What changed in 2023 for head spa therapists, stylists and cosmetic practitioners: a licensing consultation in England, new EU ingredient and labelling rules, advertising rulings, and the numbers behind the industry.
From the editors
This edition looks back at 2023 from the cosmetic chair. It is part of Four years in review, a retrospective series published in 2026. Trichozette was not around in 2023, but the changes that year still shape how stylists, barbers, colourists and head spa therapists work.
Three kinds of change stand out. First, regulation of treatments: England consulted on a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures, Scotland reconvened its expert group, and doctors in Ireland called for tighter rules. Second, regulation of products: the European Union restricted microplastics, banned a further group of substances classed as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction, and expanded the list of fragrance allergens that must appear on labels. Third, regulation of claims: the Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints against hair transplant advertising.
Each of those changes comes with something to learn, so this edition pairs the news with education: how to read a label, how to describe a service honestly, and when a scalp needs a medical opinion rather than a treatment.
As always, we stay within the cosmetic scope. Nothing here is a diagnosis, and nothing here promises a result.
The Trichollective editorial team
Regulation
In September 2023 England consulted on licensing non-surgical cosmetic procedures. Several of them sit close to scalp care.
Photograph Gulom Nazarov / Unsplash
Words by the Trichollective editorial team
On 2 September 2023 the Department of Health and Social Care opened a consultation on a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England. It ran until 28 October. The power to create such a scheme came from section 180 of the Health and Care Act 2022, and the proposal was that local authorities would license both practitioners and the premises they work from.
The consultation proposed sorting procedures into three categories by complexity and risk. Several of the procedures listed will be familiar to anyone who works with the scalp or offers treatments alongside hair services.
The consultation also proposed a minimum age of 18 for licensed procedures, matching existing limits on botulinum toxin, fillers, tattoos and sunbeds.
“Whatever the final shape of a scheme, the direction was clear.
Scotland was on its own path. The Scottish Cosmetic Interventions Expert Group was reconvened in November 2023 to advise ministers on options for regulating the sector. In Ireland, reporting in March 2023 highlighted that anyone could administer dermal filler, while botulinum toxin could only be prescribed and administered by doctors or dentists. In August, a group of around 30 aesthetic doctors wrote to TDs asking for a regulator, public awareness work and for fillers to be made prescription-only, and raised concern about people from hair, beauty and make-up backgrounds injecting after short courses.
For a salon or head spa, the practical point was not the fine detail of any category. It was that procedures which pierce the skin were moving firmly into regulated territory, and that training, insurance, hygiene and consent records would matter more, not less. Whatever the final shape of a scheme, the direction was clear.
Test yourself
In the 2023 England consultation, which category was proposed for platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy?
Sources
Every fact in this edition, and where it came from.
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Next · 2023 · Clinical
Clinical, 2023
A register, and a busy research year.