Bio of Donovan Baxter

Donovan Baxter is an old soul in a young man’s body.

A barber with old-school attitude and new-school skills.

Back in the day, hair wasn’t the only thing customers visited barbers to have cut. Barbers were part stylist, part surgeon.

And all professional.

That heritage of professionalism is what Donovan kicks today.

It’s an instinct that’s been brewing in Donovan since childhood.

Growing up in Apopka, Donovan’s mother introduced him to a local barber. By middle school, Donovan, who ran a carwash business, biked to the barber to plunk down his own hard-earned cash to keep his cut fresh for the middle-school girlies.

However, often, his barber would cut someone else’s hair during Donovan’s appointed time, would push aside Donovan for an adult customer, or simply wouldn’t show up during his operating hours.

That his barber seemed to value neither Donovan’s time nor money profoundly influenced him. He decided that brand of unprofessionalism would never define his work ethic.

Not long after these experiences, Donovan’s father bought him his first pair of hair clippers. Donovan took to cutting quickly. After learning the craft cutting his own fresh fades, he branched out on family and neighborhood kids.

When he got his first car in high school, Donovan expanded his neighborhood gig into a mobile service, providing $5 in-home cuts.

Business expanded fast.

Nevertheless, Donovan realized that to really compete, mature and grow as a professional, he’d need a formal license.

After graduating barber school, Donovan worked for a pair of barbershops, learning the business and refining his vision for returning old-school professionalism to a vocation that for too many young barbers has become less a calling than a quick hustle.

He came to understand that client want barbers to treat them respectfully. He came to understand clients want barbers who dress and behave like professionals. And he came to understand that grooming shouldn’t just be a haircut. It should be an experience.

All that led Donovan, at age 22, to open his own shop, Hair Therapy in Apopka.

A new breed of upscale, urban barbershop built on old-school principles like customer service, respect, and reliability and edged with new-school flava.

All visioned by a barber whose vision and mad skillz make him a cut above.