Jamaica Plain resident Ja'coall Bergstrom loves hair. She loves your hair and wants it to be as healthy and happy as possible. Thus her independently-owned Nest Salon in Downtown Boston is all natural, vegan, eco-friendly, while keeping it chic and a fun place to get your amazing from a cut, coloring and more.
“I like to change my clients’ image and self-confidence through being a hairstylist,” said Bergstrom, who was previously named a Vanity Fair Best Stylist. “They may come in feeling lost on how to style their hair and with a great cut and some necessary tips, they’ll be getting it right at home. It’s instant gratification.”
Nest Salon's eco-friendly ways align with JP's reputation as an environmentally conscious neighborhood. But what's that mean in terms of a salon? Said Bergstrom, "We use sustainable products. We are paperless -- we don’t print out receipts, it’s all from emails, we don’t print out schedules, it’s all done through the phone. We do all our ordering through email."
Jamaica Plain resident Ja'coall Bergstrom, left, owner of Nest Salon in Downtown Boston, with Jamaica Plain resident Caleb Curry, salon manager.
Most importantly the salon is all natural -- not using synthetic perfumes, or sulphates and no paraffins. Said the single mother, "This industry is saturated with cancer causing chemicals." With that in mind Nest only uses one brand, which is very unusual for salons. Bergstrom uses the Italian brand Davines because its products are not tested on animals, they are vegan and gluten-free.
Bergstrom chose the name Nest Salon, which is her first business, because it's like a little nest tucked away on Bromfield Street in the Downtown Crossing neighborhood. And Downtown Boston is very far away from her time in L.A. when she worked as a hairstylist for VH-1 (ask her about her experience with certain reality show participants).
But she decided to eventually move back home to Boston, where she grew up, and settled in Jamaica Plain because she feels like the neighborhood is diverse, offers many organic food options and is family-friendly.
And when she's not hanging with her elementary school aged daughter at the Green Street playground, she's talking hair, like what's popular these days. "Sombre. It’s basically your natural color at the roots and fades very gradually to another layer almost like the sun did it. You have to paint on the hair instead of putting it in a foil."
She also knows how to treat a customer right, especially if they come in with a bad haircut and want to keep it, "I would try to recommend something different, try to tweak it and make it a little modern and more flattering."
Of course she knows what it's like to have a bad haircut, after all she is a child of the 1980s. "Oh, yeah. Hairspray. Curling irons and gel. There are photos to verify this, but I’m not going to show you." She added she's warned her daughter of the perils of 80s hair.
And when it comes down to it, Nest Salon is about the customer. "I think it’s important that the client can style their hair when they leave the salon. They are only here every six weeks or so. If they’re not aware of the texture of their hair or style of their hair then they’ll have a hard time managing their hair. It’s very important for me to educate them on managing their hair and what works for their lifestyle."
Jamaica Plain residents are being offered 30% off their first appointment. Make your appointment by calling 617-337-2723, through the Nest Salon app and check out Nest Salon’s website here for prices and more.