Booked In
Patch tests: what your insurer actually asks for
Last updated 14 October 2026
The short version. There is no single legal patch-test rule in the UK. What binds you is your own insurance policy wording and your manufacturer's instructions, and those two differ from each other and from everybody else's. The number that matters is the one in your policy, not the one in a Facebook group.
Why there is no single answer
People look for "the law on patch tests" and do not find one, because there is not one. Lash adhesives, tints and lamination products are cosmetics, and what governs them is product safety law plus the manufacturer's own instructions for use. Neither sets a national waiting period for your treatment.
What does bind you is narrower and more personal: the policy you bought. Insurers write a patch-test condition into beauty policies, and if you did not meet it, the cover can be refused. That is the real mechanism, and it is why two technicians in the same town can both be right about different numbers.
The three numbers to get out of your policy
| How long before | Commonly 24 or 48 hours between the test and the treatment. Check which one your policy says, and whether it is stated as a minimum or as a recommendation. |
|---|---|
| How long it lasts | How long a test stays valid before she needs another. Six months is common; some policies say twelve, some say every time the product changes. |
| What counts as a retest | Most policies want a fresh test after a reaction, after a long gap, and after you change brand or formulation — that last one catches people out when they switch adhesive. |
If you cannot find these in your documents, ring your broker and ask them to point at the clause. It is a five-minute call and it is the only authoritative answer for you.
The part that actually decides a claim
A claim does not turn on whether you did the test. It turns on whether you can show you did it, on a specific date, for a specific client, before a specific appointment.
A diary note saying "patch tested" is weak evidence. A dated record tied to the client and to the appointment that followed is strong evidence. If your record lives in your head, on a WhatsApp thread, or in a paper book that went in the bin last spring, you are relying on the client not to claim.
This is also the bit that gets quietly skipped when you are busy. Nobody forgets a patch test on purpose. They forget it on a Saturday with four clients waiting, which is exactly the day it matters.
What to write down
- The date and time the test was done.
- Which client, by name and contact details.
- Which product, including brand and batch where you have it.
- The outcome — and a reaction recorded is worth more than a reaction remembered.
- The appointment it was for, so the two are tied together.
Telling a client who does not want one
"It is my insurance" is true and it ends the conversation badly. What works better is the version that is about her: a patch test is how you find out that a product does not suit her on a patch of skin behind her ear, rather than on her eyelids, two days before a wedding. Nobody argues with that.
If she has had it done elsewhere, that is not your test. Your policy covers work you did, on evidence you hold.
How Booked In handles this
We built the patch test into the booking page rather than into a reminder, because a reminder is something you can be too busy to read.
- A treatment that needs a test cannot be booked by somebody who has not had a valid one in time. Her page says so before she picks a day, so she is not refused at the end of a form.
- Booking the patch test itself records it, dated, against her.
- Every client carries a date you can see, and the list tells you who lapses this month while they are still in your diary.
- You set the hours and the validity period yourself, because yours is the policy that matters — not ours.
All of that is on the free plan and always will be. A safety rule behind a paywall is not a safety rule. On Pro+ it goes one step further and emails the clients whose tests are about to run out, so they book the test instead of trying to book the treatment and being turned away.
This page is not legal or insurance advice. It is a description of how the practical side usually works, written to help you ask your own insurer the right question. Your policy wording wins over anything here.