You have probably seen the name before. A friend mentions that their clinic “put them on ZO”, a skin practitioner on Instagram talks about “getting skin ready”, or you notice the clean white and black bottles on a treatment-room shelf. Then you look it up and find a long list of cleansers, pads, serums, crèmes and sunscreens, with very little explanation of how they are meant to fit together, or why the brand has such a following.
This guide explains what ZO Skin Health is, the dermatologist behind it, and how its three-step system is designed to work. It also looks at the named awards, press coverage and industry news behind its reputation, what living with a ZO routine actually looks like, and which ZO products are listed in the Faces shop. For the brand’s own information, the official UK site is zoskinhealth.co.uk.
What is ZO Skin Health?
ZO Skin Health (pronounced “zee-oh”) is a professional skincare brand founded in 2007 by Dr Zein Obagi, whom the brand describes as a world-renowned dermatologist. On its official UK About page, ZO lists Dr Obagi as founder and medical director and as the author of two books on skin health restoration and rejuvenation, published in 1999 and 2015. ZO says it believes the ideal way to attain and maintain skin health is through science, and that its aim is to support healthy skin rather than only treat visible damage once it has appeared. You can read the same philosophy on the US About page.
In the UK, ZO positions itself as physician-dispensed. Its UK homepage describes ZO as the leading physician-dispensed skincare brand, a claim it bases on US aesthetics-practice sales data. That is why you will usually meet ZO through an aesthetics clinic or skin practitioner rather than on a high-street shelf, and why ZO runs an official partner finder for clinics. ZO also describes its products as “medical-grade”. That is brand language that many professional skincare companies use. It is not a UK certification or a regulatory category.
The cosmetic ZO Skin Health products covered in this article are not prescription medicines. Some routines that clinics build around ZO may also include prescription-strength ingredients, which is a separate conversation we cover further down.
Why ZO is so well regarded: the verifiable bits
Plenty of skincare brands call themselves prestigious. With ZO, there is a fair amount you can actually check. Here is what we could verify, with links to the original sources so you can read them yourself.
A major dermatology deal in 2026
On 14 October 2026, Galderma, the Swiss dermatology company, announced an agreement to acquire ZO Skin Health for an enterprise value of 1.5 billion US dollars. In that announcement, Galderma described ZO as “a reference name in clinically-backed professional skincare for more than two decades”, with more than 40 products sold through over 16,500 physician, medical spa and online accounts in more than 40 countries. The deal was expected to close in late 2026 or early 2027, and trade title WWD covered it the same day. It followed an investment by funds managed by Blackstone in 2020.
A deal is not proof a product will suit your skin, but it shows ZO is taken seriously by people whose business is dermatology.
Named awards and editors’ picks
ZO’s own website calls its range award-winning. We went back to the original publications to check each claim, and these are the ones that held up:
| ZO product | Recognition | Publication and year | On Faces? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complexion Renewal Pads | Best Chemical Exfoliator for Face, Acne Awards | Cosmopolitan, 2022 | Listed |
| Sheer Fluid Broad-Spectrum Sunscreen SPF 50 | Best Face Sunscreen, Shape Skin Awards | Shape, 2024 | Listed |
| Retinol + Acne Complex | Best Retinol Treatment for Acne-Prone Skin, Beauty Awards | NewBeauty, 2025 | Not currently listed |
| Exfoliating Polish | Best Anti-Aging in a tested face-scrub guide; left skin “silkiest” in GH Beauty Lab testing | Good Housekeeping (US), 2024 update | Listed |
| Brightalive Skin Brightener | Best Dark Spot Corrector for Glowing Skin (editorial list) | Harper’s Bazaar, 2024 | Listed |
| Daily Sheer Broad-Spectrum SPF 50 | Among the skincare products readers loved most | NewBeauty readers, 2025 | Listed |
Editorial awards and readers’ favourites are opinions from testers and editors, mostly in the US. They are a useful signal, not a clinical guarantee, and they do not mean a product is right for your skin.
ZO in the press: routines people have shared
ZO products turn up in the beauty routines of well-known people interviewed by major magazines. These are reported, dated mentions from the publications below. They are not endorsements of Faces, and Faces has no partnership with anyone named here.
- In a July 2024 Vogue “Beauty Secrets” video, singer Rita Ora used ZO Complexion Renewal Pads for “a quick exfoliation” after cleansing.
- In a 2020 ELLE UK interview, model and entrepreneur Rosie Huntington-Whiteley listed ZO Complexion Renewal Pads in her routine and said the last beauty item she had bought was ZO Oil Control Pads.
- Ahead of the 2024 Emmys, makeup artist Jo Baker told Harper’s Bazaar that she prepped Kristen Wiig’s skin with ZO Calming Toner and Growth Factor Eye Serum, and used Brightalive as a base.
- Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin told ELLE that she uses ZO Exfoliating Polish two to three times a week when she travels.
Routines change, and what suits someone with a team of facialists may not suit you. The useful takeaway is how often the same Getting Skin Ready basics come up.
The ZO method: three steps
ZO organises its range around a three-step approach. Understanding these steps is the easiest way to make sense of the product list, because almost every product belongs to one of them.
Step 1: Getting Skin Ready
ZO calls its first step Getting Skin Ready. It is made up of three parts: cleanse, exfoliate and tone. ZO explains that the routine is designed to remove surface oil, make-up and pollutants, renew the skin’s upper layers to improve texture, and help the products that follow work better. For all skin types, ZO’s official Getting Skin Ready set is Gentle Cleanser, Exfoliating Polish and Complexion Renewal Pads.
This is the step most people can start with. It does not try to correct anything dramatic. It is about building a calm, consistent base, so whatever you use next has a clean surface to sit on.
Step 2: Prevent + Correct
The second step is where ZO places its targeted serums and crèmes, aimed at concerns such as visible signs of ageing, uneven-looking tone, dryness and redness-prone skin. This is also the step where a professional assessment matters most, because the right product depends on your skin, your history and anything else you are already using.
Step 3: Protect
The final step is daily sun protection. ZO calls its sunscreen technology Triple-Spectrum Protection, which is the brand’s own term, and explains its thinking on its sun protection page. Whatever sunscreen you choose, the principle behind this step is uncontroversial: daily broad-spectrum SPF is one of the most useful habits in any routine, and it matters even more if you are using exfoliating or active products.
Living with a ZO routine
Part of ZO’s appeal is that it feels like a ritual rather than a random shelf of products. Here is how a ZO-style routine tends to fit into real life, kept simple.
The morning reset
A quick cleanse, a swipe of a toning pad, a serum if you use one, then SPF. Pads are popular because they are fast and tidy: no cotton pads, no pouring, easy to keep by the sink. Done this way, the whole routine takes a few minutes before coffee.
Commuting, the school run and lunch outside
Protect is the step people most often skip, especially in a British winter. A lightweight daily SPF that sits well under make-up makes it easier to wear every day, not just on holiday. If you are outside for long, reapply.
Before a big night or an event
The red-carpet mentions above show how professionals use ZO: as skin prep before make-up, not as an instant fix. At home, that might mean a gentle cleanse, a calming toner and a light eye serum before foundation. Save any new exfoliant for another day, so your skin is calm, not freshly sensitised.
Alongside clinic treatments
ZO is built around clinics, and it also makes professional in-clinic peels. If you are having treatments such as peels, your practitioner may adjust your home routine before and after. Follow their aftercare advice rather than a generic plan.
For a broader look at layering products, see our guide to building a simple skincare routine, or our skincare by concern guide for hydration, tone and SPF across other brands.
Named ZO Skin Health products listed on Faces
Faces lists a wide selection of named ZO Skin Health cosmetic products. On 12 November 2026, every ZO listing we checked was showing as out of stock. Treat the tables below as a guide to what each product is and what it was priced at, and check the product page for current availability before you plan around it.
The core three-step routine
| Product | ZO step | Faces price (12 Nov 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| ZO Skin Health Gentle Cleanser 200mL | Getting Skin Ready: cleanse | £40.78 |
| ZO Skin Health Exfoliating Polish 65g | Getting Skin Ready: exfoliate | £55.06 |
| ZO Skin Health Complexion Renewal Pads 60ct | Getting Skin Ready: tone | £46.90 |
| ZO Skin Health Calming Toner 180mL | Getting Skin Ready: tone | £36.70 |
| ZO Skin Health Daily Power Defense 50mL | Prevent + Correct | £117.30 |
| ZO Skin Health Daily Sheer Broad-Spectrum SPF50 | Protect | £57.10 |
As seen in the press
| Product | Where it came up | Faces price (12 Nov 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| ZO Skin Health Sheer Fluid Broad-Spectrum SPF50 50mL | Shape Skin Awards 2024, Best Face Sunscreen | £56.59 |
| ZO Skin Health Brightalive 50mL | Harper’s Bazaar 2024 dark spot corrector pick | £109.29 |
| ZO Skin Health Growth Factor Eye Serum 15mL | Used in Kristen Wiig’s 2024 Emmys skin prep (Harper’s Bazaar) | £108.10 |
| ZO Skin Health Oil Control Pads 60ct | Named by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (ELLE UK, 2020) | £55.06 |
- Start with Gentle Cleanser if you only buy one product. Exfoliating Polish is easy to overdo, so follow the pack directions and ease off if skin feels tight or sore.
- Complexion Renewal Pads and Calming Toner both sit in the toning step. ZO lists Calming Toner for normal to dry and sensitised skin.
- Daily Power Defense is a Prevent + Correct serum. ZO’s official product FAQ says it is not a retinol.
- Daily Sheer and Sheer Fluid are both SPF50 options. Pick the texture you will actually wear every morning.
We have deliberately left ZO kits and bundled programmes out of these lists. Some kits can contain or sit alongside prescription-only ingredients, and we only link products we have checked are cosmetic.
Whatever you choose, introduce one new product at a time, give each a few weeks, patch-test, and stop anything that causes significant irritation.
Who is ZO for, and when should you see a professional?
ZO says it aims to offer solutions regardless of age, ethnicity, skin condition or skin type, and its physician-dispensed positioning reflects how it is meant to be used: ideally with guidance from someone who has looked at your skin. That guidance matters most in a few situations:
- You have a diagnosed skin condition, such as acne, rosacea or eczema, or your skin is very reactive.
- You are pregnant, breastfeeding, or using any prescription treatment on your skin.
- You are interested in prescription-strength options. Ingredients such as tretinoin or hydroquinone are prescription-only medicines in the UK and need a consultation with a qualified prescriber. They are not something to buy on your own.
- You want to combine skincare with in-clinic treatments such as peels.
If any of these apply, you can use the Faces find a prescriber directory to arrange a consultation with a registered prescriber near you. A consultation may or may not lead to a prescription; that is a clinical decision made with you.
Ready to start with step one? Our ZO Skin Health Getting Skin Ready guide walks through cleansing, exfoliating and toning in a simple UK routine.
Why shop skincare on Faces?
Faces is best known as clinic software. Aesthetics and skin clinics use it for online booking, digital consent forms, client records and aftercare. The same Faces platform also includes Faces Pharmacy and a multi-seller marketplace, so clinics can book appointments, take consent and order clinic stock from one place, and consumers can shop cosmetic skincare ranges such as ZO in the same Faces shop. Faces is an authorised ZO Skin Health partner. That describes our stockist relationship with ZO; it is not an endorsement of Faces by ZO, Galderma or anyone named in this article.
For you as a customer, that means the professional brands your practitioner talks about in clinic are often listed on the same platform they use to run their diary. For practitioners, it means a booking system with a built-in pharmacy and marketplace, rather than separate logins for software and suppliers. You can read more about why clinics use a booking system with a built-in pharmacy, or create a free Faces account if you run a clinic.
Browse more professional ranges in our round-up of skincare ranges to shop on Faces, or compare cleansers across brands in our best facial cleansers guide.
Watch and follow Faces
For product reviews, routines and how-to videos, subscribe to the Faces Pharmacy YouTube channel and to Ash from Faces on YouTube. You can also follow us on Instagram @facesconsentapp, TikTok @facespharmacy and LinkedIn.
Start with step one
If you are new to ZO, start where the brand itself starts: a gentle cleanse. Check the listing for current stock and price, and build from there.
FAQs
What is ZO Skin Health in the UK?
ZO Skin Health is a professional skincare brand founded by dermatologist Dr Zein Obagi. In the UK it is positioned as physician-dispensed, so it is usually recommended through clinics. The official UK site is zoskinhealth.co.uk.
Has ZO won any awards?
Yes, for specific products. Examples we verified include Cosmopolitan’s 2022 Acne Awards (Complexion Renewal Pads), the 2024 Shape Skin Awards (Sheer Fluid SPF 50) and NewBeauty’s 2025 Beauty Awards (Retinol + Acne Complex). These are editorial awards, not clinical endorsements.
Which celebrities use ZO?
Major magazines have reported ZO in the routines of people including Rita Ora (Vogue, 2024), Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (ELLE UK, 2020) and Mikaela Shiffrin (ELLE, 2023), and in Kristen Wiig’s 2024 Emmys skin prep. These are reported uses at the time, not endorsements of Faces.
Do I need a prescription for ZO products?
Not for the cosmetic products listed in this article. Prescription-strength ingredients, such as tretinoin or hydroquinone, are prescription-only medicines in the UK and need a consultation with a qualified prescriber.
Is Daily Power Defense a retinol?
No. ZO’s official FAQ says Daily Power Defense is not a retinol. If you want a retinoid, speak to a skin professional.
Are ZO products in stock on Faces?
On 12 November 2026, the ZO listings we checked were showing as out of stock. Stock changes, so check each product page for current availability.
This article is general information about cosmetic skincare and is not medical advice. Awards, press mentions and celebrity routines are reported from the linked publications on the dates shown and do not imply any endorsement of Faces. If you have a skin condition or are using prescription treatments, speak to a qualified healthcare professional before changing your routine.
Ashley James Simpson-Davies INP MSc RN