Kelsea Ballerini Talks Healthy Hair, Her 'Healing Era' and Her Beauty Icon Blake Lively (Exclusive)

If Kelsea Ballerini’s hair could talk, she knows exactly what it would tell her.

“I'm glad you cut a lot of inches off about a year ago. For a lot of reasons,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively ahead of an event to celebrate Pantene’s latest innovations. 

The country music star, who was named a Healthy Hair Ambassador for the brand in October, revealed her lob on social media in July. While she called the beauty move “spur of the moment,” there was definite intention.

Hair holds energy.

“Your hair grows how many inches a year? A couple? Think about that. The hair here has seen a lot, and I was like: you gotta go,” Ballerini says. 

It was one of a number of purposeful measures — which has included everything from therapy to reevaluating her workout routine — she’s taken during what she calls her “healing era.”  

“I really put my hair through it. I have for a decade,” Ballerini says. “I'm doing all the things. And it needed a little attention. She was like, ‘me, my turn.’ I was like, ‘fair enough.’”

When she finally stopped touring in fall, she began a healthy hair regimen. 

“[That] was really when I needed the most help to kind of start getting it back to just back to a decent spot,” she says. 

The perk of being the face — correction — hair of a brand is that you get a first look at the goods coming down the pike. 

Since Ballerini’s hair was in need of repair, she got stocked with the Pantene Pro-V Miracles Miracle Bond Repair Shampoo and Conditioner, as well as the Pantene Miracle Rescue Deep Repair Conditioner with Melting Pro-V Pearls. The Shampoo and Conditioner duo are part of the brand’s new Pro-V Miracles collection, which also includes two additional shampoo and conditioner systems — the breakage-reducing Infinite Lengths with Biotin and Collagen and the curl-enhancing Curl Define and Shine with Coconut + Shea. The Deep Repair Conditioner is also joined by an intensive repair mask in the new Miracle Rescue with Melting Pro-V Pearls collection.

The deep-conditioning treatment has pearls packed with a concentration of nutrients that help build new bonds in damaged hair. Ballerini says it’s an MVP in more ways than one. “When you get out of the shower, you're like, oh yeah, I feel better about my entire life.”

She also can’t get enough of the texture or the amazing smell. 

“Since I was a kid, my favorite thing was going to the Walmart, going to the Walgreens or the Kroger, whatever, and just going up and down all of the beauty aisles and smelling everything. … And I just remember there's something about the smell of Pantene that's so iconic and so nostalgic to me,” she says. 

Nowadays Ballerini is taking her routine very seriously. “For the last 12 weeks specifically, I've only used these products. I'm trying to get to two washes a week. It's taken some training, but the two washes a week feels good right now.”

On weeks when her hair needs extra TLC, she’ll slick her hair back with it and keep it in all day long.

“I think obviously the slick-back model-off-duty bun has become very popular, and we thank everyone who did that trend for us, because that's my go-to, but also, just being able to let it be something that's helping your hair at the same time is a game changer.”

With her hair headed in the right direction, Ballerini might be able to channel her beauty icon Blake Lively sooner rather than later. 

“I just think she's perfect. I think hair, glam, styling, all of it, she's giving, she knows exactly what's going on in fashion and beauty, but she's also approachable and girl next door. [She] has her finger on the pulse of what's going on in all the trends, but stays true to herself and just looks so cool and kind doing it. Is that a weird thing to say? Maybe.”