Weight before or after shrinkage?

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JoannaM.

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Hi,
When you see people selling handmade soaps with a precise weight, did they only weigh it once after 4 weeks of curing? I’ve made the mistake of weighing them when cutting them and making labels saying “4-5oz.”, but then had some shrink to lower than 4 oz. after curing for 4 weeks. I gave that one ounce range to allow for some variations in cutting, but don’t want to advertise it as 4-5oz. if it has now shrunk to less. Ideas on how to label weight correctly?
 
By properly labeling following the rules, you cannot say 4-5 oz or approx. I always weighed mine before wrapping which many times would be two to three months after they were made and I would still deduct 10% from the actual weight of the bar. I weighed and marked the weight of each bar at the time of labeling. I also knew my bars lost approx 10% weight after curing, less after a long cure.
 
Hi,
When you see people selling handmade soaps with a precise weight, did they only weigh it once after 4 weeks of curing? I’ve made the mistake of weighing them when cutting them and making labels saying “4-5oz.”, but then had some shrink to lower than 4 oz. after curing for 4 weeks. I gave that one ounce range to allow for some variations in cutting, but don’t want to advertise it as 4-5oz. if it has now shrunk to less. Ideas on how to label weight correctly?
This is a good article on how to calculate what your soap will weigh for proper labeling:
https://www.mariegale.com/calculating-net-weight-soap-part-1/https://www.mariegale.com/calculating-net-weight-soap-part-2/
 
My first sales were at a local Craft Fair. Most of my soaps had been curing for at least three months. I weighed each bar of soap and put the exact weight on them. After the Fair, I noticed that I was left with all the ‘lighter’ soaps.

Today all my labels say Net 4.0oz/114g...period. In reality, they weigh closer to 4.5 oz...and I’m fine with that and no one has complained.
 
The net weight needs to be a single value that is equal to or less than the actual weight of the soap itself at the time the consumer purchases the bar. There's no problem if a consumer gets MORE than she paid for, but there is a problem if he gets less than the amount claimed. Someone in the past year or two had overstated the net weight on her packaging, and a customer found the bar was underweight and complained.

I did a test to learn about the loss in weight for my soap. Like Carolyn said, the loss amounts to roughly 10% or so at 2 months of cure, but the weight still continues to drop, although more slowly, after that time.

I package and sell my soap around 6-8 weeks (so after that initial 10% loss in weight). Even so, I still factor in yet another 10% loss in weight to account for later evaporation. If you know you will sell your soap quickly, maybe you can get away with building in just a 10% reduction when stating the net weight, but if your soap is likely to take awhile to sell, that might be cutting it too close for comfort.

It isn't that I'm losing money by allowing for a reasonably generous amount of weight loss. The labor, overhead, and cost of materials should be built into the per-bar selling price no matter what the net weight is on the label.
 

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