Unbeweavable: A Conversation With Katrina Spencer

First off, explain how you transitioned from hairstylist to author. I always knew

that I wouldn’t be able to do hair for the rest of my life—I suffer from sickle-cell

anemia and the long hours, plus standing on my feet all day was doing a number

on my body. I come from a creative family and everyone had to do something with

their hands growing up, my mother and sisters knit, and I did embroidery—even

my brother crocheted! My older sister started writing a book and asked me to take

a peek at it. I thought her first two chapters were great, but she started to lose me

on the following chapters and I told her so. She snatched her papers away and told

me she liked to see me do better. From there, I wrote Six O’clock. Writing filled my

creative spirit like hair, but without all the aches and pains. So I guess you could

say I started writing as a dare!

Unbeweaveable is your second novel. How does it differ from your debut

novel, Six O’clock? Unbeweaveable and Six O’clock share the same themes,

women who are struggling with self esteem issues. But my main character in

Unbeweaveable, Mariah, internalizes her pain and begins to use her weave as a

shield. She adapts the old adage, “Get them before they get you,” and becomes

a bit of a bully. I wanted to explore what happens to a woman who depends on

her weave as her lifeline, what would happen to her when that lifeline is gone?

Lately, there’s been a lot of backlash against relaxers, weaves—even makeup!

How do you feel about that? It sort of makes me sad actually. As a hairstylist,

I always strived for healthy hair. If I felt your hair could not handle a certain

chemical I wouldn’t do it. Period. Relaxers are not damaging to the hair, it is the

improper use of relaxers that are damaging. I believe that women should never

perform their own relaxers or colors. It is impossible to not overlap when you are

doing it yourself and relaxers should only be applied by trained professionals. I

think that’s why relaxers get the bad rap that they do, because so many people

are using them wrong which causes damage. I think weave though is a women’s

prerogative. A woman wearing weave does not mean she’s “acting white”, she

simply may love the manageability that weave affords her. So it saddens me that

women are attacking each other over the choice of hairstyle they wear. Natural

hair does not mean healthy hair. Neither does relaxed hair. Healthy hair should

be every woman’s goal—and picking another woman apart because she wants

her hair straight, or judging someone for rocking an Afro is downright sad.

You are an avid weave wearer yourself. Why do you wear a weave? I’m actually

wearing my real hair now in a chin-length bob. I wore a weave because as a

former hairstylist I wanted to advertise what I specialized in—weave. So I wore a

weave to show women how beautiful they could be with it. Now that I’m a writer I

don’t feel the need to wear it all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I love my weave but

right now I’m loving my natural hair.

As someone who has embraced natural hair, but has also provided options as

a stylist do you think we are going too far? YES! What happened to wearing a

hairstyle that fit your face? Or basing your hairstyle on your budget and lifestyle?

No woman should be bullied into going natural if it doesn’t fit her lifestyle and

the same goes for women who wear relaxers. Don’t pressure your natural sisters

to go straight! Let’s celebrate our differences and stop ragging on each other.

This behavior is even affecting our daughters and we don’t want to give them any

complexes about their hair.

What advice would you give to women who want to go natural but are concerned

about the perception of natural hair in America? As a stylist what would you

suggest to them? Personally, I think going natural right now is a hot trend. A

decade ago, women might would to deal with a lot of negativity from co-workers

and family members, but now I think people are more supportive and naturally

curious. It can be hard to transition into any hairstyle, but I would tell women

just like I told my former clients you have to really love what you are about to do

because it’s a big move. You can’t look at your hair in the short term; you have to

really see the long-term picture here to successfully transition. I always told my

clients to tape a picture on their mirror of someone with similar hair texture to

theirs. Everyday remind yourself on the goal you’re trying to reach and each day

will become easier. And last but not least, you have to wear your hair for you. Not

for your husband, your mama, your boss—for you.

Both of your books deal with hair. Is this a topic you plan to continue in future

books? As a new writer I felt very comfortable talking about all things related to

hair—I know the subject well. But you grow as a writer—as with any craft—so I

feel ready to tackle different subject matters. The book I’m writing now doesn’t

deal with hair much—although I did throw in a few hair tidbits here and there…I

couldn’t help myself!

What do you hope that readers take away from reading Unbeweaveable? I want

them to know that you can’t depend on artificial things to make you happy. To

love yourself to know that you are good enough just the way you are, and defy

everyone’s expectations of what true beauty really is.

Since you are wearing your real hair what advantages/disadvantages are there to

wearing your real hair vs. wearing a weave? I have seen my hair products triple

since wearing my own hair! Real hair takes a lot more work, with weave you can

curl it every day and not worry about damage. You can’t do that with your real

hair. So although I love being able to run my hands through my hair and feel

my scalp it’s a lot of hard work to make sure this hair stays where it belongs—

on my head! Once you find a good stylist and choose the best hair, wearing a

weave is surprisingly low maintenance. So the maintenance factor is the biggest

disadvantage to wearing your real hair.

What is your take to social media? Do you feel like authors should be taking

advantage of Twitter and Facebook? A few months ago, I was dead-set against

ALL social media. I thought they were a complete waste of time, and too addictive.

But when one of my oldest friends—she’s about 70—sent me an email inviting

me to join Facebook, I knew I was missing out on something. So I joined. Then

I joined Twitter. (Follow me @katrinasspencer insert link http://twitter.com/

katrinasspencer ) And I love them both. I think you have to balance them all; I

have a blog, Curl Up and Write, (insert link here, http://katrinaspencer.com/blog)

too, so you have to find the right balance between everything. On top of that, you

have to find time to write your books too! So it can be a challenge to keep up with

everything, but I discipline myself to not go crazy on either one of them. Authors

now are expected to promote themselves so Twitter and Facebook are great tools

to do that.

Any advice for new authors? I would tell anyone that wants to be a writer that

they have to love doing it. This is a very subjective business and while one reader

may love your work, the next may hate. Develop a very thick skin—my mama calls

it alligator skin—so you can handle all the criticism. And try not to be defensive,

really listen to what others have to say, it helps shape you as a writer.

Five words that describe your life right now. Loving every minute of it!

Katrina Spencer’s second novel, Unbeweavable, is the story of Mariah Stevens

a successful woman forced to tackle her issues of self-love, self-confidence and

self-acceptance. Recently, I had a chance to discuss these issues, writing and

of course, natural hair with the author. Here’s what she had to say.

RDD: First off, explain how you transitioned from hairstylist to author.

KS: I always knew that I wouldn’t be able to do hair for the rest of my life—I suffer

from sickle-cell anemia and the long hours, plus standing on my feet all day

was doing a number on my body. I come from a creative family and everyone

had to do something with their hands growing up, my mother and sisters knit,

and I did embroidery—even my brother crocheted! My older sister started writing

a book and asked me to take a peek at it. I thought her first two chapters were

great, but she started to lose me on the following chapters and I told her so.

She snatched her papers away and told me she liked to see me do better.

From there, I wrote Six O’clock. Writing filled my creative spirit like hair, but

without all the aches and pains. So I guess you could say I started writing as

a dare!

RDD: Unbeweaveable is your second novel. How does it differ from your debut

novel, Six O’clock?

KS: Unbeweaveable and Six O’clock share the same themes,

women who are struggling with self esteem issues. But my main character in

Unbeweaveable, Mariah, internalizes her pain and begins to use her weave as a

shield. She adapts the old adage, “Get them before they get you,” and becomes

a bit of a bully. I wanted to explore what happens to a woman who depends on

her weave as her lifeline, what would happen to her when that lifeline is gone?

RDD: Lately, there’s been a lot of backlash against relaxers, weaves—even makeup!

How do you feel about that?

KS: It sort of makes me sad actually. As a hairstylist,