A unified system. A shared foundation. A future for everyone who works with skin.

We don’t need to reinvent health care.

We just need to include the skin in it.

This isn’t about turning beauty into medicine, or forcing medics to follow beauty rules.

It’s about recognising that everyone who works with skin – from Level 2 therapists to Level 7 aesthetics GPs – should be working from the same modern understanding of skin health.

Right now, they’re not.

• Skin therapists are trained under beauty frameworks that are not fully aligned with public health.

• Aesthetic practitioners – including doctors and dentists – often train through routes that are inconsistently regulated or commercially driven.

• And the public is left guessing who to trust.

The result?

A profession divided. A public confused. And a vital organ without a clear national home.

Phase Two is about exploring how we fix that – together.

This phase begins to lay the groundwork for a structure that:

• Recognises skin as part of health

• Brings education under the guidance of the Department of Health and Social Care

• Regulates the sector in the public interest

• Protects professional titles in law

• And supports a national career path where everyone who works with skin shares a common foundation

When we work from the same base of knowledge, trust grows.

So does safety, professionalism, and opportunity.

The aim is simple: to help shape a more unified approach to skin in England.

Not by excluding people – but by lifting the whole profession, wherever they sit now.

This phase is organised around four practical pillars, each focused on a different part of the system that needs to shift

The Four Pillars of Phase Two

Pillar One: Messaging

Skin as a National Health Issue

Skin should be named and included in national public health messaging – not only in disease, but in prevention, everyday care, and lifestyle advice.

→ Go to Pillar One: Public Messaging

Pillar Two: Education

Shaped by Health, Guided by DHSC

Training for everyone who works with skin – medics and non-medics – should be aligned with national health standards, with DHSC involved in reviewing what is taught and why it matters.

→ Go to Pillar Two: Education

Pillar Three: Regulation

A Framework for Public Protection

Oversight cannot stop at procedures alone. It needs to apply to the people performing them – across settings and job titles – so that skin work is safe, consistent, and accountable.

→ Go to Pillar Three: Regulation

Pillar Four: Protected Titles

Recognition the Public Can Trust

Once regulation is in place, protecting titles like Beauty Therapist and Skin Therapist means the public can trust that anyone using them has:

• Met national standards

• Passed through a regulated system

• And is accountable under law

For qualified professionals, it becomes something to stand behind – and something to be proud of.

→ Go to Pillar Four: Recognition

What Comes Next

Each pillar is being developed into its own dedicated space, with pages that explore what change could look like in practice.

This is a working page, and a growing body of work.

Thank you for reading.

The structure is clear now – and I’m building the rest one careful step at a time.