Affiliate disclosure: what we carry, what we do not, and how a paid link would have to be marked.

The short answer

There are no affiliate links on this site. There are no sponsored articles, no paid product placements, no display advertising and no paid search. No product is named anywhere in the editorial, so there is nothing for a manufacturer or retailer to buy a mention of. That is rule five of our editorial standards and it is the position as at 28 September 2026.

This page exists anyway, because a publication that might one day earn money from a link should say in advance what that would have to look like. If the position ever changes, this page changes first and carries the date.

What we do earn money from

Two things, both public before anyone buys either. The paid register, which is alphabetical, marked as paid on every listing, and never a ranking or a recommendation; its terms are on the criteria page. And the labelled sponsor line on the newsletter. That is the whole commercial surface of this publication.

What an affiliate link is, in plain English

A link that pays the publisher a share of a sale, or a fee, when a reader clicks it and buys something. The reader pays the same price either way, which is why it is easy to miss, and why it has to be declared rather than noticed.

If we ever carried one, these are the rules it would have to meet

It would be marked on the link itself. Every paid link would carry rel="sponsored" in the markup and would say in the visible text that it is a paid link, at the link, not only in a notice at the foot of the page.

The page would say so at the top. A labelled disclosure would sit above the content, before a reader reaches the link, naming the relationship and who pays us.

It would not change what we say. No product would be added, moved up, softened or left out because of a commercial relationship. Any comparison or verdict would publish the criteria it was judged against, and the criteria would be set before the products were chosen, not after.

It would never appear on a page about a child, a lesson or a supervised session. Those pages exist to say who owns a decision. A commercial link on one of them would corrupt the only thing they are for.

It would never be a clinical recommendation. We do not diagnose, treat or manage skin conditions, and no commercial arrangement would move us into doing it. Product decisions driven by a skin condition, a reaction or a medicine belong with a pharmacist or a GP.

It would be disclosed even where it earns nothing. A relationship is disclosed because it exists, not because it pays.

What money could not buy here, at any price

A mention in editorial. A link in editorial. A position in the register, which is alphabetical and stays alphabetical. Sight of an article before publication. The removal or softening of anything. A recommendation of a named product. Subscriber data, which is never sold, rented or shared. Anything that would make a page about a supervised session read as an advertisement.

Why the editorial names no products

Because what to put on your skin depends on your skin, your history, your medication and what you can afford, none of which a publication can see. We explain what a label is telling you and leave the choice where it belongs. That explanation is in sun protection around indoor and outdoor swimming, and it names nothing.

How to hold us to this

If you find a link on this site that pays us and is not marked as a paid link, that is a failure of this page and we want to know. Tell us through the contact page and we will correct it in public, with the change described, on the route set out in the editorial standards.