The owner of a Woolwich hair salon has been fined after an undercover council worker discovered an illegal skin lightening scheme was being sold to customers.

Ms Adetold Amao, owner of New Hair London, was fined a total of £8,515 at Bexley Magistrates Court on December 22, 2021, following a Greenwich Council trading standards investigation.

An undercover test purchaser visited the shop on February 18, 2021, while the country was in lockdown.

They were sold an illegal skin lightening scheme, which was subsequently analysed and found to contain steroids.

Without proper control or regulation by a doctor or pharmacist, products with steroids can have extremely harmful side effects, including severe burns.

The business was re-visited on February 25, and 105 cosmetics products were seized.

Six further offences were committed under the Cosmetic Product Enforcement Regulations 2013, including illicit cosmetics being sold without labels indicating correct ingredients.

Lack of these details means that if users have an allergic reaction, they are unaware of who to contact and the manufacturer has no way to monitor the safety of their products.

Jackie Smith, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Enforcement said, “Skin lightening creams can be extremely dangerous and cause horrific burns. Businesses who flout the law by selling these dangerous and illegal products risk prosecution, heavy fines and imprisonment. As this case shows, we will come down hard on those who put people at risk.”

In an earlier hearing, Ms Amao was fined £350 with £350 costs and a victim surcharge of £50 in relation to the Covid breach on 18 February 2021.

On December 22, she was fined a further £3500 plus £4075.50 costs, and £190 victim surcharge in relation to the cosmetic offences.

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