At Fair Marrow, we review clean beauty and personal care products the way we wish someone had done it for us — rigorously, skeptically, and without a paycheck from the brands we cover.
This page explains exactly how we work: how a review gets started, who touches it before it goes live, what sources we trust, and what happens when we get something wrong. If you want to know whether you can trust us, this is the page that earns it or doesn’t.
How a Review Gets Made
Every piece of content on Fair Marrow moves through four stages before it reaches you.
1. Research
We start with a question — usually one that came from a reader tip, a trending ingredient, or a brand claim that sounded a little too clean. We pull the product’s full ingredient list from the brand’s website and, when possible, a physical product label. We cross-reference it against peer-reviewed safety databases (PubMed, CIR, EU SCCS opinions), regulatory databases (FDA, EU Cosmetics Regulation, Health Canada), and certification body ingredient standards (EWG Verified, MADE SAFE, NSF/ANSI 305).
We do not start from a press kit. We do not start from a brand’s “about our ingredients” page. Those are starting points for skepticism, not research.
2. Draft
A Fair Marrow writer drafts the review using our scoring framework, the Fair Marrow Standard. Every factual claim about ingredients, sourcing, or brand behavior is sourced at the draft stage, not added in afterward. Brand claims are treated as allegations until verified independently.
3. Fact-Check
Before publication, a second set of eyes reviews every factual claim and its source. For reviews that involve contested chemistry or skin-condition-specific claims, we consult with an independent cosmetic chemist or dermatologist. These reviewers are credited on the article when their input materially shaped the content. They do not receive payment from brands we cover.
4. Publish
The article goes live with a published date and, where applicable, a “last reviewed” date. Affiliate link disclosures are in place before the page is indexed.
How We Score Brands
We use a proprietary rubric called the Fair Marrow Standard. It evaluates brands across five pillars:
- Ingredient Honesty — Does the brand accurately represent what’s in the product?
- Formulation Integrity — Are the active ingredients present at meaningful concentrations?
- Source & Supply Chain — Can the brand substantiate sourcing claims?
- Marketing Truthfulness — Is the brand’s external messaging consistent with what’s actually in the bottle?
- Founder & Brand Behavior — Does the brand’s business conduct match its stated values?
Each pillar scores 0–2 points, for a maximum of 10. Scores are explained in plain language, not just numbers. A brand doesn’t get partial credit for trying hard.
Source Hierarchy
Not all sources are equal. Here’s how we rank them, from most to least authoritative:
- Peer-reviewed literature — PubMed-indexed studies, systematic reviews, CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review) safety assessments, EU Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) opinions
- Regulatory bodies — FDA, EPA, EFSA, Health Canada, EU Cosmetics Regulation databases
- Certification and standards organizations — EWG Verified, MADE SAFE, NSF/ANSI 305, COSMOS, Leaping Bunny
- Industry databases and toxicological references — INCI decoder databases, Skin Deep, Good Face Project (with skepticism applied)
- Investigative journalism and advocacy organization reports — used as leads, not as standalone evidence
- Brand-supplied materials — used as context, always verified against higher-tier sources
Brand claims that cannot be verified against a source at tier 1–3 are noted as unverified. We don’t penalize a brand for not doing the science on every ingredient, but we also don’t pass along claims we can’t independently substantiate.
Conflict of Interest Policy
Paid reviews do not exist on this site. No brand has ever paid for coverage, a score, or a placement of any kind. That is not changing.
Gifted products are accepted on a case-by-case basis when requesting a product for independent purchase would be impractical (limited distribution, high price point). When we review a product we received as a gift or a sample, we say so — in the article, at the top, before the review starts. Receiving a product has no effect on its score.
Affiliate links generate commission when readers purchase through them. This is how Fair Marrow earns revenue. It does not change what we write about, what scores we assign, or whether a review is positive or negative. A brand with a 4/10 score can still have an affiliate link in its review, because some readers will want to buy it anyway and we’d rather they know what they’re getting into. For the full affiliate disclosure, see our Affiliate Disclosure.
Personal relationships — if a writer or reviewer has a personal or professional relationship with a brand, its founder, or its investors, they are recused from that review. We note this when the recusal is relevant.
Correction Policy
We are going to get things wrong. It has happened. It will happen again. When it does:
- We correct the error as soon as it’s confirmed, not after a discussion about optics.
- We note the correction at the top of the article with the date it was made.
- We do not silently edit posts and pretend the error didn’t exist.
- If the error is material enough to affect a score, we re-score and update the record.
If you believe we’ve made a factual error, email us at tips@fairmarrow.com with the specific claim, your evidence, and a source. We will investigate and respond.
Reviewer Credentialing
Most Fair Marrow content is written and reviewed by the Fair Marrow editorial team. For reviews involving:
- Complex dermatological claims, we consult a board-certified dermatologist or licensed esthetician
- Contested ingredient safety, we consult an independent cosmetic chemist (not affiliated with the brand being reviewed)
- Regulatory compliance questions, we cross-reference with legal and regulatory guidance rather than relying on expert opinion alone
Credentialed reviewers are named in the article. Their relationship to Fair Marrow (unpaid consultant, contributing expert) is disclosed at the time of publication.
Update Cadence
A review published today is accurate today. But brands reformulate, certifications lapse, and companies get acquired by conglomerates that don’t share their founding values.
Every review on Fair Marrow is eligible for update review at the 12-month mark. High-traffic reviews and reviews of brands with known volatility are reviewed more frequently. When a review is updated, the “last reviewed” date at the top of the article reflects it.
If a brand reformulates significantly and we haven’t caught it, we want to know. Email tips@fairmarrow.com.
Reader Feedback
The best tips we’ve ever received came from readers who knew something we didn’t — a reformulation, a certification that quietly lapsed, a founder with a pattern we hadn’t documented.
If you have a tip, a correction, or a lead worth investigating, we want it: tips@fairmarrow.com.
We protect sources. If you ask us to keep your name out of it, we will. We have not and will not share tip-sender information with brands we cover.
Fair Marrow is an independent editorial site. We are not affiliated with any brand, certification body, retailer, or trade association. Our only financial relationships with brands are standard affiliate commission structures, all of which are disclosed.