I was in the Tampa Bay area and had to clean up my act, so to speak. I needed a haircut. I don't know the neighborhoods as much as I know major thoroughfares and if the areas pass the sniff test. Also, I don't have an issue with patronizing chain establishments - whether fast food, "fern bars," or hair cutting franchises. The latter tend to do the job for a fraction of the price. If you are North Carolina's John Edwards, then you obviously want to, and can, pay for the requisite haircuts for your helmet hair. Mine gets disheveled if it gets longer because it has some waviness, albeit less so since male menopause starts wreaking havoc on that, too.
Wesley Chapel has become a bedroom community of the Tampa Bay area, albeit a little far north - with gaps in development - as you motor north on I-75. It's more of a cookie cutter place, so it seems nice enough and people report that living there is tranquil.
I saw that there was a Great Clips off I-75 on my phone. (There is more than one Great Clips salon in this town.) I once bought fuel at this off-ramp, in addition to a few slices from Marco's Pizza for the road. Slightly west of here, and in a strip mall, is this Great Clips in Wesley Chapel.
When I called to inquire about coming in for a haircut and getting some information, the exchange was positive and I knew that this was going to be a good experience, which was confirmed upon entering their door.
The stylist who would cut my hair was Stellin. I don't usually mention specific names in reviews, but, since this is a very good review, I have taken that liberty. I explained what I wanted. I have returned to an all-scissor haircut because having them use a clipper on the sides is to the cutter's advantage and less to mine. I don't like that look ... until it grows out. I don't even remember when and where I was convinced to go with clippers on the sides.
The instructions were simple - how I like the "mop" on top so that it can lay over instead of spiking upward, how I like the sides and sideburns, to try to blend those two zones, to apply the thinning shears to the usual symmetrical two cowlick areas, and what stylists would call "natural neck line" at the back. This has been the memorized script for as long as I can remember. Then, there's always the request to clean up any stray hairs in the eyebrows and inside the ears.
The conversation we had was great. This is what happens when it's a beautiful sunny day at a southerly latitude. And, while conversing, I was watching an excellent haircut come together as well. Usually, people who know what they're doing can cut my hair in 12 to 20 minutes and it looks good. This is exactly what happened here.
Wesley Chapel has always seemed like a funky name to me. It took a little bit of reflection to figure out what it's about. Since the South is steeped in Protestantism, a faction of the Methodist Church has the name Wesleyan appended to it. Then, there's also a Wesley Chapel in North Carolina. Wesley Chapel is also a road in the Stone Mountain area east of Atlanta and one of my past coworkers took his kids to a day care on Wesley Chapel Road where a nice "Delta Karen," as opposed to the types we make fun of, watched them during the workday. (I could have envisioned her at the check-in counter at ATL, or even working on the plane or in their commercials.) In that neck of the woods, it's not that likely one will find peaches and cream "Karens" anymore.
I've digressed. I find that most Great Clips locations easily get 4 stars. A rare few might have gotten a 3 and, even then, that could just be that one experience whereas the salon is probably a 4-star place. Here, at this particular Wesley Chapel, FL Great Clips, my experience was a 5-star one and I was definitely ready for the occasion that warranted this haircut. read more