Trust is the entire game in mobile beauty. You're letting a stranger into your home — sometimes when you're alone, sometimes when you have kids in the house, sometimes when your hands are too occupied with hair color to see what's around you. The vetting process is the difference between a marketplace that works and one that doesn't, so we want to be specific about exactly what we do before any pro can take their first booking on Made Glow.
The four-stage process
Every pro on Made Glow goes through four sequential checks. Failing any one of them is disqualifying — there's no override, no exceptions, and no "we know this person" path around the process. We currently approve about 38 percent of pro applicants. The other 62 percent fall out at one of the four stages below.
1. Identity verification (Checkr)
The pro uploads a government-issued ID (driver's license, state ID, or passport) and takes a live selfie inside the app. Our partner Checkr matches the face to the ID using bank-grade biometric comparison and verifies the ID is currently valid and not flagged as stolen or compromised.
This is a one-shot check — we don't accept "I'll send it tomorrow" or scanned images that aren't taken live in the app. About 4 percent of applicants fail at this stage, usually because they uploaded an expired ID or a friend's photo by accident.
2. License verification
The pro uploads a current state-issued license matching the services they want to offer: cosmetology for hair pros, nail technician or manicurist for nails, esthetician or medical aesthetician for skincare, lash extension specialist where required, Licensed Massage Therapist for massage. We cross-check the license number against the issuing state board's public database and confirm it's currently active, not under disciplinary action, and matches the name on the verified ID.
This is the largest disqualifier. About 24 percent of applicants don't have an active matching license — they're either expired, in another state, or were obtained from a school the state board no longer recognizes. We don't make exceptions for "self-taught" or "trained but not licensed."
3. Criminal background screen
Checkr runs a 7-year national criminal record search plus a national sex offender registry check plus county-level criminal history in every county the applicant has lived in for the past 7 years. We disqualify automatically for: violent felonies, sexual offenses of any kind, fraud-related felonies, and any conviction involving an at-home or service-context victim.
About 11 percent of applicants are disqualified at this stage. We comply with all FCRA and state-specific ban-the-box requirements and notify the applicant with the reason and dispute process.
4. Portfolio + reference review
The pro uploads at least 8 photos of their actual work (we run reverse-image search to catch portfolio fraud — using someone else's work is an automatic permanent ban) and provides 3 client or industry references. Our review team contacts at least one reference and spot-checks the portfolio for consistency. Pros who can't demonstrate consistent quality work are not approved.
About 23 percent of applicants don't pass this stage. The most common reasons: the portfolio is too thin (under 8 real photos), references go unanswered, or the work shown doesn't match the services they want to offer (e.g., applying for hair color jobs with only blowouts in the portfolio).
What happens after approval
Approved pros aren't done with vetting — they're just ready to take their first booking. We continue to monitor:
- Re-screening every 12 months. Identity, license, and criminal background checks all run again. License lapses are the most common cause of mid-tenure deactivation.
- Rating floor. Pros below 4.5 stars over their last 25 bookings are automatically deactivated pending review. The bar is higher than most marketplaces because mobile is a higher-trust environment.
- Complaint review. Any substantiated safety, sanitation, or professional complaint triggers a manual review and may result in immediate deactivation.
- Off-platform solicitation. Pros who try to move clients off the app (the easiest way to circumvent our safety system) are permanently banned.
What we do when something goes wrong
If a client reports a safety concern after a booking, here's what happens:
- Our trust and safety team reaches out within 4 hours during business hours, immediately for after-hours emergencies. Most reports come in through the in-app SOS button or a direct email to [email protected].
- We pause the pro's account immediately while we investigate. They can't take new bookings during this window.
- We review the in-app chat history (which we retain for safety purposes), location pings, and any other available evidence. We may interview both parties.
- Outcomes range from a documented warning to permanent deactivation, depending on what we find. For criminal allegations, we cooperate fully with law enforcement.
We publish an annual trust and safety report so anyone considering Made Glow can see the actual numbers — incidents per booking, deactivation rates, response times. The 2025 report is available at our safety page.
What this costs us, and why we do it anyway
The full vetting process costs us about $42 per approved pro and another $18 per re-screen. We absorb that cost — pros don't pay an application fee. The reason is simple: a marketplace that doesn't vet aggressively becomes a marketplace people stop trusting, and at that point you don't have a marketplace at all. We'd rather approve fewer pros and have every booking feel safe than approve everyone and lose the trust that makes the whole thing work.
If you're a beauty pro and want to know if you'd qualify, read the application requirements. If you're a client with a safety concern, email [email protected] any time.