Teach Soap

Ok, so a friend of mine "Benny Bag of Bagels" asks me to meet him for breakfast some place around 30 miles from where I live. This guy never met a carbohydrate he didn't like. I oblige because he's a good friend but I hate "cookie-cutter" places (chain restaurants) and gravitate more towards local family owned restaurants. I know this place is big into breakfast and serves the clog your arteries, blood thickening, cardiac retardant kind of meals that should come served with a rib splitter. You know….. to save the doctors in the emergency room the trouble of having to find one when the wheel you in. I get there early and I'm pacing around while my cardio-vascular system it trying to convince me to leave before he gets there. I don't want to publicly say the name of this place is but it's sounds just like "Cracker Barrel."

Where has this place been all my life? They sale all kinds of neat stuff and I know I'm going to spend a small fortune on knick-knacks before I leave. I'm perusing shirts and novelties when out of the corner of my eye I see a basket….and it sees me. It's full of homemade soaps. Jackpot. I casually walk over trying to look inconspicuous (because guys aren't supposed to like homemade soap), and bury my face in the basket to smell them all at once. I pick one called "Lard Soap." Simple enough. I read the ingredients; "Lard, water, lye and peppermint fragrance oil." No big deal. Then I read the other side of the bar. "Cures rosacea, psoriasis, eczema, hives, poison ivy, stupidity, broken hearts, etc." Where's Margaret Hamburg when you need her? This isn't lalapolooza making soap in his backyard shed. This is professionally packaged, good quality, handmade soap that's being sold in one of America's largest restaurant chains.

Ok….here's my question: How in the heck can they make claims like that and still be available for sale? I know the testing requirements to make those claims and doubt that Grandma's Lard Soap passed all the tests. Grandma…..if you're reading this thread then I apologize. Anybody have a clue how they are circumventing FDA regs? Seriously. How is this possible?

Just in case you're curious. I had 3 eggs, country ham steak, biscuits, waffles, fresh fruit, orange juice and American coffee. Yeah, I eat a lot. But with the 2700 calories I just consumed I won't have to eat again until next Thursday.

Sounds like my kind of breakfast. I saw a similar claim on some soaps at an Amish grocery chain where we shop. If you or I made claims like that, we'd probably be mortgaging or house to pay the fine.
I do like the "cures stupid" part though. If I saw something claiming that, I would be tempted to try it myself.

Haha. If that soap would cure stupid, I'd not only bathe in it, I would eat it, drink it, sleep with it and even dream about it. Nice to have another guy in here Dave. My friends call me T.J.

And before I get anymore emails or PM's.....Margret Hamburg, MD is Chairwoman of the FDA.

This is the only industry I have ever seen where so many people go into business without having the first clue about the laws that pertain to them.

But the real question is why did you skip the grits?

P.S. Welcome aboard to Dave!

Yanno Kate.....I've been a resident here for almost 8 years and still can't find the ambition to try grits. I know, I know.....I have no idea what I'm missing. My lover eats the instant kind for breakfast when she's in a hurry. I'm usually a cereal, yogurt and fruit guy.

The reason they get away with it is because there just aren't enough inspectors to go around. Some new soapers are so eager to sell, they don't even look at the FDA regs. Most chain stores have no clue.
That's not the case on this forum.

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

I think I am going to start labeling my soaps with the following claim.

Will NOT cure Stupid!

I cannot resist replying to this post. True it might be illegal to make such claims on soaps, but the old lard soaps that my mother and grandmothers made are very healing, and do help the conditions that were mentioned. I still occasionally make this type of soap for older people who still know how well this soap works, but aren't able to make it themselves.

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

Is the word soothing o.k.? Or can I make a statement saying that my customers say it has helped their skin conditions? I just quote what my customers say, I never make a direct statement myself, and I never put anything in print that says healing, unless it's a quote from customers. I never put anything like this on the label, but sometimes if I have my soaps in a craft store, I make a sign giving some of the quotes from my customers. Do you think that is o.k. legally? Thanks for your help.

I actually had a similar experience a few months ago. My boyfriends parents were shocked I've never stepped foot in a Cracker Barrel and made it a point to take us there one night. Like you, I stumbled upon the soap section and was amazed they offer real soap for sale. I was, however, disappointed at how hokey and just plain unprofessional many of them look.

Not to go off on a tangent here, but I find that many homemade/handmade soaps that I find in stores are most certainly not. They package and name things to be misleading just like the large soap companies do, and I feel that it discounts what real soapmakers do. For instance, I was talking to someone today about soap and she said she had bought a bar of "real soap" at Pier 1 a while back and that she didn't like it, therefore wasn't interested in ever trying handmade soap again. Well, I happened to have bought the same soap, cleverly packaged and worded, but it was the same run of the mill detergent soap you can buy anywhere. Grr. /rant

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ween rules

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

I went into a different Cracker Barrel yesterday while traveling across the state and checked the soap basket again. Yes, the same grandma's "Lard" soap in another one of their restaurants. As vexvelour stated, many of the brands they carry are shoddy but some are also professional looking. I haven't purchased one based on my principal on being against making such claims. I'm traveling across several states in the next weeks and will stop at other restaurants to see if these are nationwide.

Question soapbuddy: Creative labels and wording has sold many soaps for me. My lovely wife is also very good a graphic designing which helps tremendously. I've put things like "Best if used before: You start to smell bad." or "Pirates Grog" soap that's gray in color with pirate stamps. Goat's milk chocolate soap in a dog mold called "Chocolate Lab." I do a bunch of different things with labels. Do you think this type of wording is inappropriate and could get me in trouble? Now I'm seriously considering putting things like Cures stupidity or broken hearts just to see what would happen. It just flew off the top of my head while writing the initial thread. It's obvious this isn't possible from a soap. Just wondering how much risk there is. We need a lawyer in here. Any lawyers in the forum?

how about a paralegal?

anyway, i'd stay away from the words "cures" or "heals" or anything like that. you can say it washes the stupid off, or some other phrasing - and the clever naming is great, so don't let go of that.

side rant:

i once did a market next to a woman who claimed to be an aromatherapist, and sold peach-scented M&P. She said it was scented with "peach essential oil" and that it was good for cancer. ridiculous, sure, but she was dead serious. i am happy to report that she didn't sell much because while it was perfectly lovely soap, it was just soap, and people are not THAT stupid.

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