Skincare and haircare retail requires product discovery filtering that matches customers to products suited to their specific needs — skin type, skin concern, hair type, hair concern. Without these filters, a customer browsing a 200-product skincare range cannot find a "lightweight moisturiser for oily acne-prone skin" without reading every product description. The investment in skin type, skin concern, and ingredient metafields pays back immediately in search filter utility and in allowing a "skin routine builder" experience that drives multiple-product purchases.

Skincare product categories

Cleansers: Foaming, gel, cream, balm, micellar water, oil cleansers. By skin type.
Toners and essences: Hydrating toners, exfoliating toners (AHA/BHA), essences. By concern.
Serums and treatments: Vitamin C, retinol, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, peptides, AHA/BHA. By concern — the most complex category.
Moisturisers: Lightweight (oily), rich (dry), gel, cream, SPF-inclusive. By skin type.
Eye creams and treatments: By concern (dark circles, puffiness, fine lines).
SPF and sun care: SPF factor variants. Foundation/BB cream with SPF — shade and SPF variants.
Face oils: By oil type (rosehip, jojoba, marula) and skin type.
Masks: Sheet masks, clay masks, peel-off, overnight masks. By concern.
Exfoliants: Physical and chemical. AHA%, BHA%, enzyme percentage as metafields.
Lip care: Lip balms, lip serums, lip masks. SPF, tinted variants.

Haircare product categories

Shampoos: By hair type (fine, thick, colour-treated, curly, straight) and scalp concern (dandruff, oily scalp, dry/itchy scalp).
Conditioners: Rinse-out, leave-in. By hair type. Protein vs moisture focus.
Hair masks and treatments: Deep conditioning, protein treatments, bond repair (Olaplex-style). By damage level and hair type.
Scalp treatments: Scalp serums, scalp scrubs, anti-dandruff treatments. By scalp concern.
Styling products: Curl creams, gel, mousse, serums, heat protectants. By hair type and style goal.
Hair oils: Argan, coconut, castor, marula. By concern (frizz, shine, growth).
Colour and treatments: Hair dye, toning treatments, colour-enhancing shampoos. By hair colour.

Skincare metafields

product.metafields.skincare.skin_type (multi_line_text) — suitable skin types, one per line: "Oily", "Combination", "Dry", "Normal", "Sensitive", "All skin types"
product.metafields.skincare.skin_concern (multi_line_text) — addresses concerns, one per line: "Acne / Breakouts", "Anti-ageing", "Hyperpigmentation", "Redness / Rosacea", "Dryness / Dehydration", "Large pores", "Dullness"
product.metafields.skincare.key_ingredients (multi_line_text) — hero ingredients and their functions: "Niacinamide (10%) — pore-minimising, brightening", "Hyaluronic Acid — deep hydration", "Retinol (0.5%) — anti-ageing"
product.metafields.skincare.inci_ingredients (multi_line_text) — full INCI ingredient list in INCI format (as required by UK Cosmetics Regulation)
product.metafields.skincare.spf (single_line_text) — "SPF 30", "SPF 50" — for products with sun protection factor
product.metafields.skincare.pa_rating (single_line_text) — "PA+++", "PA++++" — UVA protection rating (Asian cosmetics standard)
product.metafields.skincare.fragrance_free (boolean) — true for fragrance-free formulas (important for sensitive skin)
product.metafields.skincare.alcohol_free (boolean)
product.metafields.skincare.vegan (boolean)
product.metafields.skincare.cruelty_free (boolean)
product.metafields.skincare.pH_level (single_line_text) — "pH 3.5–4.0" — for AHA/BHA products and toners
product.metafields.skincare.aha_percentage (single_line_text) — "10% AHA" — for exfoliant products
product.metafields.skincare.retinol_strength (single_line_text) — "0.025% retinol (entry)", "0.5% retinol (medium)", "1% retinol (strong)" — for retinol products
product.metafields.skincare.routine_step (single_line_text) — "Step 1 — Cleanse", "Step 2 — Tone", "Step 3 — Treat (Serum)", "Step 4 — Moisturise", "Step 5 — Protect (SPF)"
product.metafields.skincare.patch_test_recommended (boolean) — for products with active ingredients (retinol, high-% AHA/BHA)

Haircare metafields

product.metafields.haircare.hair_type (multi_line_text) — "Fine/Limp", "Thick/Coarse", "Curly", "Wavy", "Straight", "Natural/Afro", "Colour-treated", "Chemically processed"
product.metafields.haircare.hair_concern (multi_line_text) — "Frizz", "Dryness", "Breakage", "Dandruff", "Oily scalp", "Thinning/Hair loss", "Colour fade", "Lack of shine"
product.metafields.haircare.scalp_type (single_line_text) — "Normal", "Oily", "Dry", "Sensitive", "Dandruff-prone"
product.metafields.haircare.is_sulfate_free (boolean)
product.metafields.haircare.is_silicone_free (boolean)
product.metafields.haircare.is_paraben_free (boolean)
product.metafields.haircare.curl_system (single_line_text) — "Low porosity", "High porosity", "Curly Girl Method approved"
product.metafields.haircare.protein_content (single_line_text) — "Protein-free", "Low protein", "High protein"

SPF and shade variants

Tinted SPF, BB creams, tinted moisturisers: Variant: Shade (Fair, Light, Light-Medium, Medium, Medium-Tan, Tan, Deep) + Variant: SPF level (SPF 15, SPF 30, SPF 50) if available in multiple SPF levels.
Shade range inclusivity: where your range includes deep shades, ensure these are in stock and shown first in the shade selector for customers browsing from deeper skin tones. Sold-out shades should not be removed from the selector — they should show as "Notify me when available".
Shade finder: a quiz or interactive shade selector tool on shade-variant products significantly reduces returns from customers who ordered the wrong shade. Third-party shade finder apps or a custom quiz (using Typeform, Octane AI) linked from shade-variant product pages.
Colour swatch display: Shopify supports colour swatches for variant options. Map shade names to hex colour codes so swatches display visually rather than as text dropdowns.

UK Cosmetics Regulation compliance

UK Cosmetics Regulation (UK-retained version of EU Regulation 1223/2009) requires that all cosmetic products sold in the UK after Brexit have a Responsible Person (RP) registered in the UK, a UK Cosmetic Product Notification (via OPSS portal), and a Product Information File (PIF).
Display on product pages: the Responsible Person's name and UK address. For branded products, this is typically the brand or their UK distributor.
INCI ingredient list: required to be displayed in full. Use the skincare.inci_ingredients metafield to display the INCI list in the correct format on product pages.
Preservative and allergen declaration: the 26 EU fragrance allergens (Council Directive 2003/15/EC) must be declared if above threshold levels. Display in the ingredient list with bold or asterisk notation.

Skincare migration checklist

Create skincare metafield namespace: skin_type, skin_concern, key_ingredients, inci_ingredients, spf, fragrance_free, vegan, cruelty_free, patch_test_recommended, routine_step
Create haircare metafield namespace: hair_type, hair_concern, scalp_type, is_sulfate_free, is_silicone_free, curl_system, protein_content
Populate INCI ingredient lists for all cosmetic products — UK Cosmetics Regulation requirement
Set up shade variants for tinted products with colour swatch mapping
Enable skin type, skin concern, SPF, fragrance-free, and vegan filters in Search & Discovery
Enable hair type, hair concern, and curl system filters
Add patch test recommendation notice to retinol and high-% AHA/BHA products
Create "Shop by Skin Concern" and "Shop by Skin Type" collection landing pages
Create skincare routine builder page (routine_step metafield used to group products by step)
Test: skin type filter → correct products returned for "Oily"
Test: shade variant → colour swatch displayed

The skin concern filter is the highest-ROI discovery feature in skincare retail. A customer who knows they want to address hyperpigmentation does not want to read 80 serum product descriptions — they want to filter by "Hyperpigmentation" and see the 8–12 products that specifically address it, ranked by bestseller or customer rating. This is a fundamentally better discovery experience than any homepage promotion or email campaign. The stores that invest in comprehensive skin concern, skin type, and key ingredient metafields — and build the Search & Discovery filters to use them — see higher average order values because customers who find products suited to their exact needs are more likely to buy multiple steps of their skincare routine from the same retailer.

Migrating a skincare & haircare store from WooCommerce to Shopify (2026)