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Something about Ashley Tisdale makes you trust her implicitly. Maybe it’s all her years of industry experience—or the fact that I, along with most millennials, grew up watching her on the Disney Channel—but the actor gives off strong Big Sister Energy. When she answers my Zoom call wearing a baggy T-shirt with her hair in a messy bun, it’s a lot like chatting with a friend.
Tisdale’s penchant for passing along advice and tips makes her latest venture, a wellness platform called Frenshe, a no-brainer. When Frenshe launched in the summer of 2020, the actor and new mom had no idea it would become a guiding light during the dark early days of the pandemic. Tisdale, who struggles with anxiety and mental health, felt compelled to share her wellness journey with anyone who wanted to listen.
“I was going to launch Frenshe in March, before everything went crazy,” Tisdale tells Glamour. “It was a way to connect with people on my journey through wellness. When I did my album Symptoms, I talked about my mental health struggles, but people didn’t really know the journey I had gone on. I wanted to include experts that I saw, whether it was gut issues or anxiety and therapy, and build out this platform where I shared everything.”
Before Frenshe, most people associated Tisdale with her High School Musical character Sharpay Evans, but these days, the the actor is finding new fans through her website. “At this point, Frenshe is starting to get out there where I have people come up to me saying, I love Frenshe. It was weirdly the perfect timing to launch something like that, because I was looking to connect with people. Especially with what we were going through, my anxiety was through the roof. It was just such a joy to share very vulnerable stories and have this amazing community that’s digging deeper and learning more about themselves.”
That’s not to say Tisdale isn’t embracing her past. When I ask her about the viral Y2K fashion looks she wore on the red carpet in the early days of her career, she’s more than happy to discuss them. “I love who I was in those moments, you know? Like I could give a fuck,” she says. “That person in those pictures would not have been embarrassed about that outfit, so I can’t be embarrassed. I make fun of myself in those moments just because it’s so funny. But now I see Kelly Wearstler wearing dresses over jeans, and I’m like, ‘Damn, we need to bring that style back.’”
It turns out Tisdale was directly behind some of her most iconic looks. “The stylist I worked with was actually from our show on Disney,” she says. “If you watch Disney shows, it would make sense to wear that stuff. It just probably wasn’t the place to wear them on the red carpet. But with Sharpay, her whole vibe was me creating that vibe. It was a way for met to get into my roles. I would take skirts and make them dresses. I was very much into not fitting within the lines. I’m going to step out of the lines in all places.”
As for her beauty routine, Tisdale is much less experimental. A self-proclaimed skin-care minimalist, the actor is careful when it comes to her sensitive skin. “Back in the day, I would try a lot of stuff and my face had more breakouts,” she says. “My skin changes. It can be very dry to very oily, and it depends on the weather.”
Along with changing products according to the seasons, Tisdale regularly visits her facialist and dermatologist to keep her skin in check. “I like to get hydra facials,” she says. “They really help when I’m feeling super dry, especially in the wintertime, and bring glow. I love lasers and get them whenever I’m feeling like my skin might be a little dull and needs something.”
Ahead, Ashley Tisdale shares her favorite skin-care products for Glamour’s Drop the Routine.
My cleanser
I love Joanna Vargas Vitamin C Face Wash. It’s one of the face washes that I feel really gets all my makeup off. There’s some that you feel like it lays on your skin, and this one really cleanses and gets everything off the skin. I also use the Inkey List Oat Cleansing Face Wash. I’ve washed morning and night since I was very young.
People always ask me what I do for my skin care and say I never age, and a lot of that is because I get eight hours of sleep. I had a moment in my 20s where I was going out at night, but I always made sure to wash my face because I cannot stand sleeping in makeup. It’s not good for you at all.
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Joanna Vargas Vitamin C Face Wash
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My exfoliator
I use Christie Kidd Fresh Pads. I wash my face, but I don’t like to dry my face after. I leave it wet. I put on the Fresh Pads, which help especially when I’m having a breakout. Christie Kidd, who is my dermatologist, taught me that towels can create wrinkles over time, so it’s actually better for you to just pat the skin and let it dry on its own.
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My serum
I do the hyaluronic acid when my face is still damp. I like the hyaluronic serum from PCA Skin.
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My moisturizer
I’ve been using the Joanna Vargas Eden Pro Moisturizer. It’s so good. It’s amazing under makeup, but it’s really lightweight. For someone like me who has sensitive skin, anything heavy is never going to be good. I’m sometimes dry, sometimes oily, but in the summertime especially, I really go toward oily. It’s such a great lightweight moisturizer. I’ve never broken out using it.
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My eye cream
Eye cream is something I will spend money on. I use the Furtuna Skin eye cream. I’ve been using eye cream since, I would say, I was 18 or 19 years old. It’s something that I religiously will do all around my eyes. The skin is so thin there, so you want to keep that area hydrated. I’ve always been preventative in that area.
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My face mask
I use Summer Fridays Jet Lag Mask. I also love Joanna Vargas’s full sheet mask, though I always look horrible in those masks. It’s so crazy looking. But the Summer Fridays Jet Lag one is really good. I’ll mask maybe once a week. I don’t overdo it.
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My SPF
The Elta MD Clear. It goes on completely sheer. It doesn’t make me feel oily at all or make me break out.
My lip balm
I recently just got the Summer Fridays lip balm, and I’m obsessed with it. It leaves my lips very hydrated. It’s either that or I use Vaseline. My grandma looks very young, and everyone says her skin is amazing. This woman has worn Vaseline—people now call it slugging—she’s been doing it since she was in her teens, basically. She sleeps with Vaseline all over her face. I’m not kidding you, my uncle did it and I thought he got Botox. He was like, “No, I just do Vaseline.”
My whole face is way too much for me, but I will use it around my eyes sometimes and on my lips. So it’s either Summer Fridays or Vaseline, because I need something on my lips at night. My lips are constantly a little bit dry, so it’s very hydrating.
My devices
I have a lot. I love a good tool. I have a lot of Nurse Jamie tools. I have the Joanna Vargas tool, the Magic Wand. The Nurse Jamie Uplift has this amazing roller that’s very cooling and you don’t even have to put it in the refrigerator. I feel like it helps lift and smooth the skin. When I’m puffy, it brings down my puffiness. I have anxiety and sometimes will have TMJ, and it really relaxes your jaw.
I use tools nightly because it feels good and I love having an experience doing my skin care. I’m a mom, so the time that I do get to myself, I have these rituals; my skin care and self-care are a part of those rituals.
My body care
I love Bio-Oil for my body. We constantly think about our face with skin care, but we do have to remember our body. But you could actually put Bio-Oil on your face. It’s one of my favorites; I found it while I was pregnant, but I still use it. It’s so good for elasticity and stretch marks. I used it all through my pregnancy and thankfully don’t have stretch marks. It’s very hydrating and smells so good, so it is a part of my nightly routine. I get it at Target.
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Ariana Yaptangco is the senior beauty editor at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram @arianayap.
