Kaia Gerber Just Spilled How She Lightened Her Hair At Home

Kaia Gerber may be one of the biggest models working today, but in self-isolation, she's just trying to stay busy like the rest of us, which has included fostering a puppy and changing her hair color with a clever DIY.

While chatting yesterday on the phone — primarily about the 18-year-old's job starring as a face of Marc Jacobs legacy fragrance, Daisy — she chose her words delicately, speaking about her life in the wake of this global pandemic with equal parts grace and vulnerability. The silver lining, she says, is a new appreciation for the simple things, like a hug from a friend, the smell of fresh air, and a professional cut and color.

Gerber says staying sane has been a trial-and-error experience of finding small joys, namely mothering a puppy. "I can't leave the house, so I've been reading a lot, taking some online classes, and fostering puppies," Gerber explains. "There's this organization here in L.A. called the Labelle Foundation and they're trying to find these puppies homes because a lot of the shelters are closing. Right now, I have a 3-week-old husky-bulldog mix — at least, I think that's what she is — and she has given me the greatest gift of responsibility. I can't sleep all day, I have to get up with her."

While the animal therapy helps, Gerber says she's already fallen victim to isolation restlessness and the relatable urge to chop off all her hair. "I recently posted a video on Instagram of Audrey Hepburn cutting her own bangs because I got to the point in quarantine where I was like, I'm either going to cut my hair or dye it," Gerber says. "I knew something was going to happen, so I decided to give myself at-home highlights."

However, her DIY wasn't with a standard box of color: Gerber says she actually lightened her brunette bob with an everyday bathroom staple. "I don't know if I'd recommend this, but I just used hydrogen peroxide, a random DIY thing I saw online somewhere," she says. "I literally put the straight peroxide on my hair and then dried it with a blowdryer — just to hit it with heat — and it definitely lightened my color a shade or two, just a subtle change."

Outside of the lighter color, Gerber has kept the rest of her beauty routine pretty simple while at home. "For makeup, I've been pretty much only using a little Touche Éclat from YSL as concealer because I'm not sleeping a lot because I'm fostering a puppy who cries all the time," Gerber says. "Then, I always wear Daisy, my perfume, because that's a part of my everyday routine and has been for years. Keeping up those little things that you normally do before going out in the world — like putting on perfume — is helpful, even if it's just to smell nice for myself and my family."

The fragrance itself is marketed as a light and airy floral, reminiscent of wearing a gauzy cotton sundresses in a field of daffodils, which is where Gerber shot the recent campaign alongside friends and fellow models Adut Akech and Meghan Roche. "The whole filming process really encompassed what Daisy is, which is this youthful feeling. It's clean, fresh, and subtle. I always say, I don't want someone to hug me and tell me that my perfume smells good; I want the person to think, 'Oh, she smells good'."

When asked what she's most excited about doing after quarantine, Gerber says it's hugging her friends. ""It's scary to think we don't know if we'll ever be able to hug someone again without that initial kind of retraction or hesitation," she says. "Honestly, this is a crazy time in history and I think it will stick with us all for a long time."