The barber who built his own room
From Fort Lauderdale to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he worked with No Grease Barbershop at two of their flagship stores. Let It Flo is inspired by and named after his grandmother, Florine.
Hort Lauderdale raised him, and it is where he learned to cut — the way most good barbers do, on friends, in dorm rooms, badly at first and then not badly at all. College came before barber school: a degree from Florida A&M, then formal training at North Florida Institute in Jacksonville. That order says something about how he approaches the craft, with discipline, intention, and an understanding that barbering is as much about people as it is precision.
There was a detour through a desk at Bank of America, which lasted exactly as long as it needed to. He moved to Charlotte, found No Grease on YouTube, and talked his way into an interview once he got there. He started at the Uptown shop, moved to Carolina Place when it opened, and learned both sides of the profession — the work of the hands and the responsibility of leadership — earning the trust of clients, of barbers, and of the people coming up behind him.
In time he became the company’s second franchisee, carrying the brand into a new market. Those years gave him something invaluable: a clear understanding of what he wanted a barbershop to feel like when his own name was on the door.
Columbia was family. Downtown was the room. And the name came from his grandmother, Florine — Flo — who is in it twice over: once for her, and once for the way a good day in a good shop is supposed to move.
Good light. Warm towels. Thoughtful details. A room with enough calm to think, enough conversation to feel at home, and never a sense that the chair needs to be rushed.
That atmosphere begins with him.
He has a way of making people comfortable without trying too hard. A man can come in carrying the weight of the day and leave feeling a little lighter. That same quality has made him a natural mentor and recruiter. Talented young barbers are drawn to the room because they recognize there is something to learn here — not only about cutting hair, but about carrying yourself, serving people, and building a career with purpose.
And then there is the work itself.
The clipper work is exact. The razor line is deliberate. The details are handled without spectacle because mastery rarely needs an announcement.
The conversation is yours to begin or yours to skip. Either way, the chair is yours for a while — and while you are in it, nothing is hurried.
“Anyone can be taught to cut. Caring what the cut does for a man — that part has to already be there.”
“You can tell a lot about a city by who sits in its barber chairs. Downtown, they all sit in this one.”
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From the shop archive
A vice president, senators, governors, judges and a good many Gamecocks have all had a cape put on them here. Discretion is part of the service.