New Soap Maker from Austin Texas

Hello Everyone my name is Cedric, owner of Creation of A.D.A.M.S
"A Delightful Aromatic Moisturizing Soap"

I also do screen printing to support my self. I got into soap making less than a month ago completely by accident. I never consider or thought about ever making soaps until a friend brought home 3 bars from a local store and I just loved the scent and packaging. I asked what they cost and the price shocked me. I then started searching on how to make soap and I found out it is real simple. I made my first bar this week and it looks ok but I know I can do better.

I have a lot of questions and a lot of info to share. I discovered that packaging is a big part of soap making too so I would like to offer my screen printing services to anyone looking for custom packaging at a low cost. What I plant to do for my soaps is by packs of card/poster stock screen print my logo image and ingredients on it, trim the paper to my soap size and seal it.

I did not read the rules yet so if i am breaking a rule here sorry.

Hi Cedric,

Welcome to the forum!

That's good looking soap and you did a very nice job with it. I take it that it is melt and pour?

Coa said:

A.D.A.M.S
"A Delightful Aromatic Moisturizing Soap"

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You do realize that soap isn't moisturizing, right? You can have some unsaponified oil in a batch for a more emollient bar but it won't be moisturizing. Also, if you claim your soap will moisturize skin; then your soap will be classified as a cosmetic and you'd have to follow strict FDA regulations if you ever decide to sell.

I recommend this post if you are considering selling in the future.

http://soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17621

Coa said:

I did not read the rules yet so if i am breaking a rule here sorry.

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I highly recommend people read the regs and stickies before posting. However, you're borderline so we'll just move on. You can put info about your screen printing business in your signature line. Do you have a web site? If so, you can add the web address to your profile.

I recommend you get to know us and let us get to know you. You could post pics of your screen printing work in the "Other Crafts & DIY Projects". Once you get your soaps and labels done, you can post pics of them in the "Photo Gallery". We're a friendly group of people and we love to look at pictures. :wink:

Have fun with your soapmaking but be careful...it's addicting.

How did you know it was M & P? Also you said soaps are not moisturizing but I see a lot of ads and soap bases that claim to be moisturizers. I know by typical design soaps is made to cleanse and clear, but if you put moisturizers in it is it not now considered a moisturizing soap? Please don't take it wrong, just asking.

Also you stated that if I claim my soap does moisturizes skin I have to follow FDA guidelines, that makes since but I see a lot of soap makers saying their soap moisturizes. So is it in how you say it?

I have now read most of the stickies and look forward to reading and posting a lot here.

MP normally looks very different from CP or HP soap. The transparency of part of the soap was the tip off. However, some people have mixed CP and MP in the same batch so even though I thought the white was MP, I wasn't totally positive. However, since you said you had started a month ago then it was probable that you had used MP for the entire soap.

There are big companies that add ingredients to make their "soaps" moisturizing but their products are considered a cosmetic and they have to follow FDA regs about labeling. If you're seeing home based soapmakers claiming their soaps are moisturizing, then hopefully they are following FDA regs. There have been numerous discussions about FDA regs on this forum plus you can look on their web site.

http://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/guidanceco ... 074201.htm
http://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/default.htm

It can be very confusing and you do need to be careful about what you put on your labels. You do not want your soaps classified in a cosmetic category or even worse - a drug category. Basically, you can only say your soap will get someone clean. Look through the CP section and General Business section and you'll see discussions which will explain this in detail. I'm not an expert on this and I'm just passing on info that I've read on this forum and on other forums. I just didn't want you to start off without understanding the difference.

Thanks for the info, that's why I am here, last question lets say I make a soap with essential oils that are "known" to help with flu and cold, can I legally state that?

Coa said:

Coa said:

Thanks for the info, that's why I am here, last question lets say I make a soap with essential oils that are "known" to help with flu and cold, can I legally state that?

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Only if you are prepared to have your soap classified (and regulated) as a drug.

I know that many soap purveyers on Etsy and e-bay and elsewhere make all kinds of claims on their packaging, but that doesn't make it okay. It goes against the regs that are on the books and gives the whole craft of handmade soap a bad name. You'll find that such practices are frowned upon by our community here.

IrishLass

Coa said:

Thanks for the info, that's why I am here, last question lets say I make a soap with essential oils that are "known" to help with flu and cold, can I legally state that?

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Exactly what Irishlass said. If you state that any ingredient in your product "helps", "is known to help" "could help" an ailment of any kind, then you're selling your product as a drug and you need to have it preapproved with the FDA before selling.

There are many ways that B & B'ers try to get around this, like by listing the therapeutic effects of ingredients in a different section of their site or by allowing customer feedback on their site stating that it cured their medical problem.
But, it is still against regulations to do so.

I forgot to say, Welcom to the forum