade.

Ree Drummond/Instagram

Also with the throwback, the TV personality clarified that her signature red locks are, in fact, 100 percent natural. “Btw this is my natural hair color, I get that question a lot,” she wrote, adding, “By a lot, I mean once every two years.”

In her blog post about her hair journey, Drummond began by saying that “growing up, my hair was never a problem” — but that all changed a decade ago.

The PEOPLE Puzzler has arrived! How fast can you solve it? Play now!

In 2010, her hair was darker, a shade of brunette, but it was still hers, she said. “I didn’t discover hair extensions then and I didn’t need them,” she wrote. “I did nothing but shampoo, condition, blow dry and curl with a regular curler.”

Trailblazer Ree Drummond shares workout video of herself stretching and jokes ‘It won’t happen again’

Ree Drummond 2012.

Astrid Stawiarz/Getty

Then, in 2012, “things went wrong for my hair,” the TV personality said. “I noticed that the texture slowly started to change; it seemed drier and a little more frizzy,” she wrote, adding that her strands had also begun to thin, as evidenced by her ponytail, which was “much smaller.”

Approximately until 2014 A pioneer star said it “really became clear that my hair was just a shadow of what it used to be” – so she started using hair extensions. A lots of hair extensions.

In one photo included in the post, Drummond claimed her hair was only about 15 percent real, with the rest being extensions. “They may look decent in this photo, but this would mean a full six years of permanent hair extensions,” she wrote. “Because when I started getting extensions regularly, it made my already bad hair situation worse.”

“It was a vicious cycle,” she continued. “Because my natural hair was broken and unhealthy, I used hair extensions to get the volume and length I wanted, but the longer I used the extensions, the harder it was for my hair to heal.”

Ree Drummond’s 5 children: Everything you need to know

By 2019, not much had changed (and she said she couldn’t wait to “run my fingers through my hair and not feel that telltale evidence of hair extensions”) — but then the pandemic happened.

Ree Drummond 2021.

Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty

To avoid — and “endure” — the disease, Drummond began taking daily vitamin D supplements. By the fall of 2021, she said she had “noticed improvements in the quality of my hair without extensions.”

She still used extensions, but far less, and her natural hair “picked up more slack, creating more volume,” she wrote.

The TV personality also felt healthier overall, she said, which was partly due to a high-protein diet, including foods like “Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, chicken, beef, egg whites,” she wrote.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up to date with the best PEOPLE has to offer​​, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The final steps, she said, were to stop her hair lightening habit and use less heat. So she chose a darker shade and started using Velcro rollers to avoid blow-drying and curling tools as much as possible.

“I’m 55 now, so it will never compare to my 41-year-old hair Good morning America and certainly not my haircut from the ninth grade in Mom and Dad’s kitchen,” she wrote. “But after so many years of struggling with the health of my hair, it just feels good to be on the other side and not have to spend time and money to continue with that extension game.”

Ree Drummond 2024.

Ree Drummond/Instagram

Along with the steps she detailed (taking vitamin D3 and vitamin K2-45, eating more protein, “Eufora Moisture Intense Shampoo & Conditioner,” “Valcro Velcro on barely wet hair,” and choosing a darker shade), Drummond added that patience is also was instrumental in her journey to healthy hair – with a cooking metaphor, of course.

“Just like many people take a roast out of the oven before it’s done and assume they can’t bake a roast, many people stop measuring their hair after a few months because they don’t see a change,” she wrote. “But hair cycles are long, and slow and steady wins the race!”

“My race took a few years, but when I started taking vitamin D (and especially vitamin K), there was a rapid improvement,” she added.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education