On November 4, 2026, the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons of the UK Parliament released the fifth report of its 2026-27 session, The science and regulation of hair and beauty products and treatments (HC 59).
The report concludes that the UK’s current regulatory framework for hair and beauty products and treatments has failed to keep pace with the science behind the relevant products and treatments and the rapid evolution of how they are supplied and marketed, and it sets out 21 conclusions and 25 recommendations in five areas: safety regulatory gaps, online marketplaces, evidence and research, consumer redress, and a national licensing scheme. The Government must respond to the report within two months.
Background of the Report
The inquiry was launched on December 2, 2025, oral evidence sessions were held in June 2026, and a questionnaire was issued in December 2025 to those who had experienced harm, receiving 309 responses:
- 63.4% of the harm was related to treatments carried out by third parties, and 36.6% to products purchased for self-use;
- only 2.7% of respondents complained to regulators after suffering harm;
- and 44.4% of complainants were dissatisfied with the response.
Before the report was published, the UK Government had launched a consultation in October 2026 proposing to restrict high-risk cosmetic procedures to qualified professionals such as doctors, dentists, and certain nurses, with the consultation closing in January 2027; the Committee recommends that the Government build on this to move forward as soon as possible with a full national licensing scheme.
Main Conclusions of the Report
The report states that in the UK’s £5.7 billion hair and beauty industry, the vast majority of products are safe and popular, yet they are treated by the regulatory framework as inert consumer goods. Non-surgical procedures such as dermal fillers, botulinum toxin injections, laser treatments, skin-lightening products, and chemical peels are increasingly common, practitioners can often operate without any training, and consumers can even buy injectable products directly online.
The lack of regulation has left the UK lagging behind other countries’ safety standards, and products containing potent chemicals are routinely used in children, potentially causing long-term harm.
Main Recommendations
1. Expanding the Scope of Regulation (Recommendation 6, Paragraph 36)
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) should bring forward legislation this autumn:
- to update the definition of “product” in the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) to bring within scope all products used as part of a procedure or treatment;
- to update the UK Cosmetics Regulation to bring within scope injectable or inhaled cosmetic products used for non-medical purposes.
2. Establishing a Mechanism for Bringing New Products into Regulation (Recommendation 7, Paragraph 37)
A mechanism should be established so that new and emerging products are brought into the new risk-based licensing scheme as soon as they come onto the market, under the precautionary principle, until safety testing establishes their risk profile; and the responsibility for identifying emerging products and bringing them into the UK Cosmetics Regulation and other relevant regulatory frameworks should be clearly assigned.
3. Activating the Product Safety Duties of Online Marketplaces (Recommendation 19, Paragraph 88)
The relevant provisions of the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 should be implemented within 12 months to impose product safety duties on online marketplaces, backed by sanctions large enough to remove their incentive to profit from such products.
The duties include:
establishing effective mechanisms to prevent counterfeit, illegal, and harmful products from being listed;
- ensuring that safety warnings in product labeling are prominently displayed in online listings;
- suspending the accounts of sellers offering such products (or materially similar products);
- effectively delisting non-compliant sellers and preventing them from re-registering;
- reporting non-compliant sellers to the OPSS so that information can be shared with other platforms and the relevant listings can be removed across platforms.
4. Filling Research Gaps (Recommendations 25-27, Paragraphs 118-120)
The Scientific Advisory Group on Chemicals (SAG-CS) should publish a timetable for its literature review and safety assessment of the substances of concern in hair relaxers; the arrangements for addressing the evidence gaps should be set out within 12 months; and the DHSC should commission a UK publicly funded longitudinal study on the long-term health effects of the chemicals used in hair relaxers and related products, which are used primarily by black women and girls, including early, frequent, and cumulative exposure.
5. Improving Harm Reporting and Redress (Recommendation 31, Paragraph 134)
A single, widely publicized reporting contact point should be established for consumers and healthcare professionals to report harm caused by cosmetic products or treatments; in the review of the product safety framework, the reporting obligations of cosmetovigilance should be extended beyond the Responsible Person, and annual reporting data should be published following the EU’s approach.
6. Equal Regulation of Products Self-Imported by Professionals (Recommendation 43, Paragraph 169)
The UK Cosmetics Regulation should be amended so that products self-imported by professionals for use on their clients are subject to the same safety assessment, labeling, and notification requirements as products placed on the market, with an amendment to be brought forward within 12 months of the publication of the report.
CIRS Reminder
A committee report is a recommendation to the Government and does not of itself create new legal obligations; the timelines in the report, such as “within 12 months” and “by December 2027”, are the Committee’s timetables for the Government to take action, not compliance deadlines already in force for businesses.
If the above recommendations are ultimately implemented, the adjustment of the definition of “product” in the GPSR, the inclusion of injectable/inhaled products in the UK Cosmetics Regulation, the product safety duties on online marketplaces, and the equal regulatory requirements for products self-imported by professionals could all change the compliance model for the supply, sale, and import of the relevant products in the UK. Relevant companies are advised to keep track of the Government’s response and subsequent legislative progress.
If you need any assistance or have any questions, please get in touch with us via service@cirs-group.com.
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- Responsible Person (RP)
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Further Information:
The science and regulation of hair and beauty products and treatments
