Just three months in, Paige DeSorbo has already had a busy year. The Summer House star began January on tour for Giggly Squad, the podcast she co-hosts alongside Hannah Berner, where they sold out venues like Radio City Music Hall. Come Fashion Week, she sat front row at Christian Siriano and Michael Kors. In early March, DeSorbo joined Berner on the Oscars red carpet, interviewing stars like Amy Poehler and Hailey Bieber. In mid-April, her debut book (cowritten with Berner) comes out. DeSorbo went into the book deal thinking her and Berner would use a ghostwriter, but it ultimately came down to a shared Google Doc and edits from Berner’s mom. “It was a very humbling experience… but it was so much fun,” DeSorbo says.

The world was first introduced to DeSorbo on Summer House, as a girl from a conservative Italian family in upstate New York. But today she’s a household name in her own right, known just as much for her style and humor as her ability to hold her own at a reunion. The show is where DeSorbo and Berner first earned the name Giggly Squad. A castmate coined it in a moment of frustration, but the friends turned it into a platform for unpacking pop culture, their personal lives, dating, mental health, and everything in between. Today, the term represents a community of girl’s girls who don’t take anything too seriously. She jokes that her and Berner started a cult, but in truth, she sees her listeners as a huge source of support. “Girls will always say me and Hannah have helped them through certain times in their lives, but truly, they’ve helped us so many more times,” DeSorbo says. 

For her next project, DeSorbo is partnering with TRESemmé on the launch of their Lamellar Gloss Collection. DeSorbo, with her signature glossy locks and penchant for cutting bangs right before a Summer House reunion, calls working with the brand “a dream come true.” To celebrate, she told InStyle all about her hair-care routine, her biggest “I made it” moments, and her advice for the newly single.  

Since we’re here to talk about hair, I would love if you could tell me about about your current hair routine.

I feel like I’m one of the last people left in New York… I’ve never dyed my hair. My mom wouldn’t even let me get the pink highlight for breast cancer in high school. It’s stuck with me—I’m pretty chill with my hair routine. I’m all about having shiny hair. That’s what most of my DMs are, “how do you get your hair so shiny?” I love a hair mask. I love a full girl shower. I love an oil. Love a freaking oil. Love an oil and a slick back bun.

I’ll chop it whenever. Most of the times when I’ve chopped my hair off have been the morning of Summer House reunions, which is psychotic, but you have to be in a psychotic state. It’s actually very on par. 

Do you have any getting ready rituals? 

I have to be in an oversized t-shirt to feel like my getting-ready process is good. And I do hair first, then makeup, which I think is important.

If you’re ever having a bad hair day, or just an off day in general, how do you get out of that funk?

I’ve had many psychics tell me that if I’m ever having a bad day, I should take a shower. So I will always take a full girl shower and then do a hair treatment, like oiling my hair or doing a hair mask, and then I feel like something in my life is put together.

I know you’ve had a busy past few months. Have you had any moments where you were like, oh my god, I made it, or, a dream was realized?

When Hannah and I did Giggly Squad at Radio City, I’m not a big crier, but I told Hannah we had to walk out on stage before it filled up. I needed to feel it first before the first time we walked out was to perform the show. And right as I walked out on stage, I started crying, which is so not me. That was a really big moment for both of us.

Being on tour with Hannah for six months straight has made us closer than ever. But we also realized we don’t share anything except hair products. That is the only thing she’ll call me and ask, “Do you have hairspray?” 

Are there any products you introduced her to, or visa versa?

I introduced her to hair oil because she like, ‘How’s everyone getting slick back buns?’ And I’m like, sit down. We love hairspray, we are always sharing hairspray. And TRESemmé is one of the only companies that makes travel-size hairspray.

Did you have any favorite celebrity interactions throughout Fashion Week or award season?

Hannah and I went to the Michael Kors show, and Rachel Zegler was walking to her seat, and Hannah started yelling her name. I was just mortified. I was like, it’s just not the time or place. And then we ran into Rachel at the Vanity Fair after-party, and Rachel said to me, “Hannah and I actually are friends, so it’s okay that she yelled my name.” And so then I was the asshole, but I didn’t know that Hannah actually knew her. That was a fun interaction.

Is she a listener? 

Yeah she’s a giggler. 

That’s so sweet. Overall, what’s your favorite thing about the community you’ve built with Giggly Squad? 

The reactions from the gigglers when I say something very intense or something that’s going on in my life—they’re so welcoming and warm about it. I think that’s the best part. Girls will always say me and Hannah have helped them through certain times in their lives, but truly, they’ve helped us so many more times.

Have you had any good run-ins with listeners?

I see the gigglers at Pilates all the time. And we all don’t want to be there, but we have to, so no one really says anything to me. They’ll just say certain inside jokes that gigglers have, and then just walk away. It’s so perfect.

Tell me a little bit about the process of writing your book.

When Hannah and I got the email that we were gonna write a book, I thought, this is going to be so easy. Because any Bravo person that I know that has written a book, they’re like, ‘You get a ghostwriter, and you just talk to them, and then they put it together nicely.’ I just assumed we would get a ghostwriter. And then Simon & Schuster was like, absolutely not. This is a comedy book, and it has to truly be in your guys’ voice. I was panicking.

Hannah and I love a shared Google Doc. I would write things, and then Hannah’s mom, who was a principal, would help us edit. All my edits were like, Paige, we don’t know what you’re talking about. Try punctuation one time. It was a very humbling experience, and I realized I really don’t know punctuation. But it was so much fun.

Season nine of Summer House is on right now—is there anything that goes on behind the scenes that viewers might not expect?

I wish they broke the fourth wall so much more. One thing that people don’t realize is how many people are at the house. There’s a whole basement that we’re never allowed in, which is where all the monitors, the cameras, and the producers are. Some of our camera operators and sound people have been with us since the first season. We’ve watched their lives also progress. We’ve watched them get married and have kids, and they’ve brought their kids to the house. There are so many more friendships on Summer House than people would ever even realize. The people who filmed Kyle and Amanda’s engagement were specifically picked to film it because they had met them in season one. We really know them so well. And that’s why they get us to say whatever they want.

What’s it like watching yourself back?

You know when you hear your own voice on a voicemail and you’re like, how does anyone speak to me? It’s that times ten. It’s like drunk Instagram stories that you don’t have the option to delete. So I send the episode to my mom, and I make her watch it first, and I say, let me know if there’s anything I should be aware of. I love myself, but not that much. 

I imagine one of the worst parts about being a public figure is hearing people’s opinions about you. How do you deal with all that noise? 

It’s definitely hard at times, I think from starting Summer House at 25 and now being 32, I deal with it in a very different way. I’m so thankful that this year, I’ve literally been too busy. I used to read everything. I used to read every comment. I used to read every DM, and I used to let it overtake my personality. The human brain is not made to hear people talking about it.  So now, at 32 I think I’ve gotten a lot better with it, and I’m honestly too busy to even read things. I’m thankful for that. But also, as you get older, you get more confident, you’re just like, I don’t know you. That’s a crazy thing to say. 

Do you have any advice for someone who’s newly single or going through a big life change?

Go out. Get outside. I am not a big breakup person. I’m not a big, like, you gotta lay in bed for a couple of days and listen to sad music. I’m immediately out there. I was immediately like, “Are we going out?” And we’ve been out there. I just had a girls’ trip to Miami.