EMontWrites

The struggle to find hair care products for my hair in Phoenix has been stressful.

When moving from the east coast to the west, there’s A LOT to adjust to including the weather and the culture of the area. “It’s a dry heat” EVERYONE and their mom told me. What they didn’t tell me was how a “dry heat” will suck every molecule of moisture out of your hair.

My hair was so dry all the time. I needed to switch up the hair products I used but could not find a beauty supply store in the area I live.

They are hard to find and far apart!

If you get lucky and find one it’s hit or miss if they have what you need.

So I took a beauty supply tour around Phoenix. I drove around and checked out different stores to see who had the best options for hair like mine.

Disclaimer: Phoenix is HUGE!! I had the goal to go to 10 different stores North, East, South, West of downtown Phoenix but when I got to Glendale then drove to Scottsdale and needed to go to Chandler…10 stores was not going to happen. The cities are SO far apart and the way my gas tank was set up…

BUT I did get to five and got a good idea of hair stores in the Valley AND I made a map at the bottom of this post. Hope this helps!

Mane De Jour Beauty Supply

Is it OK to start with my favorite? Spoiler alert!!

This hair care store is black owned and beautiful. It looks like an explosion of black girl magic happened inside. Marble floors, pink walls, furry chairs, gold accent decor.

It’s a little boutique where you can buy upscale hair care products, hair bundles, braid in hair and makeup. There’s also a section for hair care products for men.

I loved this place because of the atmosphere. Many of the other big beauty supply stores were like warehouses. Huge and cold, but Mane De Jour was very warm and inviting.

She has brands that I’ve never seen anywhere else like the Rich Hair Care line. This brand is supposed to be good for dry and damaged hair. I bought two bottles!

Remy Co.

Speaking of beauty supply warehouses…

This specific hair store is located in the heart of downtown Phoenix. There are a couple other Remy Co. stores in the Valley including one in Tempe, the city I live in.

If you want a one stop shop the downtown Phoenix location has everything you need and more. The Tempe location is always sold out of product and doesn’t have a good selection of hair. I could walk to it, but I drive to another store that I know will have what I need.

One of the downsides to warehouse-ish stores like this is its packed with a lot stuff. Granted there’s a lot of hair options from hair on tracks, braid-in hair, bulk hair, deep wave, body wave, curly, Milky Way, Vivica Fox, Remy, Outre, human hair, yaki perm hair, synthetic blend, wet and wavy.

But there’s no personality to the store and the hair brands are the same as all the other stores.

United Beauty Supply

I went to the location in North Phoenix. I have mixed feelings about this store.

It has a small boutique look, shiny floors, very clean and smelled so good. It felt very upscale and less warehousey.

The isles were stocked with product. They had ALL the shades of that L.A. Girl HD Pro concealer, you know that’s rare! Also had some high-end brands like Paul Mitchel.

The hair selection is limited probably because the store is so small. You get the same hair options at Remy Co. Go to United for necessities, a pleasant shopping experience or if you know exactly what you’re looking for.

I would shop here again because it was a much more welcoming environment than Remy Co. But like Remy Co., United also has a couple locations sprinkled around the area. These two beauty supply chains are running the game out here.

NU York Beauty Supply

Another black owned beauty supply store!

I can’t help but feel so happy and full when I step inside a black owned beauty supply store.

I feel like the women who own the store really understand me and I understand them. Starting a business from the ground up is not easy. Especially in an industry where you have those huge hair warehouses to compete with.

I walked into the store and was greeted with “Hello beautiful! Welcome!”

“Who me?? Why thank you” haha! I don’t know about you but I rarely get welcomed with “beautiful” in any store. I’m here for it!

It was that phenomenal customer service that set this store apart from all the others. To this day I remember the young lady’s name who helped me.

In the warehouse stores the customer service was…none. A woman did yell at me from across the store, “you need any help?” if I was her I wouldn’t want to walk a mile to the back of the store to help me either.

But at Nu York I was given a lot of personal attention. Which may be unpleasant to some but I loved it. And the store was small, much like the boutique look.

There was a good selection of wigs and a few brand names of hair I didn’t see at the other stores.

The prices of the hair care products was the same as the other stores I went in. The wigs were also the same prices as the warehouse stores.

I was also able to try on two wigs in their private wig rooms and I wasn’t limited to trying on 3 wigs like at the bigger places. The woman who helped me really took care of me. I didn’t feel like a customer, I felt like a friend.

The only difference I think is the big stores have so much product they can sell their older wigs for cheaper. These smaller stores the wigs are new and regular price.

Grand Mart Hair Store

This store is FAR away from life. It’s near Glendale but it was my favorite store to go to when I first moved here. They have some hair selections that I like and wigs that are $20 (cause I’m cheap sometimes). They also have a 50% off section of hair but it’s some super old looking stuff back up in there…

Their hair care products were a bit out of stock. I wouldn’t drive up there for some edge control because the brand you want might be sold out. But I would drive for the wigs or if I wanted a different selection of hair brands.

Side note: these big beauty supply stores have a lot of those hair packs with the 3 different lengths in one pack. What’s up with those? Anyone know?

You can get some Brazilian body wave in 16″ 14″ 20″ packs and have a full head of hair for $30. That seems to be a large part of the track hair choices out here.

If you made it this far, you’re a trouper! Thanks for reading! I hope that this helps you find what you’re looking for.

If you want something fast like a bottle of pink lotion, some gel or an oil sheen try Remy Co. or United. If you want more of an experience and good customer service try Mane de Jour, Grand Mart and Nu York.

Here’s a map of beauty supply stores in the Valley. Know another place that should be added to this list? Let me know in the comments!

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