Get Topanga tresses with ‘Boy Meets World’ star Danielle Fishel’s new hair care line
Before “the Rachel,” there was “the Topanga.”
Danielle Fishel is the follicular tour de force best known for her role as the sassy Topanga Lawrence in the ’90s sitcom “Boy Meets World.” Now, more than 20 years after the actress and her mane rose to fame, the real-life Rapunzel is launching her own vegan and cruelty-free hair care line, Be Free by Danielle Fishel, available for purchase online starting Wednesday.
“Once I was pregnant, I wanted to use healthy products,” Fishel, 38, who has a 5-month-old son, Adler, tells The Post. “I’m enjoying my hair now more than ever.”
Growing up in Mesa, Arizona, Fishel says she was “oblivious” to how amazing her hair was.
“I remember my family made a big deal about my hair as a kid but it didn’t really register,” Fishel tells The Post.
When she was cast on “Boy Meets World” in 1993, everything changed.
“People started telling me they brought pictures of me to their hairdresser . . . asking for ‘the Topanga’ cut,” meaning “voluminous and layered,” says Fishel.
But even though the look was enviable, it wasn’t effortless.
“We worked hard for that hair on the show. We went through a lot of different ways of styling it,” she says. Her mom spent 2 1/2 hours every night braiding her hair to achieve the voluminous crimped look the producers sought in early seasons. “It was crazy.”
Topanga’s long, golden locks were so central to the show that she had to get an executive producer to sign off on a haircut.
“I’ve had this hair all the way down my back since I was 2 years old,” she recalls telling producers. “I said, ‘I don’t want this anymore. It’s heavy, it’s hot. I’m 14 and I’m ready to have my own thing.’ ”
They came up with a compromise: In the 1996 episode “Hair Today, Goon Tomorrow,” Topanga cut her own hair on-screen to prove to her boyfriend Cory (Ben Savage) that what made her beautiful was her confidence and intelligence, not her looks. But the chop turned out to be more traumatic than she expected.
“I didn’t realize how much I kind of hid behind it,” she says. “It [felt] like a security blanket.”
These days, she still taps her “Boy Meets World” groomer for cuts.
“Laurie Heaps, the hairdresser who gave me the haircut [on the show], is my hairdresser to this day,” she says.
And thanks to the Be Free line, which comprises a shampoo, conditioner and scalp-refreshing treatment, and starts at $19, her routine is surprisingly low-maintenance: Fishel washes her hair only once a week.
“What I’m hoping happens with the line is that, without having to use a bunch of harmful chemicals, you’re going to be able to improve your hair,” she says. “For me, it’s made it easier for blow-drying. It’s sleeker, I don’t have to pull as tight and I don’t have to use as many styling products.”
Her chill routine is in line with her general beauty MO.
“I try very hard to be as natural and real as possible,” she says, adding that she’s never worn extensions and is adamant that her body not be edited in photo shoots. “I’ve never done anything to make me look thinner or change anything. I try not to assign my self-worth based on looks.”
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