Adding microblading, piercing, laser or lip filler: what do I need before the first client?

Written for owners of hair salons, barbershops, beauty, nail, lash and brow businesses, spas and massage, tanning, tattoo and piercing studios and non-surgical aesthetics clinics in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The short version

1. Check licence, registration and age rules.They change by nation once a treatment breaks the skin, uses a laser or a prescription-only medicine. Some under-18 bans apply despite a parent's consent.
2. Book a prescriber who meets clients in person.Botox is a prescription-only medicine. The prescriber must see each new client face to face before the first treatment. A video call does not count.
3. Get the treatment on your insurance schedule.Insurers list each treatment and the qualification needed for it. Add the new one before its first booking.

In England, hair, barbering, nails, waxing, lashes and beauty need no national licence, though some London boroughs license treatments such as manicure and massage (below). Teeth whitening is not a beauty treatment: it is dentistry (Dentists Act 1984 s.37). The moment a treatment breaks the skin, uses a laser or IPL, or involves a prescription-only medicine, the rules change, and they change by nation. Work through this before the treatment goes on the menu, not after the first booking.

What every salon needs, licence or not

• A COSHH assessment for every hazardous product (bleach, oxidising dyes, persulphates, acrylic monomers, acetone, peels, disinfectants), with gloves and ventilation (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 regs 6 and 7).
• Monthly skin checks by a trained person, recorded, for hairdressers and nail technicians, who are a dermatitis risk group (reg 11).
• Extraction at the desk for nail dust and monomer vapour.
• An allergy alert test 48 hours before every PPD colour service, as the maker instructs, and no colour for a client with a black henna tattoo or a past reaction until cleared.
• In England, a recorded fire risk assessment whatever your headcount (Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 art 9).

Your council's environmental health officer enforces this, not the HSE.

Tattooing, piercing, microblading and electrolysis

• England outside London: tattooing, semi-permanent skin-colouring such as microblading, cosmetic piercing and electrolysis need the person and the premises registered with the council. Registration is one-off, but a move or a new practitioner needs a new one, and working unregistered is an offence (Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 ss.14 to 16).
• London: in boroughs that adopted the London Local Authorities Act 1991 Part II, premises offering massage, manicure, tattooing, cosmetic piercing, light and electric treatments need an annual special treatment licence. Laser and IPL are usually caught as light treatment.
• Wales: each person doing acupuncture, body piercing, electrolysis or tattooing, including semi-permanent makeup and microblading, needs a personal special procedure licence unless a statutory exemption applies, and the procedure generally has to be done at approved premises or in an approved vehicle. The licence needs an infection control qualification and a hygiene check (Public Health (Wales) Act 2017 ss.58, 60 and 69). An old council registration alone no longer counts: anyone who did not apply under the new scheme by 28 February 2025 needs a licence before working.
• Scotland: tattooing, piercing, electrolysis and semi-permanent makeup need a council skin piercing and tattooing licence (SSI 2006/43).
• Northern Ireland: skin piercing, including tattooing and electrolysis, is registered with the district council.

Councils and insurers treat semi-permanent makeup as tattooing, so refuse under-18s for that too; that is practice, because whether the 1969 Act covers it is not settled. The 1969 Act does not extend to Northern Ireland: there, take the age rule from the council's conditions and your insurer.

Lasers and IPL

England has no national laser or IPL registration; London boroughs license them as a special treatment. Insurers expect a Laser Protection Adviser, written local rules, a named laser protection supervisor, operator training and eyewear. Wales is different: a setting using a Class 3B or 4 laser or an IPL must register with Healthcare Inspectorate Wales before first use (Care Standards Act 2000 s.11). In Northern Ireland, clinics using those lasers or IPL register with the RQIA.

Injectables

What regulators and insurers expect before the first injecting session

• A written complications protocol for vascular occlusion, infection and anaphylaxis.
• A prescriber reachable for every injecting session, with hyaluronidase prescribed for the named client or available through the prescriber.
• Adrenaline 1 mg/ml on site, which anyone may give in an emergency (Human Medicines Regulations 2012 Sch 19).
• Batch numbers recorded, and adverse incidents reported to the MHRA Yellow Card scheme.

A prescription after a video call, a form or photos breaches the prescriber's code and leaves you uninsured for that client.

In England, purely cosmetic non-surgical treatments are not a regulated activity, so a clinic offering only toxin, filler, peels and laser for appearance does not register with the CQC. It must register once a healthcare professional treats a condition, such as toxin for migraine, and running a regulated activity unregistered is an offence (Health and Social Care Act 2008 s.10).

In Scotland, an independent clinic where a doctor, dentist, nurse, midwife or dental care professional provides services registers with Healthcare Improvement Scotland. Other practitioners come under the Non-surgical Procedures and Functions of Medical Reviewers (Scotland) Act 2026, which is enacted but phased in: its council licence requirement does not apply before 6 September 2027. Check whether its under-18 offence is in force before treating anyone under 18. As of Oct 2026.

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