Learn What Nobody Taught You About Soap Making That May Well Land You In Hot Water
The matter of soap making legislation frequently seems very daunting for the individual and a lot of people are deterred from starting their own soap making business as a result of this. In realityThe truth is, the whole process is little more than a paper trail to prove that your whole melt and pour soap making process, ingredients, recipes and soap are safe. If there are any issues, they can be traced back to you and if necessary to a particular ingredient or batch. It is purely an audit system.
The legislation is not there to trip you up or catch you out, but basically to protect you and the consumer, i.e. your customer. It’s not enough to just know how to make soap, you just need to demonstrate that your products have been produced from a safe recipe, with good quality, reputable, safe ingredients, in a suitable environment. You need to be able to ensure, and to prove that you have not knowingly used any process, or ingredients which could cause any harm or side effects to your clients.
To meet these requirements you need to produce evidence that you used a consistent method and recipe, using the appropriate ingredients, in a clean and hygienic environment. You need to provide the following information about your ingredients:
- Details of Supplier
- Batch number of ingredients
- MSDS Sheets
- Chemical Analysis Sheets
- Gas Chromatography for essential oils
- IFRA certificates for fragrances
All of the above demonstrate that your ingredients reach a safe standard for cosmetic use.
You will need to provide your recipe, which will include ingredients, quantities and the method used to make your soap. You will need to show that you consistently stick to to a Good Manufacturing Practice and you will have to provide details of this practice.
You will need to set up a Quality Control System which will include a tracking system so that if something goes amiss you can go back and identify precisely when the soap was created, what ingredients were used and which suppliers they were from. This will allow you to check all the other soaps which were made in the same batch to ensure there are no problems with them.
After you have done all of the above you need to create a PIP – a Product Information Pack. This will include all of the above information and will need to be submitted to a chemist who is qualified to certify your soap. For a fee, he or she will give you with the necessary certification for your soap. He or she will be able to advise you about all aspects of the certification process, so it is worth contacting one early on in the process as help from them could save you a lot of time and energy. A good deal of this information exchange can be done by email these days, saving you time.
You will also have to label your soaps, describing your ingredients in the proportions in which they are included in your recipe, starting with the largest. The ingredients must be listed in INCI format. INCI stands for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients and is an Internaional naming system which standardises the names so that they are internationally recognised. The requirements for exactly what information you need to show on your labels changes from time to time, so it is advisable to discover what the current legal requirements are before designing your labels and puting them on all your soaps!!
Trading Standards also require you to sell soap by weight. There are two ways to do this – by average weight or by minimum weight. You should discuss this with your local Trading Standards Officer because some have a preference for one method, and some the other. You need to show the weight either on the bar of soap itself, or at the point of sale. This means that if you want to sell your soap by the slice, you can, for example, display the price by the 100g and then cut off slices, weigh them and charge accordingly. Otherwise you can precut and wrap your soap and price it individually.
You must use accurate measuring scales for this. Digital kitchen scales are not considered accurate enough for this, so it is a good idea to discuss with Trading Standards how best to do this.
You will generally find that if you get in touch with your local Trading Standards Officer, they will be only too happy to help you, as they like people who want to stick to to the law and they should be able to point you in the right direction to fulfill the requirements.
Two more things that I’ve listed last, but are awfully important. You should never make any therapeutic claims on your products. You can only do this if you have scientific research to back up your claim!! There are many descriptive words you can use to sell your products, without making claims. It is worth talking about this issue with your cosmetic chemist since they can advise you.
You will also need to get some public liability insurance in case someone has a reaction to your product, or, if you are having a physical sales point, rather than selling over the internet, you should be be covered in case someone injures themselves at your shop or stall.
So, when you have finished your paperwork and submitted it to the chemist, you can have fun wrapping and naming your products, so that you are ready to get going as soon as your products have been certified.
