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Ciara Miller is the definition of “booked and busy.” When we connect on a sunny Friday afternoon, she’s in New York City prepping to spend nearly five weeks in Fiji hosting the Love Island aftershow, Aftersun, alongside Tefi Passoa. After that, she might be returning to the Hamptons for the 11th season of Summer House. And then she’s appearing on Dancing with the Stars, all while helping renovate her grandparents’ home in North Carolina.
Miller, who joined the Summer House cast during season five in 2021 while working as a traveling nurse during the pandemic, is also the face of Nexxus’s new campaign, titled “Claim Your Space.” It's all about confidence, presence—and the power of texture spray. The timing couldn’t be better for the nurse-turned-model-turned-reality-TV-star-turned-host, who has a profusion of eyes on her at this very moment. “I feel like [the campaign] is such a representation of this next chapter and who I am right now,” Miller shares. “For Black women, our hair is like our crown… Being unapologetically you and being able to walk in a room and take up that space as a woman is so important.”
If you’re even remotely familiar with the Bravo universe, you probably know that Miller is at the center of a scandal involving two fellow castmates. If not, a quick primer: Miller’s ex, West Wilson, recently began a relationship with her (now former) very close friend, Amanda Batula, who is currently in the process of divorcing another castmate, Kyle Cooke. The fallout took place during the three-part Summer House reunion, which aired its final segment on June 9, and Miller says that even though the process was “cathartic,” she’s “excited to close the door” on everything and move onwards and upwards.
For the reunion taping, Miller paired her two-piece Di Petsa dress with a deep burgundy red hair color—something she said felt “symbolic” given the increased attention to her personal life. “I don't experiment with my hair color a lot,” she explains. “The red was like, ‘She's on fire.’ It was symbolic, but I also wanted to try something new. My dress was a bit more muted so I wanted my glam to really be able to speak for itself.”
Miller has previously said that her “word of the year” for 2026 was “community”—a choice that has been particularly resonant given the support she has received since news of Wilson and Batula’s romance became public. “When I was making [community] my word of the year, I didn’t know just how much I would really need to lean on that,” she explains. “But going into this next era… I’m in my ‘F*ck it, f*ck you’ era of ‘I am me. I’m being myself. I’m taking up space with my hair, but also in my presence.’ When I'm walking into the room, it’s understanding that I deserve to be here. I'm grateful and I don't take any of this for granted, but I'm also where I'm supposed to be.”
Though Summer House season 11 is still up in the air—a Bravo VP told The Hollywood Reporter that casting isn’t typically final until late June—Miller has officially landed on her Aftersun outfits and is planning to pair them with “hair accessories, jewels, and braids.” She’s also prepping for DWTS, which kicks off in the fall. “I'm going to be in Fiji going to the gym and asking questions about love,” she says. "Those will be my two focuses.”
“I’m in my ‘F*ck it, f*ck you’ era of ‘I am me. I’m being myself.’”
One thing Miller will definitely be packing for Fiji, Los Angeles (where DWTS films), and the Hamptons (should she return to the house) is hairspray, which is her absolute must-have while filming. “I go through bottles and bottles and bottles of hairspray.” These days, she’s into Nexxus Maximum Firm Hold Hairspray paired with the brand’s Air Shape Workable Hold Texture Spray. For those long hours of filming, “you need products that are going to help your hairstyle stay throughout the day. We're always doing some type of crazy activity.” She keeps travel sizes in her bag or production vehicles for on-set touchups, and hairspray and texture spray are always in her night-out bag, too. And as for what was in that Sephora bag from her very well-played Instagram post after news about Batula and West broke? “Perfume, setting sprays, and of course, makeup.”
Though Miller's hair-care routine varies depending on what she’s doing, a heat protectant is an absolute must to keep her hair healthy through lots of styling. “I live and die by a heat protectant,” she says. “It’s essential to the process if I want to keep my natural hair and prolong the life of my extensions as well.” She cares for her natural hair with steam treatments. “It’s a team effort between me and my hairstylist taking care of my hair, trying to protect it, and morphing into different styles.”
Throughout her five seasons on Summer House, she’s worn lots of different hairstyles, but says she feels most comfortable in braids. “I wore braids when I was younger. Being able to come back to that style is nostalgic but a representation of who I actually am,” she says. “It tells a story of my comfort: not trying to fit in a box, avoid questions, or being in white spaces and having my hair be a topic of conversation. I feel like I've been able to shed the anxiety or the anticipation of that.”
Miller has been at the center of a whole lot of conversation thus far in 2026, but a year from now, what does she want Summer House fans to take away from her story? “Honestly, I hope they talk about how I have great hair, I've had great glam, and the type of friend that I am… and leave it at that.”
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