Our Story

MJS was born out of a stylist’s desire to create a cool, fun, hip environment for both clients and stylists. After working for three years in the Faneuil Hall Marketplace area, Mitch began looking for a spot that his clients could feel comfortable in. During that search he came across a salon that had recently closed after only 1 year in business, a two floor salon on Broad Street. It was the end of 1989, and Mitch spent that memorable Christmas season with his clients and a telephone that he prayed would ring.

Shortly after opening, Mitch hired Lisa Pergola a young stylist from Newbury Street. You could say they hit it off as they became partners in every sense – business and life as they married a few years later. Together they managed to figure out the delicate balance between work and family and haven’t looked back since. They were quickly joined by numerous other talented stylists from around Boston. It wasn’t long before they got to work on creating education for the team since the Boston salon scene was lacking that feature. Mitch began traveling to London to the established schools of Sassoon, Jingles, Alan International, Toni & Guy and Mahongany, where he was able to pull from industry leaders to bring back to the MJS staff – creating the most well-rounded team of cutters and colorists in the region.

The list of educators and insiders grew each year and by the mid-nineties Mitch was working on stage at Hair Color USA alongside industry icons. After bringing the best in precision cutting/geometric shapes and freehand coloring techniques to Beantown, it was time to set their sights on finish work. Mitch began spending a lot more time in NYC just as editorial styling was about to explode. The term editorial stylist was unknown to most hairdressers and a few salons, Bumble and bumble notably began aligning themselves with session stylists like Orlando Pita, Serge Normant, Laurent Philippon, etc.. Their creations were filtering down and influencing top stylists like Mitch. By the late nineties the MJS staff and Mitch would hop into a van (sometimes two) and drive into the city every month, often twice a month. The result was one of the busiest salons in Boston with a staff of over 30. As the years progressed, the salon’s ties with the editorial world grew and session work began showing up in magazines like Elle, Bazar and Italian Vogue. The MJS team also began styling the hair of celebrities like Giselle Bunchen, Nickey & Paris Hilton, Blake Lively and others.

As we continue to grow, the MJS team will continue to stay true to their founding principles – inspiration and motivation through education. We’ll see the salon’s role as an education company increase with every passing day as together the MJS team puts great techniques, styles and products into the hands of stylists and consumers throughout the region and beyond.