Nicole Richie Says Her 20-Something-Year-Old Self Wouldn’t Believe She No Longer Wears Hair Extensions (Exclusive)

Y2K trends may be back in a major way, but Nicole Richie has long ditched one of the beauty essentials that defined her 2000s: her hair extensions.

“When I look at my photos of myself in my 20s, the first thing that comes to mind is just how much I thought I needed between extensions and makeup,” Richie, 42, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue.

“I would say, 'I can never let anyone see me without extensions, not even my animals' [because] my hair is so thin. Back then it would take about six hours to put in a full head of extensions, so sometimes I would take out my extensions the night before and then get them put back in the next morning," she shared.

"While I loved all that, and I think it's so much fun. I didn't need it, and I do think that I was still in a stage where I wanted to look like something else," Richie continued.

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Richie — who partnered with Estée Lauder for the beauty brand’s new "Night Night Club" campaign — admits that, back then, “I wasn't really focusing on the health of my hair.”

Today, the mom of two embraces her natural curls. “I really focus on the health of my skin and the health of my hair and leaning into who I am and what I naturally look like,” she says. “In my 40s, I just want to look like myself. I want to be myself. It's fun and exciting and it's real life, which is no joke.”

The House of Harlow founder says “moisturizing is a very big part” of feeling like her best self now.

“The biggest thing for me with this Supreme Bounce Creme is that it's just so moisturizing,” Richie says of Esteé Lauder’s Revitalizing Supreme+ Night Power Bounce Creme, which the brand is introducing alongside its Advanced Night Repair Overnight Treatment as it celebrates and expands upon its Advanced Night Repair. “You put it on before you go to sleep and you wake up and your skin is the most moisturized that it could ever be.”

While Richie says she still loves “to put on a look,” she insists that first and foremost, “I have to feel like myself.”

“Especially if I have to go out and speak to people, I can't be in a look where I have completely exited who I am on the inside,” Richie explains.

“For example, if I were doing a talk show or something where I had to do a lot of interviews, I wouldn't wear a red lip because I'm self-conscious and I don't do a lot of red lip looks. I don't want to be thinking about anything like, 'Do I have lipstick on my teeth?' Or making sure that I have it on right!”

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Her longtime makeup artist Beau Nelson understands that approach. “I don't really give him a lot of direction,” Richie says. “I show what I'm wearing and he just kind of goes from there. We have this silent communication between us and this level of trust — I just sit down and he just goes to town. I don't even have a mirror in front of me.”

One makeup look Richie loves: a smoky eye. “I have very big eyes so I can take a big strong smoky eye and that's not a problem for me,” she says.

These days, Richie's all about sharing what she's learned about what works — and what doesn't — with those close to her.

“I am not like a gatekeeper,” she adds. “I love to share with my girlfriends."

For more on Nicole Richie, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.