Everyday, I see people ignorant of laws they must follow before selling homemade bath and beauty products.  I also see people that show no concern for the safety of their products.

I once went to a yard sale, where the lady had advertised that she sold homemade lye soap just like her grandmother used to make.

When I arrived, I asked her about her soap, and she showed me a basin full of what looked like LARGE chunks of chalk.  Now I know soap, and I could tell by looking at her soaps that they were extremely lye heavy and would burn anyone that tried to use them. I mean you could blow on them and the ash would fly about as if it were actually chalk.

I asked her about the PH of her soap and asked her if it were safe for sensitive skin.  She informed me that she did not know what PH was and that it was safe for any skin just as any soap is safe for any skin.

Now in the old days, yes, the soap was harsh for skin and did “bite” a bit.  But even then, the ladies knew how to safely test their soap to ensure that it was not so lye heavy to actually be extremely unsafe.  These ladies used eggs to test the strength of their lye solution, before pouring it into their greases.

Evidently this lady at the yard sale had not been informed of this by her grandmother, and was selling a very dangerous product to unsuspecting people.  I tried to explain to her how dangerous it could be if she had not even tested the PH, but she got truly offended so I just left saying a prayer for anyone that had the misfortune of purchasing her product.

I was too scared to buy any for myself; I mean this was some scary looking soap.

If someone is going to take the time to make soap and sell them for profit, they must do the job right and make sure they learn every aspect of the soap and cosmetic making business.

These means following FDA regulations and guidelines, making sure they use preservatives when needed, making sure that their products are safe, and putting safety warnings on their labels. There are so many aspects of this business one has to consider before they ever sell the first bar of soap to any customer.

For instance, if you do not test the PH of your most recent batch of soap, and if someone purchases a bar for their 5-year-old child, and your soap burns this child,  YOU are going to be held liable as the manufacturer of the product.

This means you will have to reimburse doctor bills, pain and suffering, and you could face action by the FDA and CPSC (if you do not know what FDA and CPSC mean, then you have some more research to do before you sell a single product) if your product does not meet their labeling and manufacturing requirements.

Now regular soap is not a cosmetic if you claim it as just plain, pure soap.  But it will need to be labeled according to regulations in place by your state and the federal government.

Any other bath product is considered a cosmetic and must meet FDA cosmetic regulations.

There are a lot of steps involved to ensure that you are covered in case someone gets hurt from one of your products.

You will need a business license. Call your local chamber of commerce to contact your local SBA consultant to get your business license, tax numbers and other business papers filed required in your state.

You will also need insurance.  If you do not have insurance, then you could be sued and possibly lose anything you own.  The best place to get insurance for soap makers is Bomba insurance, their website is located at  http://www.bombainsurance.com .  Bomba provides enough coverage for a home business, and has low yearly rates.

You will also need to read the FDA regulations and guidelines for making cosmetics.

FDA cosmetic labeling guidelines
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-lab1.html

FDA cosmetic handbook 
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-hdbk.html

FDA fact sheet on soaps
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-215.html

Make sure you spend a lot of time reading the FDA links. They provide a wealth of information that can keep you from getting into serious trouble with the federal government.

Another good resource for regulations information is http://www.soapnuts.com/cosmeticlabeling.html

At the bottom of the page you will find links to information concerning what ingredients are safe for cosmetic use, using warning labels (if you make bath oils, you must place a warning that it could leave the tub slippery or you can get into trouble), and more information related to the soap and cosmetic business.

Do not be an ignorant businessperson, educate yourself and think of the safety of your customers before even thinking of making a dime of profits.

You owe it to your consumers, and you owe it to yourself and your family.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 at 9:54 pm and is filed under Soap. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.