“[I’ve had people] touch my hair like it’s a bomb about to go off.”

The Game of Thrones alum, who currently stars in The Invitation, spent her 20s fighting hair discrimination on set. Now 33, she’s made a big change — but there’s “joy, defiance, and empowerment” in her new, cropped look.

In my teens and 20s, I was already acting and started being in the public eye. Suddenly I had to present myself a certain way and had the expectations of the world on me. I felt a bit overwhelmed. My mum was always like, “It’s not about your appearance. You are beautiful. You
don’t need anything. You’re talented, you’re smart, kind, funny.” I could only be me at the end of the day.

But I was on a TV show in England called Hollyoaks, which was a teen show. A lot of students watched it and a lot of the women [in the cast] were very beautiful, glamorous. I definitely tried to become that.

There was a lot of pressure to conform, to have straight hair and do the aesthetic that was very Western/white. Every time I would straighten my hair, people would be like, “Oh, my God, I love your hair! You should do this all the time.” I’d always be like, “Hmm, or not.” I’ve always had quite a strong sense of myself, [but] you do just want to fit in at that age. You tend to be much more vulnerable to influence.

I remember when I first went to America and met other Black and mixed-race women [and they said], “Oh yeah, you need to get a weave. You need to have straight hair.” And I was like, “Really?” I just actively didn’t want to do that. That’s everybody’s choice for themselves. But for me it never felt right. I’ve had my hair damaged on set because someone wasn’t treating it right and literally had to cut off loads of it. That was just really heartbreaking.
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