LAKELAND, Fla. — After spending two decades cutting hair, Travis Settineri feels very comfortable in a barber shop. 

What You Need To Know

  • Travis Settineri, better known as Travis Doodles, is offering free haircuts through a mobile barbershop

  • His nonprofit, Worth and Purpose, is based out of Lakeland, and now the YouTuber is adding a mobile barbershop to bring around Polk County for outreach and to help people get back on their feet

  • According to Settineri, he plans on keeping the shop at the Gospel Village in Lakeland while occasionally taking it to different outreach opportunities in the future

  • Right now, haircuts at his shop are done by appointment only, with him ideally having it open every day with a rotation of barbers coming in to cut hair

“Probably keep cutting hair until the day I die,” he said. “I love it.”

That statement may be surprising, considering that being a barber isn’t his actual job — Settineri is a popular YouTuber who goes by Travis Doodles online.

He has more than 8 million collective followers on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, where his whole social media presence revolves around kindness.

Through his social media and philanthropy, Worth and Purpose, Travis Doodles has become a household name in Lakeland.

Now, he is expanding his giving through a mobile barbershop.

“I think it was always part of the goal to cut hair again, but not to make a living, more to just give back,” he said.

But that original goal was to cut hair out of his office — his mobile shop was a surprise.

“I couldn't believe it,” Settineri said. “Like, it's just too good to be true.”

About six months ago, a barber from Montana came to Travis’ office after seeing his charity work and wanted to donate a mobile barber shop.

And about six months after that, it arrived at the Gospel Village in Lakeland.

“I was like, ‘Wow, this is really happening right now,'” Settineri said.

Now, after giving the outside of the trailer a makeover, the inside is welcoming people looking for their own kind of makeover.

“This is the only person that actually gets me,” said Russell Miller, who has received assistance from Settineri before.

Miller has autism and for five years he was living on the streets until he met Settineri, who helped him get a trailer. 

“He brings a lot of good out of me,” Miller said.

According to Miller, getting a fresh cut can help folks in similar circumstances find a job and get back on their feet as well. 

“It gets noticed and people are like, 'Oh, that's awesome,'” Miller said. “And people notice you when you get your hair cut.”

Other barbers are taking notice too, with about 20 joining Settineri's effort.

For example, Jesse Lima, the owner of 6ixthelement Barbershop in Brandon, didn’t hesitate when Settineri reached out to him to see if he wanted to cut hair in Lakeland for free.

“Changed my schedule around,” Lima said. “I had to come here.”

For these barbers helping people is their style.

“I just know how much a haircut can change somebody’s life and how important it is,” Settineri said.

According to Settineri, his barbershop will mostly stay at the Gospel Village in Lakeland, but he says he plans to take it to different outreach events in the future.