Teach Soap

Ever since Genny showed me Florida's laws on making saop i have been looking in to it. Now from what i understand if soap have anything other then lye in it then its a cosmetic which then means i need all this orther stuff. So some of you business owners explain this to me

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~~Sydney~~
The Crafty Lefty

I don't live in Florida, but the way I understand it, MP base is considered a cosmetic, so has its own set of rules and regs.

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

I'm not an expert and have only done preliminary research but I do live in Florida. What follows is just a brief summary of my interpretations of the information that's been passed along to me. The FDA has it's own guidelines when it comes to labeling, manufacturing, what's considered a cosmetic, etc. Most states adopt that same guideline when it comes to when is a soap a soap and when is it a cosmetic? You can't make any claims a soap is moisturizing, clears acne, etc., otherwise a soap then is considered cosmetic. A soap is a soap is a soap and it's only and intended purpose is soap, i.e., cleaning. In Florida, we have additional hurdles. If you manufacture anything other than soap (a soap that's a soap and nothing more) then you have to apply for a license. I believe the cost is $800 every two years. You need to be inspected and operate/manufacture out of a separate facility which is not a residence. I am unclear if you perhaps owned a separate home and used it only as a "lab" if this is considered a residence. In any event, you need to be licensed, inspected, pay a hefty license fee and on top of all that, every product you produce has to be certified or pass inspection as well. So if you want to sell lotion, you need the all go for that lotion. I am not familiar with the particulars of all of that. I figure that's a lot of money and hassle to go through to sell a $3 tube of lip balm. However, I will say that I've come across many, many soap makers who also produce lotions, lip balms, bath salts, etc., and I would be very surprised if they are properly licensed. I've spoken to some and know for a fact they are not, which is really frustrating to legitimate crafters. It's also a bit of a deception to the public who buys their unlicensed products. The average Joe doesn't know that bottle of lotion that's manufactured in Suzy's kitchen isn't legally supposed to be sold.

I believe TeaTime's answer is accurate. We will be moving back to FL in a couple of years so I've also been researching the requirements. In TN, where I live now, I can make all types of bath & body products in my home and legally sell them. In FL, all you can make in your home and *legally* sell is soap. It's also my understanding that certain types of melt & pour soap is not *legal* either, but I don't do MP, so I didn't research that. FL is not very friendly to small home businesses.

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

yes fl is not friendly at all. i thinkt it should have levels you no if we just want to have online stores and sell at craft shows or out the home then we sould be at one level or somthing like that or if we gross so much in a year or if we only produce so much product in a year you know. but i will only make soap and sell it as soap. i wound if i have like a shea butter soap but it pacakaged as soap can i say hey if you have dry skin you should get this soap?

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~~Sydney~~
The Crafty Lefty

Nope, you can't say that because then you're making a claim and it's no longer considered "just" soap.

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