From Marine sniper to hair snipper, Todd Baylor has lived life on the cutting edge.
And it has all added up to where he is today — co-owner of one of Bainbridge Island’s most popular hairstyling hot spots, the Firefly Salon.
Baylor spent four years in the Marine Corps. He was an anti-tank assaultman before becoming a scout sniper.
“The name says it all,” Baylor said. “The sniper goes in early, finds the objective, comes back and leads the company in.”
Even before he was a Marine, Baylor was cutting hair. The skill followed him into the Corps.
“When I was in high school I cut my own hair,” Baylor said. “I got into the Marines where the rule was, get a haircut each week. So I cut the hair of other Marines.”
When Baylor left the military he was faced with his future, full of options, but he had a couple ideas of what he wanted to do.
“I enrolled in the Secret Service and in beauty school at the same time,” Baylor said.
But after pondering the decision, and spending some time in the hairstyling field, his path became very clear.
“When I was surrounded by women. I decided I didn’t want to be in the Secret Service,” Baylor said.
It was a very good plan. It was through his hairstyling career that Baylor met his wife.
“It’s like panning for gold,” Baylor said. “You go through all the silt until you find the nugget of gold.”
Baylor found his prized gold, Bronwyn, at a salon the two worked at in San Francisco.
From there, the couple moved to Los Angeles — for further schooling — and eventually landed on Bainbridge Island. Bronwyn was from the Kitsap area and the couple wanted to be close to family.
The hairstyling husband and wife have worked at various salons in the area over the past seven years.
Baylor has since became involved in the local theater scene, taking on roles for productions of “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Chicago,” “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and most recently “The Full Monty.”
While Baylor was enjoying a career as a local hair stylist, he was determined to break out on his own. He had a vision of a salon, all his own, run his way.
In November 2011, he and Bronwyn opened the Firefly Salon located at 271 Madison Ave.
The salon offers hair styling, colors, pedicures, waxing and much more. It’s been received well by islanders.
“It’s going well so far,” Baylor said.
In fact, customers have to make an appointment weeks in advance to be certain to get a spot with the Baylors.