Cottage Business

[Phantasm]

Hi all,

I have been learning to make soap, shower gel and candles for a bit with a view to selling them. The candles are nearly there, but I could not work out how to do soap to sell due to the long cure time.

Now, I always considered using bases such as melt and pour or liquid concentrates such as castile soap as cheating a bit! However, I can see no way for a small cottage business to make and sell soap any other way than using melt and pour or concentrates.

Are these bases the way to go for a small start-up?

Thanks

 

[DeeAnna]

A fair number of the soapers here sell cold process and hot process soap. It does take about a year to figure out how to reliably make soap and test scents, but after that year (and after meeting your safety assessments), it's mostly a matter of learning how to pace your production to meet the market demand. If you're a "make to order and shove it out the door" kind of maker, the lag due to the cure time will indeed be a hassle, but if you are good at planning ahead, it's not too troubling.

 

[lsg]

I have found that it is a very crowded market. I don't have the time or inclination to make the rounds at craft shows, etc. I tried selling soap on etsy and found that there was too much competition for me. I now only sell by word of mouth and to friends. If you have a sure outlet, that is one thing; but to create a market for soap and body products can be very difficult.

 

[shunt2011]

I'm with lsg. I do sell but it's become over saturated with soap makers and B&B makers. I have a handful of shows I do and avoid the rest. Everywhere you go there are 3-5 others. I have a good following, therefore making it worth my while. But if I was just starting, I'd skip it. When I started there weren't so many.

 

[cmzaha]

I'm with lsg. I do sell but it's become over saturated with soap makers and B&B makers. I have a handful of shows I do and avoid the rest. Everywhere you go there are 3-5 others. I have a good following, therefore making it worth my while. But if I was just starting, I'd skip it. When I started there weren't so many.

I just tried to get a space in one market I did regularly until parent care got in the way. The market owner could not let me in because she already has 5 soapmakers this week. So this means it will take me months to get back in after some of them give up. I know you are not in the US and with your assessment requirements maybe you will not have as much competition.

With time you will know or have a good idea how fast certain soaps move and you just have to keep the rotation going. Not really much different than most manufacturing, it takes lead time. Once in awhile I have a customer ask for one that is curing and I tell them when it will be back in stock

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

As you are in the UK, you'll have to have any cosmetics (and soap including melt and pour is a cosmetic in the EU) you would need to have the recipes approved (at a cost) as well as registration on the EU cosmetic portal where you would need to register each new batch (for free, except your time) and put that number on the label. You would also need to meet any trading standards for a cosmetics producer, or what they have for a small concern.

There is no option of "cottage industry" in bath and body in the EU anymore. It takes some investment to get it going.

 

[LilyJo]

Just to add to the mix, candles need to be labelled in accordance with CLP regulations. Whilst not requiring additonal safety assessments, you do need to make sure your fragrances/allergens are all calculated correctly and the information on each candle - you may find that this also incurs an additional cost as CLP blends are pretty impossible to calculate yourself!.