Beauty products, grooming and hygiene

Helpful information on the advertising rules for beauty, grooming and hygiene products, and examples of previous Advertising Standards Authority rulings in this area.

Over the years, demand for glitzy products and procedures designed to help us look younger, healthier and more beautiful, has created a multi-million pound industry. But this industry is competitive and it is one that plays heavily on aesthetic appeal to promote its products. While there’s nothing wrong with painting a positive picture, there is a line to be drawn to ensure that ads don’t over-exaggerate the benefits that a beauty, grooming or hygiene product can have. That’s why we have strict rules in place to protect consumers from potentially misleading or socially irresponsible ads for beauty products.

The main areas of complaint we see for ads for beauty, grooming and hygiene products are around the use of post-production techniques and whether advertisers can prove the claims they are making.

Like all ads, advertisers marketing beauty, grooming and hygiene products must be able to provide evidence for any claims they are making in their ads about the efficacy of their product. This includes claims like “65% reduction in the appearance of wrinkles”, “8/10 women agreed their skin looked smoother” and “The UK’s number one shampoo for coloured hair.”

Whilst our rules do allow for the use of airbrushing and other post-production techniques, advertisers should make clear that these techniques have been used through the use of superimposed qualifications or disclaimers, and they should not be used to such an extent that they exaggerate the capabilities of the product. Similarly, the use of “before” and “after” pictures are allowed but not if post-production techniques were only used on the “after” picture.

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Latest rulings

Who Gives A Crap Ltd
- Upheld
- Social media (paid ad)
- 11 November 2026
A paid-for Meta ad for a toilet roll retailer made misleading environmental claims about carbon-neutral shipping.
Airbrush
- Upheld
- 29 July 2026
Two paid-for Facebook ads and a website for a hairstyling company misleadingly implied they were endorsed by fashion brands, used unrelated influencer content to promote their product and didn’t have evidence to show that testimonials were genuine.
Beauty Pie Ltd t/a Beauty Pie Ltd
- Upheld
- Poster
- 10 June 2026
A poster for an LED face mask made misleading claims that it was clinically proven to reduce wrinkles in 4 weeks.
111 Skin Ltd t/a 111skin
- Upheld
- Website (own site)
- 13 May 2026
A product listing for a skincare product misleadingly exaggerated the effects of a cosmetic product for ageing skin.

View all rulings

Beauty products, grooming and hygiene

Helpful information on the advertising rules for beauty, grooming and hygiene products, and examples of previous Advertising Standards Authority rulings in this area.

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Latest rulings

Who Gives A Crap Ltd

Airbrush

Beauty Pie Ltd t/a Beauty Pie Ltd

111 Skin Ltd t/a 111skin

Help getting it right

Popular advice

Before and after photos

Social responsibility: Body image

Beauty and Cosmetics: The use of production techniques

Relevant codes

History of self-regulation