Can­dice Mo­han

In a world filled with over­flow­ing prod­uct shelves, vi­ral hair trends, and 10-step rou­tines that promise in­stant per­fec­tion, the new year in­vites a qui­eter, more in­ten­tion­al ques­tion: What does my hair re­al­ly need?

For women in Trinidad and To­ba­go, hair­care ex­ists at the in­ter­sec­tion of cul­ture, cli­mate, fam­i­ly life, and self-ex­pres­sion. Be­tween work, home, heat, hu­mid­i­ty, and her­itage, our rou­tines must be prac­ti­cal—but that does not mean they can­not be pow­er­ful.

As we en­ter a new year, sim­plic­i­ty be­comes an act of self-re­spect. When we re­duce ex­cess and move with pur­pose, our hair re­sponds—and so do we.

Pur­pose­ful hair­care be­gins with edit­ing. More prod­ucts do not equal health­i­er hair. Over the years, I have seen that too many for­mu­las lay­ered to­geth­er of­ten cre­ate build-up, im­bal­ance, and frus­tra­tion. A sim­pli­fied rou­tine al­lows hair and scalp to func­tion as they were de­signed to.

Choose one ef­fec­tive cleanser

One con­di­tion­er that tru­ly nour­ish­es

One styling prod­uct suit­ed to their hair type and dai­ly life

Qual­i­ty will al­ways mat­ter more than trends. If a prod­uct does not suit your hair, your cli­mate, or your lifestyle, let it go. Mantra for the new year: If it does not serve your hair or your life, re­lease it.

Our heat and hu­mid­i­ty are not flaws—they are facts. In­stead of fight­ing the en­vi­ron­ment, we can lis­ten to it. T&T’s cli­mate calls for bal­ance, mois­ture con­trol, and flex­i­bil­i­ty.

Us­ing lighter oils such as jo­jo­ba or grape­seed, with co­conut oil in mod­er­a­tion

Choos­ing pro­tec­tive styles that re­duce dai­ly ma­nip­u­la­tion

Ac­cept­ing frizz as tex­ture rather than view­ing it as fail­ure

True self-care in­cludes ac­cep­tance. Con­stant cor­rec­tion—of hair or self—cre­ates un­nec­es­sary stress.

There is no uni­ver­sal rule for how of­ten hair should be washed. Over­wash­ing and un­der­wash­ing can both dis­rupt the scalp when done with­out in­ten­tion. Healthy hair­care is re­spon­sive, not rigid.

Wash­ing based on scalp needs rather than sched­ules

Clar­i­fy­ing once a month to re­move buildup and re­set the hair

Turn­ing wash day in­to a calm rit­u­al in­stead of a rushed oblig­a­tion

Hair­care can be a pause—an act of ground­ing—rather than an­oth­er task to com­plete.

Low-main­te­nance does not mean care­less. It means choos­ing styles that sup­port a full, busy life.

De­fined wash-and-go rou­tines

Braids or twists that last the week

Hair­cuts de­signed to grow out grace­ful­ly

When styling be­comes sim­pler, time and en­er­gy are re­turned to what mat­ters most—fam­i­ly, cre­ativ­i­ty, rest, and pres­ence. Less time styling means more time liv­ing.

No prod­uct can re­place the fun­da­men­tals.

Prop­er hy­dra­tion

Bal­anced lo­cal foods such as greens, fish, and ground pro­vi­sions

Ad­e­quate rest and stress man­age­ment

A sim­pli­fied, in­ten­tion­al life shows up every­where—in­clud­ing the hair­line. Hair of­ten re­veals im­bal­ance ear­ly, but it al­so re­sponds quick­ly to care.

This year, let hair­care be aligned with how you want to live. Not com­pli­cat­ed.

Not over­whelm­ing. Not per­for­ma­tive.

Choose rou­tines that feel sus­tain­able, nur­tur­ing, and hon­est. When we clear ex­cess from our habits, we make room for clar­i­ty—not just in our heads, but in our lives. And per­haps that is the true beau­ty of be­gin­ning again.

Few­er prod­ucts, bet­ter re­sults

I en­cour­age women to:

Work with the cli­mate, not against it

Sim­ple, pur­pose­ful shifts in­clude:

Wash with in­ten­tion, not guilt

Con­sid­er:

Sim­ple styles cre­ate space for liv­ing

Prac­ti­cal op­tions in­clude:

Nour­ish from the in­side first

Healthy hair re­flects over­all well-be­ing, sup­port­ed by:

A clos­ing thought for the new year

Can­dice Mo­han is an in­ter­na­tion­al­ly trained hair­styl­ist from T&T with over two decades of ex­pe­ri­ence. She is known for her ex­per­tise in hair health de­signed for Caribbean lifestyles.

Can­dice Mo­han Celebri­ty Hair­styl­ist

IG @celebri­ty.hair­styl­ist