Business Strong at One-Chair Beacon Hill Salon

When Jessica Dill opened her salon, The Green Room, she wanted something that felt like her living room yet wasn't. After all, she had been operating out of her South End living room, but had to find a new place since her dog liked to eat the hair that fell on the floor.

Indeed, her Beacon Hill salon is so cozy that it just has one hairdressing chair. "It's more fun," Dill said of her intimate space. "We just hang out, drink tea." Usually, only Dill, her desk manager, Jason, and a client is in the room, so it could feel more like hanging out than does an appointment at a busy salon filled with chatter and noisy hairdryers.

And Dill is plenty familiar with salons. She worked both at Mayfair on the Hill and Pini Swissa Salon before moving her business to her apartment and then to the back of Salon Evergreen three years ago. Last September she moved to the spot vacated by French Dressing, at 49 River St. And every year, she said, business has quadrupled.

"It's exploded," Dill said. She does no advertising, relies soley on word of mouth, and is still booking out appointments two to three weeks in advance, on average. Half of her clientele is from Beacon Hill, but some come from miles away. One client flies in from Australia twice a year for an appointment. 

"I kind of look at hair like you throw a rock in a pond and the ripples come back to you," she said of her strong referral network. Dill charges $95 for a cut, $90 for single process color and $220 for a full foil.

After making an appointment, Dill asks clients to email her photos of hairstyles that they like, and talk a little about what they want, so that when they come in she already knows a bit about what they like. 

This level of personal attention, from the email conversations to being the only client in the salon at any given time, is a formula that's working for Dill.

"If you have something good, people talk about it," she said.