Sorry SDM, I discovered Sally's!
To be honest- I never considered shopping at a beauty supply store. I always made the assumption I would be spending way more than I should or that I would be doing something horribly wrong. Surprisingly though, many products are cheaper- better quality and they have a decent reward program. Maybe I've been living under a rock and everyone knows about Sally's, and this post is pointless. But for those of you who don't, I thought I would share! It is now my #1 for hair stuff and self-pampering.
Sally Beauty has a "Sally Club" The membership is $5, however you get a $5 coupon on your receipt to use towards your next purchase. With Sally's Club- every month you spend $35, the following month you will receive a coupon for 15% off your purchase. So, lets say you want to get some new hair dye, misc stuff on sale, and spend at least $35- you can use the 15% off coupon to buy that new flat iron or blow dryer you really want next month. If you renew your membership the month your card expires, you receive a free Ion or Silk Elements products. (Ion makes purple shampoo if you're a blonde)
The Savings - I would say some product pricing is comparable to SDM, but with higher quality products. To get my hair done professionally, because it's incredibly long- I have to pay around $200. As a teenager I had too many bad experiences with box dyes and refused to use them (hair actually falling out, really bad!) At Sally's I had to purchase a lightener ($30) , developer ($3) and toner ($8) . It seems like a lot, but the lightener will probably last be a year- the developer I will be able to use one or two more times for my roots (You can also buy larger bottles), and the toner or a dye I will have to re-purchase the next time I do my hair. SDM Bleaches are around $19.99 a box, you will need two or more if you have med length hair.
Buying Online- Online pricing is WAY cheaper in-store than online up to a 30%-50% difference, but some products are the same price. You really have to make yourself a list of products you're looking for and do some comparing. Sally's collects tax when you check out- so you pay NO duties/fees when your package arrives. Once you know what you want- you can start ordering online and saving even more. Their flat rate Canadian shipping is $12.95. I wanted a flat iron that was $49.99 online but $64.99 in store, so pretty much anything else I added to my cart after that I was saving more than if I was to buy in a Canadian store. I have also been eying a new blow dryer. $29.99 online- $49.99 in store. If you're buying something on sale from the flyer make sure you enter the coupon code during check out, it isn't automatic (kind of a downer..)
I would really recommend any hair treatments you're considering, go in store and talk to the girls there. I would also suggest paying a little extra and buying all hair processing products in store as you may make a decision online- but the girls working there may suggest something completely different. Once you find you're consistently using the same thing- then you can simply order online since you know it works.
This vs. That- I can only really base this on products I actually use to do a comparison. For instance, I buy purple shampoo for my blonde hair. SDM only carries one brand of Purple Shampoo- and it's normally super expensive during 20x the points or during bonus redemption ($11.99) Sally's sells several brands of purple shampoo, between $8-$10. All of which are double the size of the bottle SDM has. Also, back when I used to use SDM's hair dyes- I lost a significant amount of hair each time I was re-dying from roots and fading. My hair became brittle and thin and took years to get back my massive mop when I decided to stick to professional salons. SDMs bleach products also aren't that great- They are expensive for what you get and I found it always left my hair feeling like a broom. SDM's brushes also aren't that great for what you're paying ($9.99-$14.99) I usually get their paddle brush and it would always break after a few months of use. I bought a paddle brush at Sally's that looks identical and is half the price. So if it breaks, at least I spent less money.
I just did my roots and used a toner (dye pretty much) with Sally's products. Being a novice right now the colour wasn't spot on, but it still looks great. But the FEELING is amazing. Salon bleaches normally would dry my hair right out, leaving it super tangly for awhile. Whatever was in the products I used left my hair feeling super soft and maintained a lot of it's body and thickness. (Ion and Wella)
Overall I'm really happy with Sally's and they have SOO many great and affordable products it's almost overwhelming. Shoppers stuff really turned me off of DIY beauty stuff at home. Even all their expensive Toni & Guy flat irons broke on me, but I kept redeeming for them because I didn't have to pay for them. SDM is still good for fragrances, food and vitamins. But for everything else now I think I'll be sticking with Sally's.
I was just wondering, who else shops at Sally's? What products/brands do you like? What deals do they normally have? What products don't you like? Just in this month's flyer they have lots of BOGO, $x's off, Free products w/ purchase and so on.