Helping soap and cosmetic handcrafters navigate the rules and regs.
Category: Soap & Cosmetic Labeling
Blog posts that deal with soap and cosmetic labeling; addition information, questions asked and answered and updates as new information becomes known.
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What does ADULTERATED mean?
In the US, you can make cosmetics without getting prior approval of the product, the ingredients, or the formulation. What you can’t do is sell (or put out for sale) a product which is adulterated or misbranded. That’s illegal. Most states have also adopted a similar law, so it is illegal at the state level […]
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What is the PRINCIPAL DISPLAY PANEL?
In labeling, the size and placement of the principal display panel determines where certain information must be placed and what size the text must be. Key Words to Know Principal Of a thing: first, chief, most important. Display Panel A separate or distinct part of a surface on which information can be shown. Which brings […]
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Net Contents – Weight and Volume
All products sold to consumers, including soap and cosmetics, require the net contents to be placed on the label. In this post, we’re going to discuss how you measure the net contents and how it should be worded on the product label. There are two different ways to measure products for sale – by volume […]
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What is a DRUG?
Drugs of all types are around us every day. There are a number of different ways to define a “drug”. Here we’re going to take a look at the legal definition of “drug” and how it applies when you are making handcrafted soap and cosmetics (or other products). The regular English word drug comes from […]
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What are INCIDENTAL INGREDIENTS?
We all expect the ingredient declaration in cosmetics to be accurate and include all the ingredients in the product. However, in certain circumstances, “incidental ingredients” may be left off the list. It’s a loophole that can sometimes be abused.
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Essential Oil Companies Rated
A recent irticle by ConsumerAdvodate.org found 30% of the EO samples they testet were adulterated.
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What is LABELING?
When you start to learn about what it takes to legally label your soap and cosmetic products, you may not realize that within the laws and regulations there is a very specific definition of labeling. It’s not what you would expect it to be, and it’s not a definition you can get by looking in […]
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What is a LABEL?
One frequent point of confusion when it comes to understanding the labeling laws and regulations is exactly what is meant by the word label. The problem is that there are several regular English definitions for label, each one meaning a slightly different thing AND there is a definition of label that is used in the […]
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What is a CONSUMER COMMODITY?
The labeling laws for items that ARE consumer commodities are different than items that ARE NOT consumer commodities. Knowing if a product is classed as a consumer commodity will help you determine whether certain laws or regulations apply. Key Words to Know Consumer A person who purchases goods or services. Commodity Something that is bought […]
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FDA & Social Media
NOTE: This post is not specifically about handcrafted soap and cosmetics, but more about FDA enforcement generally. The Food Drug and Cosmetic Act defines the “label” as the written printed or graphic matter on the immediate container of a product and, and defines “labeling” as all written, printed, or graphic matter accompanying an article at […]
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Hemp Oil & Seeds
As a follow-up to my previous post, What About CBD Oil?, I have been asked about the status of hemp oil and seeds. The FDA has approved hemp seed oil, hemp seed protein powder and hulled hemp seed as GRAS (generally recognized as safe) for use in food products. There should be no problem using […]
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For Members of the HSCG
I am very pleased to announce that I am now an official “HSCG Expert” and as such I have my very own entry in the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild’s Expert Consultations page. You can find tons of information on soap and cosmetic labeling and good manufacturing practices. (With more to come!) In addition, I […]