Teach Soap

OK, i'm sure this question has been asked, but in lieu of paging and paging through, I'm posting here.

I started making soaps for sale!! While setting up my website, a few thoughts came to mind. I purchase MP bases because at home, where I have 2 children, I do not feel safe to use lye. Does that make me a cheat? Are my soaps no longer 'natural' or are they now considered synthetic because they are melt&pour? I'm so confused on how to market myself!

I do not use anything synthetic/artificial when I create soap. I use herbs, clays and micas to color and essential oils/ittars to fragrance. I'm very specific about that.

Question remains:
What sort of business am I?
What can i NOT say about myself?

many thanks!
brand new soaper, Ayesha

Well, you can't really say you "made it yourself"...because someone else made the soap, kwim?

I dunno...it doesn't make you a "cheater" because SOMEONE made it...you just shouldn't pass the soap base off as your own.

Soap can only claim to clean you, that's it.

And *do* search the archives, use keywords. There's lots here!

And, FWIW I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old. Everyone still has all their limbs and their eyesight.

It depends on what's in your base - as to Natural or not. Do you know what the ingredients are? Some bases are much closer to natural than others.
I don't think you are cheating if you're putting your own personal artistry into your finished products.

sgsoap, thanks for your reply. i don't feel bad about not using CP, despite other people having kids in their home and making CP soap. its just not something i'm ready for at this time. i think my artistry adds value to the soap for sure.

the ingredients are whatever is on the BB mold, or mold from wholesale supplies website, i suppose i'm not educated enough in soap to distinguish what is necessary in soap and what is superfluous (and thus not natural)..does that make sense?

Everything really is natural just like everything is a chemical. Everything may not just have started out unrefined but that is a different issue. Even when you start with MP, down the line people have added lye which is refined from stuff.

Remember natural does not always equal safe and better for you nor does synthetic/man made equal bad for you or inferior.

As for homemade versus not homemade. In some way most if not all of us use stuff in product that we do not produce. I know I do not make my own lye, I do not grow fields of assorted herbs and flowers to press for my EO's, I do not excavate my backyard for clays and mica's, and well you get the point.

haha, good point David, thanks!

I had the same delimma as far as "categorizing" myself when selling M & P soaps. I market my M & P soaps as "handcrafted" and my CP soaps as "handmade". Honestly, I don't think the common shopper knows the difference, but it makes me feel better to distinguish between the two.

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Catie Beth

^^^That makes sense, Cate! Still giving the nod to the work that goes into putting your goodies in, yet not misleading in the least!

We also tell people our MP soaps are handcrafted (vs. homemade.) We also buy bases from Brambleberry because we like the ingredients in them (and we like that Brambleberry leaves out SLS and some other things that can be found in other soap bases.) We list the ingredients on our web site and info sheets, so purchasers can make informed decisions. I believe we are not allowed to label our soaps as "natural", not because of the bases, but because, for the most part, we use synthetic color and fragrance. (There are very specific guidelines for cosmetic labeling, and that's discussed in a different topic somewhere around here.) By saying "handcrafted" and by disclosing ingredients, I think we're being as clear and truthful as we can be.

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Suz & Anna, www.bubbleheadsoap.com

As a newbie.................what is SLS?

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. Its the chemical surfactant used in most common soaps to create suds. Some people don't like it because it is a) chemical and b) drying.