Our standards

How we work

The rules behind every page of Melanin & Me, and the things we will never do.

Our pledge: we sell no products, and no brand can pay to be mentioned

We do not sell skincare, haircare or makeup, and no brand can pay to be mentioned, ranked or recommended. There are no sponsored articles, no paid placements and no commission links. When we name a shop, it is only to help you avoid fakes.

That is why our advice can be on your side: the cheapest product that works is the right answer, whoever makes it. If this ever changes, we will say so plainly on every page it affects.

How we pay for this. The safety tools, programs and articles you see here are free, and the safety tools always will be. We plan an optional membership for deeper programs and tracking. It will pay for physicians and research, never for brands.

How an article is made

Start from the guidance. We begin with what national health services, regulators and specialist medical societies advise, such as the NHS, NICE, the WHO, NAFDAC and the American Academy of Dermatology.
Write for melanin-rich skin. Many conditions look different on darker skin, and some treatments carry extra risks, such as dark marks after irritation. We say how, in plain words.
Source every claim. Each article lists its sources at the end. Across the library there are 253 source links, last checked on 21 October 2026.
Check the facts. New and rewritten articles are fact-checked against their sources before they go live.
Physician review. Licensed physicians review every article. Until an article is signed off it says “Doctor review pending”, and only then does it show “Physician reviewed” with the month.
Keep it current. When advice changes, we update the article and note it under “What changed”.

Review status today

0 of 124 articles have completed physician review.

Physician sign-off is in progress, so every article currently shows “Doctor review pending”. We would rather tell you that than pretend. Content was last updated 21 October 2026.

What the evidence labels mean

Every article shows its evidence basis: what kind of sources its advice rests on. It describes the sources, not a verdict on every sentence.

Official guidance · 110 articles: Rests on guidance from national health services, regulators or specialist medical societies.
Specialist references · 14 articles: Rests on specialist medical references written by doctors, such as DermNet.
Expert opinion · 0 articles: Rests on expert opinion; formal guidance on this topic is limited.

Programs carry an evidence grade for the treatment itself:

Grade A · 17 programs: Strong evidence: guidelines or reviews of trials.
Grade B · 3 programs: Good evidence: at least one controlled trial.
Grade C · 7 programs: Expert consensus: sensible care, fewer trials.

What we will never do

Diagnose you, or give doses of prescription medicines. When something needs a doctor, the page says so, with the emergency number for your country.
Take money to praise or rank a product or brand.
Invent reviews, testimonials, press coverage or before-and-after photos.
Show AI-generated people as patients. All model and lifestyle photos on this site are AI-generated and are labelled as such; photos of conditions are real licensed medical images.
Track you. No accounts, no cookies, no analytics, no advertising. Privacy

Corrections

If you think something is wrong or out of date, tell us. We check it against the sources, correct it if needed, and record the change under “What changed” on the article.

Education, not diagnosis. The Maison · About