She's one of those people who is always on the move, getting stuff done. At 49, Anne Ramsamooj-Mahabir could put someone half her age to shame with her energy. "I am a girl who don't like to stick," she told me. And since she was interested in hair as a young girl growing up in the countryside of Tabaquite, she hasn't stuck. She's never had the opportunity to go away and study hair full time, but Ramsamooj-Mahabir has probably done hair and beauty courses with every professional that came to Trinidad to teach, including greats like Patrick Cameron and Clem Lue Yat. She has roughly 45 certificates in beauty, makeup and hair, specialising in hairstyles and makeup. And she hasn't stopped. She recently did another short course with Rusk Hair Products, makers of both hair care styling products and tools.
"And I read anything I can find on hair and makeup and beauty," she added. The mother of four adult children has also practiced the craft constantly. She's not one to hold down the typical salon station full-time. "I would only do hair by appointment," she said. Ramsamooj-Mahabir has worked with stylists like Richard Young, doing hair backstage at fashion shows, did character makeup for local film production companies and even did a stint at a Tobago hotel, doing makeup and beauty culture for tourists. "I always worked two and three jobs, because I like nice things," she said mischievously. "And when you like nice things, you have to work hard." Somewhere in the middle of all this, teaching came into the mix, although she claims that she never liked teaching. She taught beauty culture both at YTEPP (Youth Empowerment Through Quality Training Programme) and at the Non-Traditional Skills Training Programme for Women administrated by the Ministry of Gender Affairs.
This passion for the field has earned her a wealth of knowledge, which she shares weekly as the beauty coordinator of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and a beauty culture teacher of the University of the West Indies, St Augustine School of Continuing Studies (UWI). Monday to Friday she visits all the national regions for the CCC, ensuring that the beauty programmes run according to plan, and she teaches at the Beetham centre. That's where the idea for the CCC Makeup and Hairstyling Competition began. "When I started at CCC, I started having workshops for the students in the Beetham centre. When we started having companies come in with booths to show students their products and get them familiar with them, we outgrew the space at Beetham. So we moved to Centre of Excellence, Macoya."
This year the show is on Wednesday, March 16, with booths from local beauty product distributors. CCC students will compete in both makeup and hairstyling challenges in front of three judges: styling guru Clem Lue Yat, Monica Headley, who hosts her own three-day hair show annually, and Jennifer Jaimungal, "the number one triologist in the country," according to Ramsamooj-Mahabir. "Anything that goes wrong with hair and scalp, you go to Jennifer." All three have been stylists for over 35 years, so they are well qualified to judge the talents of the CCC students. "We have 25 trainees from both Trinidad and Tobago taking part in the hair competition with their models. When the hair show finishes, we have the makeup show. And all during that, the public is walking through shopping."
There's an entry cost of $20 for the public, and competition winners get hampers valued up to $1,000. For the makeup competition, Sacha Cosmetics also offers the opportunity to take a basic and advanced makeup course with them. Naturally, this creates fervent competition among the students. "They are very excited. For the hairstyling students, they would do things like coconut trees on the beach, fruits, birds laying eggs, peacocks: really exciting styles. It builds a lot of confidence in the trainees when they start off like that. They are very creative with the fantasy hairstyles." The CCC 18 to 25 programme has really been successful in launching several young persons into the work industry and fostering new attitudes and behaviours towards their career, Ramsamooj-Mahabir said. Three-quarters of the CCC's beauty culture teachers are certified by the National Training Agency, with the others soon to follow. And the programme and teaching staff really do make an impact on their students, she added.
"Two months before they get to us, they take two months of military training which includes anger management and building self esteem. "Then we have them for three and a half months for on-the-job-training. They really mould people and train them to be better persons." Her CCC programme director, Major Cheryl Richardson, human resource director Rupert Celestine and Operations Manager Ian Boyce and PRO manager Courtney Bennett, have all been very supportive, she added. The beauty culture programme covers a wide range of hair possibilities from the actual treatments and styling to theories of personality development, sanitisation, bacteriology, properties of the hair, structures of the hair. For their practical exam, they must use a chemical on a model's hair before styling. "By the time they leave, they are full-fledged hair dressers," Ramsamooj-Mahabir said proudly. In her typical style, Ramsamooj-Mahabir doesn't plan to stay where she is forever. She plans to celebrate her 50th birthday in "grand style," and she has every reason to. A bout with dengue hemmorhagic fever two years ago nearly killed her.
"I went through death and came back," she said. And even during her recovery, her own hair began to drop out from the trauma. Luckily, thanks to consultation with Jaimungal her hair has grown back in full and healthy, just like her life. Events planning is another area she wants to get into full time one day soon. "I like organising things and seeing an event from start to finish. I think I will do well at it."