If you can climb Africa’s tallest mountain, you can do just about anything, says Mandy Moore, who accomplished her lifelong goal of reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in March.

“My entire perspective shifted,” says the actress, who we met at a Garnier event in Los Angeles, of how the seven-day hike changed her. “It awoke something in me. I feel like I can produce, I can direct…. It helped me find a way to harness this power within myself. I feel forever changed. If you have a desire to do something like that—a crazy fantasy—find a way to make it happen. It really does impact you in ways you can’t imagine.”

The first thing Moore did to treat herself after the climb (during which, we should note, there was no access to running water) was take a very long shower. “It was probably a half hour. I used, like, three shampoos,” laughs the Garnier spokesperson, who says she is usually all about efficiency and “a big fan” of the brand’s Fructis 1 Minute Hair masks.