Beauty Magic

Beautician and hair stylist Indra Gopaul has centered her entire life in the beauty business. She has spent 30 years not just creating hairstyles, but offering the total body beautiful look with make up, skin care, manicure and pedicure treatments. Seemingly shy and quiet, she has a braver heart than a lion. Despite the many trials and tribulation in life she has conquered the odds and has accomplished all that she dreamed about and more.

Hailing from Chaguanas, Indra wanted to reach the career women  and those in executive positions on a daily basis. Her aim was to provide the best beauty services and in her quest to do so she decided the only place she could accomplish that was in the heart of Port-of-Spain. Her parents and relatives warned her that it would be difficult for an East Indian woman in the city but she decided to open shop anyway.

After operating for ten years at her Chaguanas home, and without a second thought she opened on Chacon Street. Then in 1985 just as she had built a clientele of well-to-do people, her shop burnt to ashes one night. Determined to keep her clients she opened another one on Frederick Street but could not keep up with the competition and she decided to close shop and go abroad to advance her skills. She went to Robert Fiaz Saloon in Brooklyn where she studied skin care and beauty culture. There her managers observed that she was extremely talented with the scissors. “They were amazed at the way I would shape the hair of the clients who came in for a cut. Soon I was given a job to cut even though I was a student,” she said.

She later established herself in Brooklyn with a friend and did a lot of  business. But she got homesick and decided to return bringing back some of the most modern equipment in the beauty culture business. With new experience and zest she was determined to make it in Port-of-Spain. She established her shop again on Chacon Street and began advertising her business. Within a year she built such a big clientele that customers had to be given  appointments. She also established a school for young students. To further upgrade her skills in skin care and hairstyles Indra went to Vidal Sassoon in England. She also did body  and massage therapy  and returned to Port-of-Spain after one year.

Indra has no regrets about her career moves and while reminiscing on how she got started in the business she said when she was ten years old, her neighbour who was of African descent used to buy several wigs and asked her to style them. “My neighbour would call me to plait her hair. I would spend hours making dozens of small plaits for her. Then she would pay me and bless me, saying I have good hands,” she remembered. “Then my neighbour would ask me to wash and dry her wigs for her. I took great pleasure in caring for her hairpieces. I would dry and style them and she would use them to go to church, weddings and other functions in the village.”

At 15 Indra had a sizeable clientele at her home on Sundays waiting to style their hair. Back in the sixties the style was “petal” and “drop curls”. Through the years the hairstyles have been changing rapidly and she keeps in touch with changing trends in the US and UK. “Today, people are into a lot of short cuts and coloured hair. While there are not many men into colouring their hair, they love the short and clean look,” she noted. There is also a demand for hair extensions and weaves,” she said.