Teach Soap

Hi Everyone! I am new to this forum. I am completely addicted to soaping, CP, CPOP, and MP (I really dislike HP, but that is just me, lol). I am starting to research selling but I live in Florida and everything that I have read online says that Florida will not issue you a license for manufacturing "cosmetics" out of your residence. I have not yet been able to verify that statement through the Florida government sites that I have been able to view so far. So I have a few questions. Does anyone on this forum live in Florida and sell your soap? And if you do, Are you calling it just soap and therefore not required to get the cosmetic license etc..? If you are I would REALLY like to chat with you about the do's and don'ts of falling into the soap category. I went to the FDA website and if I interpreted correctly, you cannot list any ingredients, you can only say it is soap. Ok, I know that I would not buy soap if I didn't know what was in it. So how do you let your customers know what is in the "soap" without taking your product from the soap category into the cosmetic category? I want to be sure I am doing things correctly but I have hit this roadblock and am just trying to find a way over it, through it or around it, lol. For now I just want to understand it.

Welcome!! I don't know the cosmetic rules for Florida, but I do know from others on this forum and from the FDA website, that you can list your soap ingredients on the label. I don't think it's required, but it is allowed. In order for your soap to fall within the "soap" category and not the "cosmetic" category, you can only market your soap as soap and nothing more. This means you can claim that your soaps cleans, but you can't say it moisturizes, relaxes sore muscles, lifts one's mood, deodorizes, etc.

HTH!

_________________
Olivia :)

The way I understand it, just as long as you make what the FDA calls true soap like CP, that's not considered a cosmetic. MP base however is considered a cosmetic in Florida.

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

Thank you ladies for your replies! I spent the afternoon researching and it all boils down to this (it seems), in Florida, you cannot sell anything that falls into the "Cosmetic" category if you make it in your home. However, I CAN sell CP soap as long as it does not (as you said) indicate that it does anything other than clean a person. So the research will start on how to stay within those constraints and sell your soap. Also, I am curious to know more about the MP being considered a cosmetic by Florida that was in the last response. My guess is that it would be because most MP bases contain SLS. However, I only purchase the detergent free soap bases, so doesn't that qualify true soap?

Thank you guys again for responding. I am really trying to just sort out what I can and cannot do legally and then decide which direction I want to go with this.

_________________
Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Well, after all of the research that I've done, I find that I cannot make any kind of soap from within my residence. And, on top of that, the permit that I would have to get is terribly expensive! I can make it out of state and sell it in Florida...
All this being said, it would be helpful if I had the links to direct all here to read for themselves, wouldn't it?

There has been much discussion on this state and it's issues for making and selling soap so hopefully, in the future, things will be a bit simpler for us soapers!

http://blog.mariegale.com/florida-cosmetic-regulations/

This is a good starting place....

Best wishes!

_________________
Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!