When Rebecca Romijn decided to lighten up her hair recently, she wanted the color to be strong, but subtle.
“I don’t change my look much, because I’m a mom, and on a day-to-day basis I have to be as low-maintenance as possible,” she tells PEOPLE. “But heading into red carpet season, you have to figure out how to make your hair look as great as possible, as often as possible.”
So Romijn tapped stylist Dean Roybal, owner of Planet Salon in Beverly Hills, to lighten her locks using Wella’s new Illumina color (the star is a spokeswoman for the brand). Now, “I’m the same blonde I’ve always been, but it’s just beautiful,” she says. “It’s got this added translucency.”
Illumina, hitting salons in January, is a new line of permanent color that keeps hair as close to its virgin state as possible. “I was one of the first people to get to try it, and it’s amazing,” Romijn says. “My hair feels so good, and I’m thrilled.”
Romijn, a natural blonde, keeps her color looking bright with regular touch-ups. But she’s not against a drastic change, either.
“I’ve gone dark before, and I get tempted to do it all the time,” she says. “Whenever I go to a meeting for an acting role, it comes up, and I always offer to change my color, because it’s interesting. At this point, I’ve been blonde a long time … but I get the itch every so often.”
She hasn’t had to deal with covering grays yet, either, though she knows someone who might: “My husband!” she jokes. “He’s starting to go gray and it’s all my fault. Maybe I should recommend Illumina to him …” Tell us: When’s the last time you colored your hair?