The Best Hair Care Products

Wednesday, October 4th

2023 Hair Care Product Reviews

Sephora

• "A+" Better Business Bureau rating
• Thousands of product reviews
• Over 1,500 hair care products
• Free shipping on orders over $50
• Returns allowed up to 60 days after purchase

People who know Sephora usually think of their incredible selection of high quality makeup, but they also have an impressive inventory of hair care products. They are a prestigious beauty retailer with over 2,700 stores in 35 countries worldwide. Their first US store opened in New York's SoHo neighborhood in 1998 and their growth has been explosive ever since. Sephora is owned by the world's leading luxury goods group, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. A lot can be said about this company with its expansive selection of beauty products and dedication to quality, diversity, inclusion, and customer service.

Huge selection, easy-to-browse website

You can easily make Sephora your one-stop shop for all your beauty essentials whether it be makeup, hair care, fragrances, skincare, tools, or brushes. Nearly every name brand you might be looking for can be found here and all products are top-of-the-line quality. Sephora has thousands of unfiltered customer reviews on nearly every item, which goes to show how popular this retailer is. There are over 1,500 results for hair products, and luckily Sephora has a professional, user-friendly website that makes it easy to find what you want without taking much time. You can either search for a particular product or sort by sale, brand, concerns, ingredient preferences, size, formulation, hair type, and shopping preferences.

Don't come looking for cheap

If you like cheap beauty products, Sephora isn't going to cater to that. Their brands include Olaplex, Moroccanoil, Drybar, Pureology, Living Proof, and more. These are high-quality brands that are likely to have clean ingredients and are good for sensitive skin types and specific hair concerns. You'll be paying prices that reflect that, so go into your Sephora shopping experience with high expectations that you'll be getting nourishing products.

Sephora credit card means savings

If you're committed to high-quality products for your hair, face, and body, Sephora is a reliable place to get everything you need. This means you might be interested in their credit card rewards program. When you open an account with the company, you'll get 25% off your total purchase, which is a great savings if you're going to be spending a couple hundred dollars on beauty products. After that you'll earn 4% back ($5 in rewards for every $125 spent) whenever you use your card to make purchases at Sephora. For purchases made outside of the store with the card, you'll get 1% back and you can earn $20 if you spend $500 with the card in the first 90 days of approval. There is no annual fee for the card, so as long as you stay on top of payments, this is a low-risk way to earn a little bit of money back on purchases you're going to make anyway.

Up to a 60-day return policy

If you spend over $50 at Sephora (which you easily will if you're buying more than one thing), you'll get free standard shipping on your order. In the event that you need to return any of the hair products you purchase (whether new or gently used), Sephora has a 30-day return policy. You'll need to return the products during this time if you're wanting a full refund via the original payment method. If you are okay with a store credit instead, you can return your hair products within 60 days. Sephora will provide a prepaid shipping label if you want to return your items by mail, or you can make any returns for free at one of their stores if you happen to live near one. There is a link on Sephora's website that will give you directions on how to initiate a return.

Feel confident shopping here

Unsurprisingly, Sephora has an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau. One of the most helpful things to consider if you're on the fence about shopping here is the plethora of honest product reviews. Since this is such a popular retailer, you'll get the full range of unfiltered critical feedback about the quality, price, and condition of items sold here. Sephora is a legitimate and reliable company that sells high quality hair care products and has an impressive selection, so we feel confident giving them our highest rating.

Strawberry Net

• Genuine product guarantee
• Tens of thousands of positive customer reviews
• 30-day return policy
• Orders over $65 ship free

Strawberry Net calls themselves the "Fresh Beauty Company" because their deals are "irresistibly sweet" just like a strawberry. They are a Hong Kong-based company with over 20 years in the beauty business. They've become an industry-leading e-commerce retailer that prides itself on selling authentic and fresh items. Strawberry Net has customers in over 190 countries worldwide.

Impressive inventory

It's painfully obvious that Strawberry Net could use a website update, but their product selection nearly makes up for it. They have a huge inventory of hair care items with over 3,400 types for sale here. In addition to finding the staple items you use every day, you're sure to discover a lot of other great choices you never considered as well. You can shop by brand, product type, or refine by special deals.

Plenty of well-known and lesser-known brands

All the name-brand hair care items people love can be found at Strawberry Net, like BioSilk, Bumble and Bumble, Christophe Robin, DevaCurl, Eleven Australia, Goldwell, It's a 10, John Masters Organics, and more. In addition, there are some lesser-known brands that will be slightly less expensive if you aren't wanting all top-of-the-line items.

Missing ingredient lists

You'll be able to read any important details about the hair care products and see reviews from customers who have purchased it in the past. The only thing that seems to be missing is an ingredient list for all of their products to give shoppers information about authenticity and quality. This is important information that many customers look for, so we wish Strawberry Net would provide it.

Reasonable prices

Like with all retailers, the prices on hair care at Strawberry Net are going to vary based on the type of product you're buying and the brand. You can score some good deals here, but nothing is so cheap that you question if your order will actually arrive or if the items could possibly be watered down. At the time of this review, Strawberry Net was offering an extra 8% off of every product on their website, making things even more affordable.

30-day return window

If you spend over $65 at Strawberry Net, your order will ship at no cost to you. Any orders of less than $65 cost just $6 to ship, which isn't too bad. Strawberry Net offers a 30-day return policy if you change your mind about the products you receive - as long as you haven't used them. Before sending back your unused and unopened hair products, you'll need to email customer service to get authorization.

A top hair care retailer

Unfortunately Strawberry Net doesn't have a rating from the Better Business Bureau, but they do have over 25,000 customer reviews online that attest to the reliability of this company. People are extremely satisfied with their shopping experience and highly recommend this beauty retailer to others. People say you can find all the products you need at great prices and that customer service is easy to work with. People who have been buying here for many years report that they've never had a problem, which is impressive. This is definitely one of the best places to buy hair products online.

Nordstrom

• "A" rating from the Better Business Bureau
• Over 1,200 hair products
• Free standard shipping
• Price match guarantee
• Free prepaid return shipping

In addition to hair products, Nordstrom sells clothing, jewelry, handbags, shoes, home decor, kitchen accessories, electronics, perfume, or anything in-between. This luxury department store chain was founded in 1901 and originally began as a shoe store. They've grown into a full-line retailer with over 460 brick-and-mortar stores around the world and a huge online store that offers convenience as well as a massive selection of all types of products.

Many name-brand options

There are over 1,200 hair products to shop from at Nordstrom. Of course this selection includes many sought after name-brands including Aveda, Clinique, Christophe Robin, Drybar, L'Occitane, Olaplex, and more. Besides sorting by brand you can also choose the category, gender, color, hair concern, and price you're interested in. All the products are only sorted into 5 categories: hair and scalp treatments, gifts and sets, hair dryers and styling tools, hair styling products, and shampoo and conditioner.

Detailed product descriptions

We appreciate that Nordstrom allows customers to leave honest and unfiltered reviews on all their items. If you're questioning a purchase, it helps to read through the hundreds or even thousands of reviews that have been left on most products. On each product page you can also choose the bottle size (if there are options) and read a detailed description of the product with its full ingredient list, gift options, and delivery options.

Low price guarantee

It's hard to summarize the cost of hair products at Nordstrom since there are so many types, brands, and sizes. In general, the prices are comparable to what you'd pay for the same products at another reputable store. This means you might pay around $30 for name-brand shampoo. However, if you happen to find an item you bought from Nordstrom at a lower price through a competitor within 14 days of your shipment, you can submit a price adjustment form on their website to get the lower price. You could also choose to use Afterpay here, which means if you are spending a lot on hair products but don't want to pay for it all at the time of checkout, you can set up interest-free installments to pay it off over time. Regardless of the cost of your order at Nordstrom, they offer free standard shipping.

Flexible return options

The return process through Nordstrom is hassle-free. You can either take your items to the nearest Nordstrom store if you live nearby, drop it off curbside after starting your return online, or send it back by mail with one of Nordstrom's free prepaid shipping labels that they'll send you via email. Nordstrom doesn't specify whether or not you can return hair products for a refund if they have been opened or used, but to ensure you get a full refund, we would err on the safe side and say items should be returned in new, unused condition.

Shop with confidence

Nordstrom is a well-liked place to shop regardless of what you're looking for - and when it comes to their big inventory of hair care products, you can't go wrong. We like that they have so many name-brand options for people who need deeply nourishing products for their hair, but they have a big enough selection that will help you stay within a budget as well. It's nice that you can rely on their price match guarantee and you'll always get free shipping. The honest customer reviews are extremely helpful when deciding which product will be best and Nordstrom has an "A" rating from the Better Business Bureau. They've earned one of our highest ratings for hair care product retailers.

Ulta

• Free shipping on orders over $35
• "A+" Better Business Bureau rating
• 60-day returns on new or used products
• Over 4,200 types of hair products

Before the year 2000, Ulta Beauty was known as Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc, and then Ulta3. They are an American chain of beauty stores that sells hair care, makeup, skincare, fragrance, brushes and tools, and bath and body products. There is also a good selection of products for men as well. Ulta is headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois, with over 1,260 stores in all 50 states. They also have an impressive online store where customers gain easy access to all their products and deals.

Thousands of product reviews

There are over 4,200 types of hair products for sale at Ulta. You can tell this is a popular and legitimate retailer by how many product reviews are posted for everything in their inventory. It's not uncommon to find styling tools, conditioner, serums, or basic shampoo with up to 9,000 unfiltered reviews from customers. This is more than enough information to relay the quality, effectiveness, and value of any hair product.

For any budget

At Ulta you can find hair products to fit any price point. If you don't mind paying for a name-brand product, there are tons of options here. If you want a cheaper, non-salon quality hair product from a lesser-known brand, you can get that at Ulta as well. They pride themselves on offering a range of prices and types of beauty products to fit every style and budget.

Shop with confidence

In addition to shopping by category to narrow down the hair care products you find online at Ulta, you can shop by preference (clean ingredients, vegan, fragrance-free, oil-free, paraben-free), brand, special offer, and price. If you know exactly the type of hair product you want, it's as easy as typing it into the search bar to see if you find a match. You can read details about all the hair products, their benefits, features, how to use them, ingredients, and even watch a short video that advertises the product. Another helpful thing is the Q&A section where customers can ask and answer questions about things like how effective the product is on curly hair, if it's safe for treated hair, how often you should use the product, and other concerns you may have. Sometimes you'll get feedback from other customers or Ulta will respond to more technical inquiries. Ulta makes it so you can shop confidently and have all the information you need when buying hair products online.

In-store pickup recommended

If you spend over $35 on hair care and/or other beauty items at Ulta, you'll qualify for free standard shipping. You have the choice to wait for your products to arrive at your home or order online and do a free in-store pickup if you live near one of their brick-and-mortar locations. We highly recommend the latter option since there have been some recent customer complaints about issues with orders missing items or not arriving on time.

Generous 60-day return policy

If you decide to return any products to Ulta, you can either mail it back or take it to one of their stores within 60 days of purchase. You receive a full refund via your original payment method as long as you return the hair products with all of their original components and receipt. This means even if the hair product has been opened and used, the store will still take it back if you are unhappy with it.

They'll likely have what you want

Ulta Beauty has an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau, but their customer reviews were not what we expected. There are many facets of Ulta's company, so some negative reviews refer primarily to their salon or an associate that works in one of their stores. However, in recent months there have also been complaints about online order delivery. Working with customer service doesn't seem to fix everyone's problems, which is disappointing: best to do an in-store pickup when possible. We are fans of Ulta's huge selection, policies, and product reviews, so if you decide to shop here we aren't worried that you'll be disappointed with what is offered. Since this is a good option for a lot of people, they've still earned one of our highest ratings and we trust that in-store pickup will help customers avoid most issues.

Sally Beauty

• "A-" Better Business Bureau rating
• Unfiltered product reviews
• Free rewards program
• Free shipping on orders $35+
• 2-hour delivery option and free in-store pickup
• 30-day return policy

The first Sally Beauty store opened in 1964 in New Orleans. By 2016, Sally Beauty had experienced exponential growth worldwide and opened their 5,000th store. They are known for carrying all the essentials in hair color and care, tools and brushes, nail products, makeup, skincare, and waxing and tanning items. Having so many locations makes shopping online here convenient since you can opt for mail delivery, 2-hour delivery, or free in-store pickup.

Shop by hair concern

There are 12 categories of hair products at Sally Beauty. They include shampoo, conditioner, styling products, hair treatments, curly hair care, men's grooming, hair thinning and loss, perms and straighteners, color care, heat protectant, damage repair, and professional brands. That pretty much covers everything, right? You can also specify hair concerns you're having and shop for products meant to target those problems like damage repair, anti-frizz, clarifying, smooth and finishing, scalp care, and more.

Honest customer reviews

The top brands at Sally Beauty are ion, GVP, ZOTOS, It's a 10, Nioxin, Beyond The Zone, Clairol, and Biotera. Most products have hundreds of unfiltered customer reviews you can read about if the formula seems to have changed in recent months or years, how long a bottle lasts, what the quality is like, how it works on damaged hair, and other important information. You can read highlights about every hair product as well as the ingredients, how to use it, and important shipping information.

Rewards program

At the time of this review, Sally Beauty was running a "buy 2 get 1 free" deal on select items. They periodically run sales like this that are nice to take advantage of. Sally Beauty also has a rewards program for people who frequently shop at their store where you earn points on your purchases that lead to discounts on future orders. You can join for free with your email address and start earning 10 points for every $1 you spend. Once you reach 500 points, you'll get $5 to use towards your next purchase. If you spend over $200 in a calendar year, you'll qualify for "elite" member status and earn 12.5 points for every $1 spent, get free shipping on all orders, and receive a $5 reward on your birthday.

3 shipping options

If you spend over $35 at Sally Beauty online you'll get free shipping on your order. If you want your order right away, you could opt for the company's 2-hour delivery service and have your hair products on your doorstep same-day. The third option for getting your products as soon as possible is to order online and pick them up at your nearest Sally Beauty store. This doesn't cost anything and ensures you get the right items in a timely manner.

30-day return policy

Most items purchased through Sally Beauty can be returned either to their distribution center through the mail or at your local store. They have to be returned in their original condition (unopened and unused) within 30 days to get a full refund back to your original form of payment.

Shopping online is the way to go

We were worried when we saw some of the customer reviews about Sally Beauty. However, upon reading through most of them we realized they are usually from people who visited a Sally's store somewhere throughout the world and were unimpressed with the staff or their knowledge about the products. This isn't a big deal if you're shopping online since you can read customer reviews on products (which are mostly very good) and not have to deal with visiting the store. The Better Business Bureau gives Sally Beauty an "A-" rating and we highly recommend checking out their big selection of products to find something both affordable and helpful for the type of hair you have.

Planet Beauty

• 15% off your next purchase with email subscription
• Free shipping on orders over $49
• "A+" Better Business Bureau rating
• Free 30-day returns

Planet Beauty was founded in 1992 and is a privately-owned retailer based out of Newport Beach, California. They offer over 20,000 professional beauty products that span the categories of hair care, makeup, skincare, styling tools, bath, and fragrance. You'll find brands such as Biolage, It's a 10, Joico, Olaplex, Paul Mitchell, Redken, and many others. In addition to their expansive online store, Planet Beauty has over 40 brick-and-mortar locations across the state of California.

Over 1,400 products

There are 1,400 hair products available from Planet Beauty. We like the filter features here since it allows you to specify if you have any specific concerns you want to address with your products (brassiness, curl enhancing, frizz, shine, thinning, volume, and so on) You can also sort the inventory by brand, formulation, ingredient preferences, skin type, and price.

We'd like to see product reviews

Online shopping at Planet Beauty is pretty straightforward. You can view any item you're interested in and see before and after photos of people's hair (if it's relevant), a description of the item, ingredients, how best to use it, and information about shipping and returns. What we wish they included is product reviews from customers to help us build trust in the authenticity of these products as well as the quality.

Competitive prices backed by a guarantee

If you want to save a couple bucks on your order, you could subscribe to Planet Beauty's email list and get 15% off your next purchase. If you spend over $49 you'll also qualify for free shipping. The prices of hair products in general are very reasonable and are similar to what you'd buy the same products for at a competing store. However, if you find an identical product at a competing store for a lower price, Planet Beauty will match it if you provide the competitor's ad to customer service. This way you know you aren't getting ripped off and can get the best deals possible.

Free 30-day returns

If you need to return hair products to Planet Beauty, you have 30 days to initiate it online. You'll first need to email customer service so they can verify that your items are eligible for a return. If they are, you'll receive a free mailing label from the company with instructions to send your items back. They will need to be in their original packaging, unopened, and with a receipt.

No regrets

The Better Business Bureau gives Planet Beauty an "A+" rating, which is fantastic. But we are really impressed by their customer reviews. Across the board people have great things to say about this company and agree that it's easy to shop online, shipping is fast, there is abundant product availability, and customer service is great to work with. You won't regret buying hair products here if you find the brand and type you like.

Safe and Chic

• All products are paraben- and cruelty-free
• 15% off by providing phone number
• Honest customer product reviews
• Free shipping on orders over $75
• 30-day return policy

Safe and Chic has only been around since 2015, so they might be considered a baby in the beauty industry world. They've grown in popularity and are well-liked by customers because of their commitment to clean and cruelty-free beauty products. All their items are run through the Think Dirty and EWG Skin Deep database to show a safety rating and ensure their commitment to top quality. Safe and Chic carries over 2,000 unique beauty products from 160 brands. Interestingly, in addition to hair care, makeup, skincare, and bath and body products, you can also buy clothing at Safe and Chic.

All the basics

There are over 200 results for hair care products from Safe and Chic. To avoid having to scroll page by page to find the type of product you need, use the top navigation bar to choose the category of hair care item you are looking for (shampoo, conditioner, styling and treatments, sets, and travel). They don't have an extensive list of items to target certain concerns like thinning, dry scalp, curl boosting, or other issues, but they have basic cleaning and treatment products. You also might not recognize many of the brands here since they are specifically made to a higher standard and aren't usually found in the aisles of your local stores.

Detailed product descriptions

Every hair care product at Safe and Chic includes a detailed description and bulleted highlights about the benefits of the item. You can also read how to use the product, a full list of ingredients, and a brand bio. Safe and Chic lets customers leave honest reviews about each product, so you can read through those as well - if there are any for the product you're interested in.

Prices reflect higher-quality products

The prices of hair care products from Safe and Chic probably seem expensive if you're used to normal, store-bought brands. These prices reflect high-quality products that go through a stricter vetting process and often don't contain fillers and preservatives that are included in most other beauty products. You could easily spend $40 on a scalp scrub, $70 on a hair serum, or $30 on a bottle of shampoo. At the time of this review, Safe and Chic was offering 20% off of your total purchase with a discount code, which would give significant savings. You can also provide your cell phone number to receive marketing texts from Safe and Chic to get 15% off your next order as well.

Free shipping over $75

You'll get free shipping if you spend over $75 on your order at Safe and Chic. Anything less than $75 comes with a flat shipping fee of $7. You can expect standard shipping to take about 2-5 days to arrive via USPS.

30 days to return new or used products

If you need to initiate a return of your hair products, you'll need to email the Safe and Chic customer service team for authorization and instructions. Unopened items are eligible for a full refund as long as they're returned within 30 days of purchase. If you have opened and tried out some of the hair care items, you can still return them but you'll be eligible for a store credit instead. This is a generous move on Safe and Chic's part since many companies don't allow the return of used products at all.

Good place for clean hair products

Although they don't have thousands of reviews like some other hair care stores do, the customer feedback about Safe and Chic is generally very positive. Customers like having a store where they can shop online and know they will find clean products and have fast and reliable delivery. The Better Business Bureau does not have a rating for Safe and Chic, but we feel confident recommending them to customers as a reliable alternative for clean beauty products, especially since they are transparent about the ingredients in everything and allow customers to leave unfiltered product reviews. Definitely check out what Safe and Chic has to offer.

Beauty Store Depot

• Fantastic customer reviews
• Free shipping on orders over $45
• 120% low price guarantee
• 60-day return policy

Beauty Store Depot is a destination for hair, beauty, skincare, and kids' and men's products. The company originated in 2005 out of Austin, Texas. At first, Beauty Store Depot only represented 6 brands, but now sells over 75 across all their categories. Beauty Store Depot prides themselves on having superior customer service with a personalized approach, avoiding waste in their warehouse, and offering the lowest possible prices on all their products.

Lesser-known brands

At first glance, Beauty Store Depot's website doesn't look as professional and updated as many of their competitors' websites. The site is very basic, but functional enough to allow you to quickly browse a huge variety of hair products like shampoo, conditioner, hair masks, wax, detangling spray, mousse, root maintenance, scalp treatments, and more. There are 19 categories of hair products you can browse from brands including BioSilk, CHI, Keratin Complex, MOP, Phyto, and others. We didn't recognize many of the brands we saw, but this doesn't mean their products won't nourish your hair. Customers can leave unfiltered reviews on items to help you know the quality and effectiveness of a product, so pay attention to these as you shop.

120% price match guarantee

Beauty Store Depot works hard to offer their customers the lowest prices possible. If you find something through Beauty Store Depot that's sold at a lower price through a competitor's site, Beauty Store Depot will beat it by 120%. To qualify for this deal, you will need to purchase the product through Beauty Store Depot and then contact customer service. If you spend at least $45 here, all your items will ship for free. At the time of this review, you could also take 20% off your overall purchase price if you spent over $75. We're confident that you won't break the bank if you're buying your hair care products through Beauty Store Depot

No-hassle returns

We are impressed by Beauty Store Depot's 60-day no-hassle return policy. You can use up to 1/4 of your hair product before deciding to send it back. They will provide a free prepaid return shipping label for a refund via store credit. If instead you want a full refund back to your original form of payment, you'll just need to pay the $5.99 return shipping fee and send back your unused and unopened hair products. The third option is to do an exchange and get a new product right away. In this case, you can also send back bottles that are at least ¾ unused.

Extremely high customer reviews

Beauty Store Depot does not have a rating by the Better Business Bureau, but we aren't concerned since they have thousands of amazing reviews from customers. They have some of the highest customer ratings of any hair care company we've seen. Buyers comment about how outstanding their hair products are, the reliable and fast delivery, top-notch customer service, carefully packaged items, and more. This is undoubtedly a well-loved store that provides a fantastic experience for customers who buy their products time and time again. Although their selection of brands isn't as recognizable as what some other stores sell, this is a trustworthy retailer that will ensure you get low prices and are well taken care of by customer service.

Beauty Encounter

• Join the email list for 10% off
• 100% authentic product guarantee
• Free shipping on orders over $60
• 30-day return policy

Beauty Encounter started in 1999 and was originally an online fragrance store. An array of beauty products has continually been added to their product line over the years such as hair care and skincare. Customers can find over 40,000 products across all categories of beauty products made by over 1,000 brands. Beauty Encounter carries name brands as well as niche brands that are harder to find.

Few reviews

The categories of hair care at Beauty Encounter include shampoo, conditioner, styling products, hair care kits, tools and appliances, hair loss treatments, and bleach and lighteners. In total there are nearly 1,000 products that can be sorted by type, brand, and price. All the items appear to have a 5-star rating, but if you look closer in each product description, you'll find that most items have no customer reviews and they post a 5-star rating as a default. Don't be deceived by this, since we aren't actually sure of how most customers feel about these items. Most products have a few photos to show the ingredient list, an overview of the product, and specifications about what hair type the product is best for, price range, and audience.

A random range of discounts

A lot of the hair products you see from Beauty Encounter appear to be on sale or on clearance. A lot of them are discounted as much as 21%, 42%, 56%, or other random amounts. That's nice, but we are also skeptical of this since some name-brand products are under $20, which seems extremely inexpensive if these are actually authentic. If you spend over $60 at Beauty Encounter, you'll get free domestic shipping.

Authenticity "guaranteed"

Beauty Encounter has a 100% authentic product guarantee which means they promise you won't buy anything from their store that has been substituted for the real thing or watered down. They purchase directly from manufacturers and boast that they inspect every product for quality and authenticity and have a strict policy against counterfeit items. However, we are concerned about how true this is after reading quite a few customer reviews that claimed they purchased name-brand products (mostly perfumes) at full price from Beauty Encounter and found them to be fakes. Luckily this is usually less of a problem if you're buying hair care items, but you won't know for sure until you buy something.

Restocking fees on all returns

If you do make a purchase from Beauty Encounter and change your mind about it, you can usually return it within 30 days for a refund as long as you reach out to customer service and request an RMA number. All items have to be returned in their original packaging and cannot be opened or used at all. If you opt for a refund via your original payment method, you'll have to pay a restocking fee of 15%, which is a bummer. But if you decide to go for a store credit instead, you'll get the full purchase price worth of credit and avoid the 15% fee.

Mediocre company

Beauty Encounter has a lousy "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau. This is usually a bad sign, but we were slightly less concerned about the rating when we realized it was due to their lack of responses to only two customer complaints. There aren't hundreds of customer reviews about Beauty Encounter like we've found with their competitors, so it's hard to feel really confident about how reliable this company is or trust that they are a popular place to buy genuine products. Because of this, they are not our top choice, but we also don't feel like they should be avoided at all costs either. If you find a hair product here that you like and can't get elsewhere, it's not a bad option to at least try out. However, we wouldn't rely on Beauty Encounter to be your one-stop shop for high-quality hair essentials..

Beauty Brands

• 100% satisfaction guarantee
• Unfiltered customer reviews
• Chances for free shipping and discounts

Beauty Brands was founded in 1995 in an effort to save customers time and money when buying products to make them feel confident and beautiful. In addition to hair care, they have a big inventory of makeup, nail polishes and tools, bath and body treatments, and kids' products. They carry many recognizable brand names including Biolage, Hempz, Joico, Paul Mitchell, Redken, and more.

Average selection

You'll have the option to look for hair care in the categories of shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, men, oil and serum, root touch-up, styling aids, thermal spray, and more. If you have a brand you know you like, you can view all the products they sell through Beauty Brands. There are more results for shampoo and conditioner than any other type of product, so if you're looking for anything else, just know your selection won't be spectacular, but it might be enough.

Unfiltered product reviews

All of the hair products have a place for customers to leave unfiltered reviews, which is fantastic. Not all of the items we saw actually have any reviews, but some of them at least have as many as a couple hundred. They include a rating from the buyer out of 5 stars, how long ago the review was written, comments about the hair product, and whether or not they would recommend it to a friend. We noticed that many of the reviews were left as recently as a few months ago, which means they are still relevant and useful.

Average prices

When you reach the Beauty Brands website, you can spin a virtual wheel to try and "win" some savings. You'll either get free shipping, $5 off your next purchase, or 10% off a regular priced order. We noticed that not many of the products are on sale and if you don't qualify for free shipping, you'll pay $5.95 for standard shipping or $16.95 for next day shipping. Nothing seems exceptionally cheap here, so until they have a significantly bigger selection, it might feel like a waste of time shopping here if they don't have what you need.

100% satisfaction guarantee

If you aren't entirely happy with your purchase, you can return it to Beauty Brands within 60 days of purchase for a return or exchange under their 100% satisfaction guarantee. All items must be sent back in the original packaging and with the original components. It's not entirely clear whether or not the company will accept a return that was opened or used, but to play it safe, we would assume this could disqualify you from a refund.

Unsatisfactory ratings

Beauty Brands only has a "D-" rating from the Better Business Bureau, which is definitely lower than we like to see. The main reason for this is that there are a few unresolved customer complaints that the company hasn't addressed, but not too many. However, Beauty Brands doesn't have as many customer reviews as some of their competitors, leading us to believe this isn't a very popular place to buy hair products online. From what we have seen, people aren't very happy with this company because they say orders aren't always fulfilled completely or they are canceled after a few days. Some name-brand products appear to be fakes (perfumes in particular), and customer service is hard to communicate with..

Not a favorite option

The selection of hair products at Beauty Brands isn't very impressive. There are retailers that have a bigger inventory and are more competitive as far as pricing goes, so it seems like a no-brainer to shop there instead. The less-than-positive customer reviews don't give us much reassurance that this is a reputable or reliable place to buy from, so we aren't giving Beauty Brands one of our highest ratings.