Glow Salons · Methodology

The Glow Standard for Salons.

Every salon, clinic and beauty studio recommended by Glow is scored against the same published framework. Five axes. Named editors. No paid placement. Versioned and dated.

The Glow Standard for Salons is a published five-axis editorial scoring framework: service quality, hygiene and safety, expertise and credentials, price-to-value, and atmosphere and experience. Each axis is scored 1–10. The composite Glow Score is a weighted average. Salons cannot pay for a higher score.

The single principle.

A recommendation is worth nothing unless the reader can act on it and trust the result. Everything below follows from that.

The five axes, scored 1 to 10.

Each axis is rated independently by the assigned editor after the visit, with written justification. The composite Glow Score is a weighted average.

Axis	What it measures	Weight
Service quality	Skill, technique, the actual result against expectation, attention to detail.	30%
Hygiene + safety	Sterilisation protocols, single-use where required, credentialled hands, current insurance, room cleanliness.	25%
Expertise + credentials	Formal training, industry association membership, specialisation, years on tools, ongoing education.	20%
Price-to-value	Result-per-dollar against the local market, transparency of pricing, no surprise upsells.	15%
Atmosphere + experience	Booking ease, wait times, comfort, music, post-care, follow-up.	10%

The Glow Recommended threshold.

A salon receives the Glow Recommended badge when its composite score is 8.0 or higher and no individual axis falls below 7. The badge is editorial. The threshold does not move when a salon pays. Paid placement is labelled Featured Partner, not Glow Recommended, until the editorial threshold is independently met.

Medical-category weighting.

For cosmetic-medicine categories (injectables, laser, energy devices), the same five axes apply, but Hygiene + Safety and Expertise + Credentials are weighted higher (30% and 25% respectively, with Service and Atmosphere reduced proportionally). Where AHPRA registration is required, it is verified before publication.

Conflicts + recusal.

Every Glow editor publishes a list of disclosable interests on their author page. Where an editor has any conflict relevant to a specific salon — employment, equity, family relationship, or treatment received outside the standard protocol — they recuse from the review and it is reassigned. The recusal is logged on the affected page.

Sample acquisition.

Editorial visits are booked under a regular name and paid at the standard rate. Glow does not accept comped treatments for graded reviews. Press-comped visits may inform editorial commentary (Confessions, Field Notes) but are not eligible for a Glow Score until a standard-rate visit is also completed.

Re-scoring cadence.

Every published salon is re-reviewed at least once every 18 months. Where reader complaint volume, ownership change, or a documented incident warrants, re-review is brought forward. The date of the most recent review is shown on every profile.

Corrections.

Send correction requests to [email protected]. Material corrections are logged on the affected page with a dated correction notice. Underlying claims are amended only after independent re-verification. Glow does not delete published claims; we correct them.

The conflict register.

Active or recent commercial relationships with salons under review are listed publicly in the Glow conflict register, updated quarterly and audited annually.

One-line summary

Five axes, public methodology, named editors, dated reviews. No paid Glow Scores. Featured Partner is a label, not a ranking. The wording on the page is the contract.