Community guidelines

Why this matters

Someone chooses where to put their hair in a stranger's hands based on what you wrote. A fake five-star review sends them somewhere bad. A fake one-star review takes money from a small business. We take both seriously.

Reviews

Review places you went to. We check reviews against bookings. A review from someone who never had an appointment carries a visible warning, or comes down.

Describe what happened to you. What you asked for, what you got, how long it took, how the place felt. That is useful. "Terrible, avoid" is not.

Do not review your own business, or a competitor's. Owners, staff, family, friends doing a favour, anyone paid to post — all of it comes off, and accounts involved get suspended. Repeat attempts cost the venue its listing.

Do not trade reviews for anything. A discount for a five-star rating is bribery of the ratings, and venues that do it are delisted. If you were offered one, tell us.

Keep it about the visit. Not the politics of the owner, not a delivery driver who cut you off outside, not a grudge from elsewhere.

Photos

Post photos you took. Do not post someone else's work as your own — stylists recognise their own cuts, and passing off a portfolio image is the fastest way to lose an account.

Get consent before posting a recognisable photo of another person, including staff and other customers. Never post a photo taken in a changing area or treatment room where someone had a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Before-and-after photos are welcome and are what most people come for. Do not edit one to misrepresent a result.

Never allowed

• Abuse, threats, or harassment of anyone — a customer, a stylist, or us.
• Attacks based on caste, religion, region, gender, sexuality, disability, skin colour or body. Grooming is close to how people feel about themselves; this line is firm.
• Sexual content, sexual advances toward staff, or any suggestion that a venue offers sexual services.
• Anyone else's personal details — phone numbers, addresses, a stylist's private account.
• Anything involving a minor beyond an ordinary haircut photo posted by their parent.
• Spam, referral links, and advertising another business.
• Impersonating a venue, a stylist, or hairDose.

If a venue or a stylist is reading

You may reply to reviews, and you should. A calm, specific reply to a bad review persuades more readers than the review discourages. A defensive one does the opposite.

You may not pressure a customer to change or remove a review, offer anything in exchange for one, or contact them outside hairDose about it. Reporting a review you believe is fake or abusive is exactly right — we will look at it.

Reviews are not removed for being negative. They are removed for being false, abusive, or against these rules.

Reporting, and what follows

Every review, photo and post has a report button. Tell us which rule it breaks. Reports are not shown to the person you reported.

A person reads it. Depending on what we find, we leave it alone, hide it, remove it, or act on the account — a warning first for most things, immediate suspension for threats, sexual content involving staff, or content involving a minor.

If you are in immediate danger, call the police on 112 first. Then tell us at safety@hairdose.com, so we can act on the account and the listing.

If we got it wrong

We will tell you what came down and why. Reply to that message and a different person looks again. We do overturn decisions.