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
- Judge each channel by who comes back.Count new clients still coming back at 90 days, then divide the channel's cost by that number. A follower count does not show this.
- Post only real, unfiltered results with consent.Get written marketing consent as its own tick box. Mark gifted and influencer posts as adverts up front, for example with #ad.
- Advertise the consultation, never the Botox.Botox is a prescription-only medicine. No Botox, toxin brand names or toxin prices on Instagram, your website or price lists.
The channels that fill a salon diary are rebooking at checkout, Google reviews, Instagram and TikTok portfolios, booking marketplaces and referral credits. Report each one by new clients and 90-day retention, not followers. A follower count does not tell you who comes back.
Rebooking is the channel you already own
Your rebook rate is the share of clients who leave with their next appointment booked. For example, 390 of 600 clients leaving with a booking is a 65% rebook rate. Ask at checkout, every time, and track it per stylist. Buyers of salons pay for retained clients and a team that stays, so this number builds the value of the business as well as next month's diary.
Measure cost per retained client, not per booking. A platform that owns the client data or charges again on returning clients is a contract red flag.
The advertising rules for salons and clinics
Photos and influencer posts
Before and after photos must show real, unretouched clients who gave written consent for marketing, with no filters on images showing a treatment result, and claims about results need evidence. Influencer and gifted posts are adverts and must say so up front, for example with #ad. Since 25 May 2022, never aim cosmetic intervention adverts at under-18s. As of Oct 2026.
CAP Code rules 2.1, 3.1 and 12.1; CAP rule change on cosmetic interventions and under-18s (25 May 2022); ASA rulings since 2021
No Botox in your adverts
Prescription-only medicines may not be advertised to the public. The safe course is no Botox, toxin brand names or toxin prices on Instagram, your website or price lists. Advertise the consultation instead, and make clear it may or may not lead to a prescription. Filler claims still need evidence. As of Oct 2026.
Human Medicines Regulations 2012 reg 284; CAP Code rules 12.1 and 12.12; CAP enforcement notice on botulinum toxin injections (Dec 2019); CAP advice on botulinum toxin products (Oct 2025)
The first advertises a prescription-only medicine to the public. Words that point to the toxin count too, such as 'wrinkle-relaxing injections', so name the consultation, not the treatment. The ASA and the MHRA act on complaints.
Reviews
Never buy, write or suppress reviews, and never offer a discount only for a 5-star review. These are banned practices, in force since 6 April 2025, and the CMA can fine up to 10% of global turnover. Answer a bad review with facts and no client health details. As of Oct 2026.
DMCC Act 2024 Part 4 Chapter 1 and Sch 20
Photos are personal data, and using them in marketing needs a separate consent the client can withdraw. Put it on the consultation form as its own tick box, and take the photo down if she withdraws.
Asked in Greymill
Cost per client still coming back at 90 days:
Instagram: £300 / 6 = £50
Booking app: £600 / 20 = £30
Per new client, Instagram looked cheaper (£7.50 against £20). Per client who stayed, it costs more.
The catch: an app that charges again when those 20 rebook, or owns their details, is a red flag. Move them to your own direct booking, and ask every client to rebook at checkout.
The Botox post: Botox is a prescription-only medicine, so it may not be advertised to the public. Keep Botox, toxin brand names and toxin prices off Instagram, your website and price lists (As of Oct 2026). Advertise the consultation instead.
Send me your next few captions and I will check them before they go up.
Ask it about your own business
Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Marketing works it through for your business.
I run a salon or beauty business in the UK. Over the last [3 months] my new clients came from: [channel and number for each], and this many came back within 90 days: [numbers]. My rebook rate by stylist is [rates] and each platform charges [fees]. Rank the channels by cost per retained client, suggest how to lift rebooking at checkout, and check these posts and captions against the advertising rules before I publish them: [paste posts].
More for beauty, hair and aesthetics in the UK
- Pricing a colour or treatment so it still pays after commission and VATPrice each service from product cost and the stylist's time, then check what is left of every pound once VAT, commission and product come out.Read the lesson
- December was busy, so why is there no cash in February?Voucher, course and deposit money is service you still owe, no-shows are column hours you never get back, and a 13-week cash view shows both before they bite.Read the lesson
- Rent-a-chair and VAT: could HMRC say every stylist's takings are mine?Chair rent is VAT-able, and if the salon in reality supplies the haircut, every self-employed stylist's takings count towards your VAT turnover.Read the lesson
- Adding microblading, piercing, laser or lip filler: what do I need before the first client?Every salon has safety duties, and a treatment that breaks the skin, uses a laser or involves a prescription-only medicine adds licensing, age rules and insurance duties that differ in each of the four nations.Read the lesson
- Deposits, no-show fees and course packages: what can I actually keep?Booking terms only hold if clients see them before booking, they are fair, and they respect the rules on cancellations, courses, memberships and prices.Read the lesson
- Commission-only stylists, self-employed barbers and card tips: am I breaking the law?How you pay and organise your team decides whether they are workers owed the minimum wage and holiday pay, and in Great Britain the tips law covers every tip your workers receive, card tips included.Read the lesson
- A client has reacted, been burned or had a filler complication: what do I do today?The first hours after a reaction, burn or injectable complication decide the client's outcome and whether your insurance responds, so act in the right order and admit nothing.Read the lesson
Open the interactive lesson · Every beauty, hair and aesthetics lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade
Sources
The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.
- CAP Code rules 2.1, 3.1 and 12.1 (Winning work and advertising rules)
- CAP rules on cosmetic interventions and under 18s (Winning work and advertising rules)
- Human Medicines Regulations 2012 reg 214 (Non-surgical aesthetics: medicines and prescribing)
- HMR 2012; MHRA classification (Non-surgical aesthetics: medicines and prescribing)
- GMC cosmetic-interventions guidance para. 11: physical examination before prescribing injectable cosmetic medicines (Non-surgical aesthetics: medicines and prescribing)
- HMR 2012 reg 284; CAP Code rule 12.12 (Non-surgical aesthetics: medicines and prescribing)
- HMR 2012 Sch 19 (Non-surgical aesthetics: medicines and prescribing)
- asp 13 ss.3, 4, 24(4), Sch 1 paras 4 and 12; SSI 2026/87 Sch 1 (AESTHETICS hard cases)
- Care Standards Act 2000 s.11 (AESTHETICS hard cases)
- CRA 2015 s.62 and Sch 2 Part 1 para 5; CMA37 (Deposits, no-show fees, courses and memberships)
- CCR 2013 regs 29, 30, 31 and 36 (Deposits, no-show fees, courses and memberships)
- Government press release was published on 9 August 2026 and says the rules will come into force in January 2027 (Deposits, no-show fees, courses and memberships)
- DMCC Act 2024 Part 4 Chapter 1 and Sch 20 (Deposits, no-show fees, courses and memberships)
- UK GDPR Arts 6 and 9 (Client records, photos and data)
- UK GDPR Art 33; Data Protection (Charges and Information) Regulations 2018 (Client records, photos and data)
- London Local Authorities Act 1991 Part II (Numbers and operations hard cases)
- rates and thresholds 2026 to 2027 (Worked examples in pounds)
- BRIL 5/2025 para 3 (Worked examples in pounds)
- Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 Part II (Contract red flags)