From Perms To Purpose: St. Mary’s Native Turns Natural Hair Journey Into Growing Hair Care Business

ST. MARY’S COUNTY, Md. — Years before Katrina Somerville ever thought about selling hair products, one of her teachers apparently saw something entrepreneurial in her. Somerville remembers Mrs. Bernier writing a message in her yearbook when she was younger: If Somerville could bottle herself up and sell it, she would make millions.

Years later, Somerville would quite literally begin putting a piece of herself into bottles.

The St. Mary’s County native is the founder of Katrina Kreationz, a hair care business born from her own journey of learning how to care for her natural hair.

Long before the products, however, Somerville was a little girl getting her hair permed.

She remembers being 11 years old when her mother first relaxed her hair. Her grandmother was not happy about it.

“Why did you put a perm in that girl’s hair?” Somerville recalled her grandmother asking.

Her mother’s reasoning was practical: Straight hair was easier to manage. For much of Somerville’s life, relaxers remained part of the routine. At one point, she said she wanted a perm every three or four weeks. Eventually, she began wondering what her hair could become without them.

Around 2012, Somerville began researching hair care, studying ingredients and learning from others who had gone through similar natural hair journeys. Instead of immediately giving up relaxers, she gradually stretched the amount of time between them. People began noticing.

Her hair became thicker. She experimented with different styles. Friends and others started asking what she was doing differently and how she had gotten her hair to grow.

“All our hair grows,” Somerville said. “It’s just, we don’t know how to take care of it.”

That curiosity eventually became Katrina Kreationz.

Starting Small

Somerville said Katrina Kreationz was established around 2016 after she spent years learning about and experimenting with hair care. The business did not begin with a warehouse or a large product line.

She started with two products: a deep conditioner and a shea butter-based product.

“I started small,” Somerville said.

One of the first people to trust what she was creating was Katia Dean, Somerville’s first customer. Dean tried the early products and offered feedback while Somerville was still figuring out everything from the formula to how the products would be presented. Somerville also tested her creations on herself and shared them with family members. As the feedback continued, her confidence grew.

“I was nervous, but I just did it,” Somerville said.

The small beginning eventually turned into multiple products and customers well outside Southern Maryland.

Somerville said Katrina Kreationz products have been shipped to customers in states including Georgia, Florida and California. Her farthest shipment, she said, went to Italy. For Somerville, however, her own hair remains one of the biggest representations of what she believes in.

“I’m the proof of what I sell,” she said.

That does not mean she promises instant results. In fact, Somerville repeatedly returns to the opposite message. Consistency matters.

“Everybody wants what’s fast. Everybody wants what’s easy,” Somerville said. “But it don’t work like that.”

After having several inches of her hair cut in 2021, Somerville said she spent years rebuilding and maintaining her routine. Today, she says her hair is longer and healthier than it was before the cut. Her message to customers is rooted in patience: Hair care is a process, not an overnight transformation.

A Testimony That Stayed With Her

Of all the customers Somerville has encountered, Kyra Lewis provided the testimony she says has stayed with her the most. The two met by chance at a Sally Beauty store after Lewis complimented Somerville’s hair. Lewis had locs that she felt were dry and damaged from coloring. Somerville had not worked with many customers with locs at the time, but the two exchanged numbers, and Lewis decided to try her products.

What started as a chance meeting developed into a yearslong customer relationship. Lewis continued using Katrina Kreationz after moving to Georgia, Somerville told The BayNet, and later began using the products with her children. Over the years, Somerville said she watched Lewis’ locs grow from around her ears to past her waist.

“She’s been rocking with me since day one,” Somerville said.

For Somerville, Lewis’ story is significant for more than hair length. Lewis continued supporting the business through different stages of its development, giving Somerville an opportunity to see what long-term consistency looked like through someone else’s journey.

That trust matters to her. Somerville said some of the most rewarding customers are people who do not know her personally but hear about Katrina Kreationz and decide to give the products a chance.

Learning Through Setbacks

Somerville’s journey has not always looked as polished as the finished containers and healthy-hair photos. There were periods when she was encouraging others to take care of their hair while neglecting her own.

During one difficult period, Somerville said her hair became dry and began breaking. People around her did not necessarily see what she saw.

“They would still think, ‘Oh, your hair looks beautiful,’” Somerville said. “But then me looking in the mirror, my hair was a mess.”

The experience forced her to apply some of her own advice to herself. If consistency mattered for customers, it had to matter for her too.

Running the business brought other lessons. Somerville recalled shipping an order to a customer in California. Then she learned the products had broken open during delivery. Her first concern was how the situation might reflect on her business. Instead of walking away from the problem, Somerville remade the products and shipped the order again at her own expense. It cost her money, but it became another lesson in entrepreneurship. Setbacks, she learned, were part of the process. Stopping was not.

“I never, ever, ever, ever, ever had a thought that I was going to stop,” Somerville told The BayNet.

She has also remained protective of the direction of Katrina Kreationz. Somerville said she prefers keeping the business organic and building it according to what feels right for her rather than following trends simply because they have worked for somebody else.

She will listen to criticism and advice, but she believes entrepreneurs have to know why they are doing something in the first place. For Somerville, Katrina Kreationz was never simply about seeing someone else succeed and deciding to follow them. It came from her own experience.

Learning How To Talk About Herself

As Katrina Kreationz grew, Somerville discovered that entrepreneurship required skills she had never considered when she began experimenting with her hair. One was learning how to sell something she personally created. When she first began vending at events, Somerville said she struggled to pitch her own products.

She had experience selling products while working at Best Buy, but talking about something she made herself felt different.

“I didn’t know how to talk about myself,” Somerville said.

Over time, that changed. Years of meeting customers, attending events and explaining Katrina Kreationz helped her become more confident and self-aware. She learned how to speak about her work. She learned how to accept criticism without allowing every opinion to change her direction. And she learned discipline.

“You gotta be disciplined,” Somerville said. “All that stuff builds. Consistency, all that stuff builds.”

Somerville said those lessons now apply to more than business. She sees similarities between maintaining healthy hair, fitness, entrepreneurship and personal development. In each case, progress may seem slow when someone looks for immediate results. The work adds up over time.

Along the way, Somerville has also been grateful for people who recognized what she was building. In addition to Mrs. Bernier’s memorable yearbook message, Somerville said she was also acknowledged by Mr. Skinner, another moment she wanted recognized as part of her journey.

Nearly a decade into Katrina Kreationz, Somerville can look back at more than bottles sold or packages shipped. The business taught her something about herself.

“My product is me,” Somerville said. “It’s a part of me.”

During the interview, she found another way to describe what the journey had become.

“Character development.”

It makes Mrs. Bernier’s yearbook message from years ago feel almost prophetic. Somerville may not have literally bottled herself up. But with Katrina Kreationz, she created something shaped by her research, her mistakes, her discipline, her personality and years of refusing to quit. And in many ways, every bottle carries a little piece of that story.

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