The first few months of the worldwide pandemic, more than three years ago, saw actor Kat Graham film a “Beauty Secrets” video for Vogue. Graham said over the phone, “The shoot happened at the peak of my COVID inner reflection journey.” “I would have laughed if you had told me that a high fashion magazine would teach me how to love myself more fiercely.”

Her recently published book, Seasons of You: A Journal That Follows Your Nature, details the experience. Graham was not entirely sure that the timing was perfect when she received the call offering to reveal the details of her beauty routine. “After giving it some thought, I realised that I had to watch the video and do it with my ‘fro.”

That was new for Graham, who had previously worn her hair styled in wigs and weaves for roles like the CW’s “The Vampire Diaries.” “It was not something that I necessarily wanted to do,” she says. But she listened to her intuition, opening up on camera about how she kept her “hair in cornrows because most of the jobs i had done as an actress wanted a certain kind of look.” But for the past four months she had leaned into her natural texture, just “wearing her hair really, really big.”

Graham followed her “don’t read the comments” rule when the video was uploaded to YouTube, but it was difficult to ignore the tremendous amount of feedback. “I feel that this video speaks to all Black women. particularly after she lost it. It goes much beyond just hair. That’s culture, identity, and social “worth.” Seeing a lady with type 4 hair on Vogue is quite pleasant, some women commented. Another wrote, “Her real hair would have complemented her role in the Vampire Diaries.” I would want to see her in a part that honoured her true personality!

The actor only continued grow stronger in her journey of self discovery and love. “When Black women talk about hair, it’s really not just hair, it’s our identity. And there’s a famous James Brown song that’s like, ‘say it loud, I’m Black and I’m proud.’ But who you are is forever.”