Teach Soap

(I tried to search for this on Teach Soap but I kept getting an error message so I'm posting this as a new topic even though I'm sure it's been discussed on here previously. I also did a Google search but kept getting lots of sites trying to sell me pre-made sheets of labels)

If I were to begin selling my handmade cold process soaps to the public, what is required by law to go on the label? Just as an example, if my soap was made with coconut oil, palm oil, lard, olive oil, lye, water, fragrance and color, what should be on my label?

Thanks!

Different soap makers list differently. Technically, if it's just soap, you don't have to label, but honestly you should. People have allergies and you don't want to cause someone a reaction.
List your ingredients in descending order, meaning if you used mostly olive oil, that gets listed first, then the next ingredient, ect.
Some soap makers list "saponified oils of olive, palm, coconut" and some list "olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, sodium hydroxide" and some list by the Latin name, I think it's your call here. For FO's you only need to list "fragrance" since FO's are proprietary, they won't tell you what is in it. EO's should be listed as such, example: Peppermint Essential Oil
Colorants should be listed by their INCI name, go to the website where you got your colors and they should have the INCI listed.

Best of luck!

Brandy

Thanks for your help. I was especially curious about the whole lye thing. I've heard some people say you don't have to list lye because it's no longer in the soap after the saponification process.

If you say: Saponified oils of...... then you wouldn't need to list sodium hydroxide, it's implied. I list with sodium hydroxide, but that's merely a choice. Glad I could be of help.

Brandy

I list my ingredients along with INCI names, but I don't think you have to.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I do not sell, but do share my soaps, so I list all that goes into the soap. For the lye I list it as NaOH, which is the chemical abbreviation for sodium hydroxide,ie: lye. I only do this to save room on the labels! There are times when the writing would have to be sooo tiny no one could read it. Someday I am going to write up a paper about my soaps to give out to those who are interested. (Hey! That would have made a good soapers new years resolution that was on another thread.)

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

Where's my wingman? Dave?!?? Where are you?

You need to include: Cures broken hearts, stupidity, and various emotional ailments.

Midnightstorm- I like that you listed lard there. Did you ever try the recipe I sent you? It's still in the tweeking stage-but I like it.

You're going to like this . . . I was all set to try the lard soap recipe last weekend but when I opened the tub, I realized there were little bits of peanut butter in it. Why was there peanut butter in my tub of lard? No, it's not because I sit around and binge on peanut butter and lard in the middle of the night. It's because I make homemade suet for the bluebirds. Apparently I used the same spoon to dip into the peanut butter and then into the lard the last time I was making suet.

I had terrible visions of making a beautiful bar of lard soap . . . that smelled like peanut butter. So I decided to wait and pick up a nice fresh tub of lard at Wally World. Which I did last night. So I'll be trying that lard soap recipe soon

I guess I would have had to list peanut butter as an ingredient in my soap if I had went ahead and made it last week

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

HaHaHa!! I knew Dave would remember the Cracker Barrel Soap!! I've been making all sorts of bizarre labels and it seems to work. I made "mother-in-law" repellent soap that I sold at a craft show right before Mother's Day last year and did well with them. "Cures stupidity & broken hearts" is now a standard in my inventory. Eye catching and funny.

Sorry but out of ideas for anything with Lard & Peanut Butter. Peanut Butter Piggy Soap ??

For Christmas I labeled one of my lip balms as "magical". It had a Wizard of Oz theme.

I defy anyone to prove that it's not actually magical. It certainly makes your lips more kissable... the rest is up to you.

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- Mickey!