Article By Tania Hardwick // EEW Magazine // Beauty

Award-winning Christian actress Taraji P. Henson recently shared personal beauty secrets with Vogue and talked about how God’s hand shaped her career.

“I would’ve gone into cosmetology, and I think God intervened, because I was a year late for enrollment,” said the 49-year-old CEO of her own hair care line, TPH By Taraji, in a video showcasing how she nourishes her natural curls and flawless skin.

The Empire star known for her signature role as Cookie Lyon explained that her late enrollment happened directly after she “was not accepted into the performing arts high school, and I thought that because I wasn’t accepted that, that meant I didn’t have talent.”

Feeling discouraged and doubtful that she had any future whatsoever in acting, Henson said, ”So I was like, well, off to school—off to cosmetology school— and then God blocked that.”

While God may have blocked cosmetology school, it appears that he unblocked access to opportunities in the acting field, and the doors haven’t stopped opening. Now the wife-to-be has a successful, demanding career and is serious about her beauty routine—one she describes as “clean and fresh from the scalp down.”

While carrying on an entertaining, on-camera conversation, the mental health advocate showed off how she nourishes her natural hair with Never Salty, Master Cleanse, and Mint Condition from her own line—a big upgrade from the $5 treatments she said she used to provide back in her college days.

If you’re wondering how she gets such smooth skin at nearly 50 years old, Henson revealed that she uses Bioré charcoal face wash. And to minimize post-flight puffiness and dark under-eye circles, she uses Hydrafacial eye serum, eye cream and moisturizer.

“That’s all I’ve been doing all these years with an occasional facial here and there,” she explained. As for the makeup that keeps her looking photoshoot and red carpet ready, it’s not something she does all the time. “I just like to look refreshed,” she said. “I’d usually just pop a lash on and go. I’m just showing off for y’all. I just want you to know I know how to do makeup.”

In the video, Henson shares a cool, unexpected makeup trick that just might surprise you and ends the video by telling her fans, “Love you!”