Strope provides hometown hair service

Cut It Up in Orchard has also offered services to the local communities for several years.

Shelly Strope started her first hair salon in 1983, in a trailer, in Orchard. She ran the business for a few years until she gve birth her son, Skyler, in 1991.

After his arrival, she decided to take a break from being a hair stylist for about 10 years. As the years passed, she decided to have the shop boys from the Orchard School build a new salon in 2001. She even remembers working on the shop when they heard the horrifying news of 9/11.

"I remember I was coming in, and they were doing something I can't remember exactly but something like laying cement, and on the way in, we heard the news," Strope said.

The new Cut It Up building officially opened for business in 2002.

Strope decided to build her business in Orchard because it has always been her hometown.

"This is where everything was for me," Strope said.

Strope graduated from Orchard then headed to cosmetology school at Norfolk Beauty College. It took her a year to finish school. She then worked for Anita Holliday for a year and a half in O'Neill.

Strope decided to start her own place in Orchard, where she thanks "good clientele" for keeping her business going strong over the years. Cut It Up is located on 220 3rd Street and Strope is available every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Every other Wednesday, she travels to Atkinson to do hair at the nursing home.

She offers a range of services including: colors, highlights, perms, cuts, eyebrow waxing and always has products on hand.

"I like having something to do," Strope said. "I'm always looking."