Fact-check
Is Fair & Lovely (Glow & Lovely) banned in India?
Last checked 10 October 2026
No. Fair & Lovely has never been banned in India; Hindustan Unilever dropped the word 'fair' and renamed the cream Glow & Lovely in June 2020, and no CDSCO alert, state lab failure or licence action against the product appears in the records from 2019 to 2026.
- Classification
- Not banned; renamed Glow & Lovely in 2020
- Tested by
- No regulator action on record
- Reference
- None; renaming was a company decision (June 2020)
- Latest action
- 2 July 2020
- Last checked
- 10 October 2026
Photo: DSCF0910 Evening market scene shoppers browse a brightly lit stall of cosmetics and trinkets under the night sky.jpg by PattayaPatrol (CC BY-SA 4.0). All photo credits.
CDSCO: Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) alerts, public portal (monthly lists from state and central labs)
No regulator has acted on this finding. It comes from a published study or a private testing company, and the brand may dispute it.
Scope. A record here does not by itself mean a product or company is unsafe or banned today. Regulatory actions can apply to one batch, one formulation, one period or one state. Always check the linked government document for the current position, and tell us if something is out of date. How we label records.
Below: Blacklisted's explanationWe explain what the test or study found. No regulator has acted on it.
Key facts
- Regulatory status
- No CDSCO alert, no state lab failure, no licence action found (Jan 2019 to Aug 2026 alerts checked)
- Rename
- 'Fair & Lovely' became 'Glow & Lovely' in June 2020; the men's variant became 'Glow & Handsome'
- What changed
- The name and the advertising; the formulation is the company's business and is not on any regulator record
- Why people ask
- The 2020 rename, the 2014 ASCI advertising guidelines against fairness claims, and the 2025 to 2026 mercury-cream alerts, which concern other brands
Where the claim comes from
The June 2020 rename was widely reported as a 'ban' on social media. Searches also conflate it with the 2026 CDSCO alerts on Pakistani whitening creams.
The question comes up every year, and the answer has not changed: no Indian regulator has ever banned Fair & Lovely. What happened in June 2020 was a rename. After a wave of criticism of skin-lightening marketing, Hindustan Unilever announced on 25 Jun 2020 that it would drop 'fair' from the name, and the cream became Glow & Lovely (the men's version, Glow & Handsome) in July 2020. That was a company decision; no order required it.
We checked the regulator records. The product does not appear in any CDSCO 'not of standard quality' alert from January 2019 to August 2026, and no state licence action or public notice names it. The advertising rules that do exist, ASCI's 2014 guidelines on fairness claims and Rule 36 of the Cosmetics Rules 2020 on misleading claims, apply to how the cream is advertised, not to whether it may be sold.
The confusion in 2026 has a second source: the CDSCO and Maharashtra alerts on Pakistani whitening creams with mercury. Those are unregistered imports and have nothing to do with this product.
What this means for you
Not on any list
If a shop or a video says the cream is banned, it is confusing the rename, or the 2026 Pakistani-cream alerts, with regulator action. There is none.
Mercury creams are a different story
The creams flagged in 2025 and 2026 (Goree, Faiza, Chandni) are unregistered imports. A licensed Indian cosmetic from a large maker is tested like any other and this one has no failed batch on record.
This is a record of official orders, not medical advice. Do not stop a prescribed medicine without asking your doctor or pharmacist.
Common questions
Why was Fair & Lovely renamed?
Hindustan Unilever said in June 2020 it wanted a more inclusive vision of beauty and would drop the word 'fair'. No regulator ordered the change.
Does Glow & Lovely contain mercury or hydroquinone?
Not according to any regulator record. No batch of the product appears in CDSCO's lab alerts, and hydroquinone cannot be sold in a cosmetic in India.
Official sources and primary records
- Regulator
- Regulator
- Cosmetics Rules, 2020 (G.S.R. 763(E), 15 Dec 2020), CDSCO cosmetics division page with rules, FAQs and noticesGazetteCDSCO · 15 December 2020