Hands-on advice, with nothing up our sleeve.
At a glance
Our call
Brands cannot buy a story or check it before it runs.
Freebies declared
Sponsored pages, affiliate links and free services are always disclosed.
Methods, not miracles
Steps come as the maker directs, and we never promise a cure.
Owned and fixed
Mistakes are corrected in the story, with a dated note.
- Editorial independence
- Reporting with care
- Access, gifts and samples
- Partner and sponsored content
- Reviews and recommendations
- Corrections and updates
- Conflicts of interest
- Tools and transparency
Editorial independence
Body of Work chooses what to cover on editorial grounds alone: a founder who fixed their own problem, a method worth following, a question you would ask at the sink. Brands cannot buy a story, a step in a how-to guide or a spot in Wash Day, and they cannot buy their way out of one either. No brand gets an early read of a story, its questions or its headline.
Advertising and editorial keep separate workbenches. The partnerships side explains what a brand can buy, which is labelled space and nothing more, and it never weighs in on what the editors write.
- No advertising deal comes with a story attached.
- No brand checks the copy, the quotes or the headline first.
- An advertiser gets the same frank write-up as anyone else.
Reporting with care
Hair and body care is personal and easy to oversell, so we keep it frank. We give steps, times and amounts as the maker directs, and we say which hair or skin a method was made for, because what works on fine, straight hair may do nothing for coils. A founder's own story, whether a bleach-burnt head or a child's eczema, is told as their experience, not as proof. A scalp serum sold as a cosmetic is not a hair-loss drug, and we say so.
Body of Work is not medical advice. Hair loss, a scalp that will not settle, eczema flares and anything on a baby's skin belong with a dermatologist or a pediatrician.
- No story says a product treats, cures or prevents hair loss, eczema or any other condition.
- We write for every gender and every hair type, and we never shame a body, a bald patch or a budget.
- A founder's result is reported as theirs, not as a promise of yours.
Access, gifts and samples
Brands send samples and kits, and salons offer free cuts, colour and treatments. Samples are fine, as long as no conditions come with them. A free service is disclosed in any story it informs, and a sample never buys a place in a guide.
Samples, services, events and trips are all disclosed in the stories they inform. We do not trade kind coverage for access, an exclusive or an early look at a launch.
- Samples and services come with no promise of coverage.
- Anything beyond the product is politely refused or sent back.
- Trips and events paid for by a brand are named in the story.
Partner and sponsored content
Body of Work takes money for sponsored features, sponsored how-to guides and placements in Wash Day. Each one starts with a label at the top, "Sponsored" or "In partnership with", plus the name of the brand that paid for it. They are put together apart from our own stories and are never passed off as reporting.
The rules do not loosen for sponsors: steps as the maker directs, no treatment claims, a pointer to a dermatologist where one is needed, and the same corrections policy. Any claim our editors would not print themselves is cut.
- You will never have to scroll to find the label.
- Sponsors cannot buy a step in an editorial how-to guide.
- Our claims rules apply to paid pages too.
Reviews and recommendations
What goes into Shop the routine, and onto our shelves, is whatever the story uses: the mask a founder built for their own hair, the balm a routine turns on. Prices and sizes come straight from the brand when we publish; they change, so check before you buy. Some links may be affiliate links; buy through one and we may get a small commission, at no added cost to you. It never decides what makes the shelf or what we say about it.
We describe a product by what it is for and how the maker says to use it, and we attribute every claim to whoever made it. When an editor has followed a method at their own sink, the story says so; when it does not, read the steps as the maker's directions, not our test.
- Shop the routine is chosen by editors, never sold.
- We are honest about how long a routine takes and what it costs.
- Steps are the maker's directions unless the story says we tested them.
Corrections and updates
When we get something wrong, we own it. The story is fixed, and a line at the bottom says what changed and on which date. We do not quietly rewrite a story to make a mistake vanish.
New prices, dead links and sold-out products are updated without fuss. A changed formula, a changed step or a new safety warning is a change of substance, and it is noted. Stylists, founders and brands we have covered can tell us when something we attributed to them is wrong or has gone out of date, and we will fix it, update it or, where that is fairer, take the story down.
- Each correction is dated, with a line on what changed.
- A typo is just fixed; a wrong step gets a note.
- Founders and stylists who write in get a reply from an editor.
Conflicts of interest
No one at Body of Work covers a brand or salon they own a stake in, advise, work for or are close to. Stylists, barbers and trichologists who contribute tell us which brands pay them, as ambassadors, educators or consultants, and they do not cover those brands. When a conflict cannot be avoided, the story discloses it.
Body of Work is published by VOL Collective, along with other magazines, and a founder may show up in a sister title with a different angle on the same work. If VOL Collective has any commercial relationship with a brand we cover, the story spells it out.
- Editors say up front if they have any tie to a brand.
- Contributing professionals disclose ambassador and education contracts.
- Free services from a salon are declared like any other tie.
Tools and transparency
We show the work, the way a good tutorial does: who wrote it and when, where each figure came from, an editors' note where a claim needs context and, at the end of every how-to guide, the sources. Photographs are credited in their captions.
Every tool we check claims with is open to you as well: the full ingredient list on the bottle; the directions printed on the pack; the American Academy of Dermatology's guidance on hair loss and eczema; the National Eczema Association's Seal of Acceptance, reported for what it actually reviews; and the published studies behind any claim.
- Stories name their sources; how-to guides list them all.
- Before-and-after shots are never used to sell a result.
- We rewrite this page whenever the way we work changes.
Tell us where the steps don't add up.
Spotted an error, a missing step or a conflict we did not declare? Tell the editors. Every message gets read, and if we fix something, we will let you know what.
