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The presence and iconic "hero hair" of Paul Wesley's Stefan Salvatore have made him and the character a Vampire Diaries fan-favorite. Of course, that kind of notoriety sometimes leads to some interesting encounters with fans. However, the wildest TVD fan encounter happened right at Wesley’s front door, and involves a case of mistaken identity and a “perm bowl.”
Several years may have passed since The Vampire Diaries ended its , but fans are never letting Wesley forget about the love triangles, doppelgängers or vampires. Especially, now that they can rewatch him in the role with a Peacock subscription. The actor still has strange interactions with fans from all over the world. So, of course when he joined Alex Cooper for her Call Her Daddy podcast, she asked him about his wildest encounter:
- Paul Wesley: I came home from something and it was like the middle of the night and I remember at 11 pm, I pull up and I'm in, I don't live in this house anymore, so it's okay, but I pull up in the driveway and all of a sudden I see like nine suitcases in my driveway, okay? And you know those, it was the weirdest thing. You know back in the day when women would go to the hairstylist, and they had those bowls? What do they call them?
- Alex Cooper: Like a perm bowl.
- Wesley: Like a perm bowl. There was a perm bowl.
Talk about an insane story. My first thought when I heard Wesley tell the story was that the bowl was somehow a joke regarding his character’s "hero hair." This was a running gag in The Vampire Diaries, with Wesley's on-screen brother, Ian Somerhalder, nicknaming his hairstyle. However, the crazier part is that this isn’t the weirdest thing a fan has done to the actor.
The Stefan actor was previously gifted a box of sausages. Now, he admits he’s unsure if these were meant as an innuendo or because he’s Polish. Unfortunately, Wesley is not the only actor that has had to deal with creepy encounters. Glen Powell once shared obsessive fan stories that still creep me out. And now I understand why an actor like Jenna Ortega is "always scared" during fan encounters. I can imagine Wesley can relate as the "perm bowl" story just gets more insane:
In my driveway. I was like, ‘Why is there a perm bowl in my driveway? What is going on?’ and there was a fan there and she goes, ‘Hey,’ and I was like, ‘Can I help you?’ and she's like, ‘We've been emailing. You told me I can move in.’ By the way, I swear to god, and I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ She was emailing with someone who was pretending to be me and said that she can move into my home and she brought the perm bowl.
The actor expected these encounters to “fizzle out” after the series ended, but thanks to conventions and streaming, the show has become “eternal.” I'm sure he has many stories he hasn't shared. But the most amusing part to me was Alex clearing up for the actor just what a perm bowl is:
- Wesley: The perm bowl was the thing that weirded me out. The luggage, I was like, ‘Whatever, it's fine, we can deal with this.’ The perm bowl, I was like, ‘Why does that have to come with you?’
- Cooper: I love how we’re calling it a perm bowl.
- Wesley: What is it?
- Cooper: It's a dryer that is, when you're getting a perm bowl. Paul, so what did you do?
- Wesley: I just, I said, ‘Look, it's not me. I haven't been emailing.’ First of all, I was like, ‘How do you know where I live?’ and she's like, ‘What do you mean? Everyone knows.’ I was like, ‘Everyone knows? What are you talking about?’
While the actor didn’t specify how he handled the situation, it didn’t stop him from continuing to interact with fans. Wesley manages to find time to co-run a business and jump from project to project. He currently helps run a bourbon company, Brother’s Bond, with Somerhalder, which he somehow found time for after taking on the role of James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which is set to return for its fourth season amid the 2026 TV schedule.
Wesley also has various projects in development. In 2025, it was reported thathe signed onto an untitled vampire project from FOX. And to the joy of Stelena (the ship name for Wesley's Stefan and Nina Dobrev's Elena) fans everywhere, he'll be reuniting with his aforementioned co-star for a new Hulu project. The two will star in the adaptation of Aggie Blum Thompson's novel, You Deserve to Know.
I'm going to assume that neither of these projects will require the use of a perm bowl. But, given the unpredictable situations Paul Wesley apparently finds himself in, anything may be possible.
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