Please read this if you are tempted to buy---

[greannancrafts]

soap or toiletries from a craft fair/market

Today I saw yet another soap stall selling soap and chill pills (mini bath bombs) without any ingredient listing, batch no, best before date or contact details.

Not only is this illegal - but you could be putting yourself or friends at risk as they have obviously not been safety assessed.

They were obviously "bought in" and I an pretty sure where from.

Please only buy from reputable soap making businesses that take the time and spend the money to make sure their products are safe.

Sorry for rant

Jane

[just sally]

before i joined this forum i had no idea of the safety aspect of handmade goods. i suppose like the majority of people i just did not think about it.
I now know what to look for when buying, but there must be a lot of people like me who have not got a clue

sally

[removed10]

Aren't they afraid of being sued??

[greannancrafts]

Aren't they afraid of being sued??

They either are not aware of the legislation (I am being generous) or they don't care.

Here in the UK and EU, it can cost a fortune to get an assessment done, plus you cannot get insurance without it.

Not having labels correctly done can carry a 10 year custodial sentence.

Is the legislation in the USA similar?

Jane

[Moonbeam Angel]

Thanks for that Jane. I am always wary where body items are concerned but must admit I probably don't look too closely at labelling when buying at a fair. Didn't realise they had to have a best before date but did know about batch numbers.

Many thanks

[Aviya Glass]

Thanks Jane! It's good to know the standards that should be in place.

I would never buy anything without ingredients list as I am allergic to nuts and have to read everything likely to come in contact with me - boring but necessary.
However, before this post, if I spoke to the seller and they assured me of the ingredients I probably would have been comfortable enough to buy their product.

[beckyboo]

soap or toiletries from a craft fair/market

Today I saw yet another soap stall selling soap and chill pills (mini bath bombs) without any ingredient listing, batch no, best before date or contact details.

Not only is this illegal - but you could be putting yourself or friends at risk as they have obviously not been safety assessed.

They were obviously "bought in" and I an pretty sure where from.

Please only buy from reputable soap making businesses that take the time and spend the money to make sure their products are safe.

Sorry for rant

Jane

i was at the same fair , I wouldn't have enough thought about the ingredients,best before date etc before i met Jane and she explained it all too me
i promise to always always check now,lol

[HappySheep]

I would also never buy anything without checking the ingredients, as I'm allergic to a lot of perfumes and have eczema too! Sometimes when I go to a fair the smell of a 'smellies' stall is so overpowering and makes me sneeze I have to bypass their stall....

[removed10]

They either are not aware of the legislation (I am being generous) or they don't care.

Here in the UK and EU, it can cost a fortune to get an assessment done, plus you cannot get insurance without it.

Not having labels correctly done can carry a 10 year custodial sentence.

Is the legislation in the USA similar?

Jane

Believe it or not, we don't have to have an assessment done. If you make any "claims" for your soap like - it will reduce wrinkles - it will improve eczema, it will cure acne - then you fall under "cosmetics" or maybe even "pharmaceuticals" and the government is all over you - has all sorts of laws, rules and regulations...

Everyone is required to list, honestly and truthfully, their ingredients, and use the INCI terms, which IMO tells the customer less than the everyday names...

If someone buys your soap and ends up looking like a giant slab of salami and they sue you, they can only sue you for the total value of your business and equipment, times three - I think...I'm not an expert on this at all. I ought to know more, but I use very high quality ingredients that are as natural as I can get, work in a clean and healthy environment, I am a clean and healthy person, and I make no claims.

People get all excited, at markets, and ask me if I would sell them raw goat milk and I tell them I am not licensed to do so, and it would be very dangerous anyway. They say 'oh no, it's very good for you, because it's raw, and I am allergic to cow milk.' To which I reply that in the olden days before pasteurization, people got REALLY SICK A LOT...and that goat milk is not magic, it is simply milk from a different animal. These people get really huffy with me...and never buy any soap...

I know other goat milk soap makers who do not pasteurize their milk before making soap, but I do pasteurize it first...then I can truthfully say I have done everything in my power to ensure the best quality soap I can make...

I read one woman's warning at her website - she makes knitted items - "My peanut eating, long-haired or feathered pets and I live and knit in a smoke-free home." Guess that pretty much says it all - Buyer Beware!!

Even when people ask me in person what the different oils in my soap do, I make no claims.

The one soap I see "out there" on the net that really worries me is Black Salve or something like that...it's very dangerous and I don't know why anyone would want to even make it.

[Plum]

Now I'm curious - what's black salve and why is it dangerous?

[GlamGlass]

Thanks for the warning! I tend not to buy soaps and that sort of thing as I have psoriasis and my DD seems to be allergic to some soap products.

Good to know though!

[skyblue]

I've never come across black salve. However, I have tried African black soap which is very popular amongst all-natural devotees. It's based on shea butter. It's supposed to be safe for babies and even for washing your hair. But I found it very drying for my skin and it made my hair limp and lack lustre. It's great for washing gardener's hands though, removes every speck of dirt!

Unrefined shea butter, on the other hand, is very nice indeed for the skin. It's only when it's saponified that it becomes fearsome, in my humble opinion. I certainly wouldn't use African black soap on a baby's sensitive skin!

[removed10]

Now I'm curious - what's black salve and why is it dangerous?

You know, I was not thinking when I said that this morning - black salve has nothing to do with black soap.

This site tells you awful things about black salve, touted as a cancer cure, but don't go there if you're squeamish...there are graphic photos...

http://www.quackwatch.org/01Quackery...er/eschar.html

[AnnieAnna]

The selling foreign soap thing - you are OK if it was made in the EU (and it has a safety certificate, of course) as all the countries in the EU have agreed to manufacture their stuff to the same standard.
Our insurers won't accept soap with an American certificate of safety (if they do one) or in my case a Chilean certificate of safety and I couldn't figure out why as the words and numbers and chemically banned stuff looks the same in the English, American and Chilean bumph I waded through. The Chilean soap had the ingredients listed, a batch number and a use by date so I couldn't figure out what the problem was but if Cosmic says American ingredients don't need a tested/safety bit of paper maybe that's why.
It becomes ridiculously expensive for a cottage industry soap maker in Chile to pay for the Chilean certificate then have to pay again for an EU one.....so I've given up my plans to sell you all lucky soaps (they have a lucky red and black bean from the Amazon jungle in them) and snail cream soap (one of them had a snail shell embedded in each bar).....

I wonder why the cosmetic bit of governments haven't got their act together as it seems the toy part has. The EU, Chilean and Peruvian toy legislation seem to be using the same words.

AnnieAnna

[removed10]

Here in the US, and especially Texas, there is a LOT of stuff from Mexico and Guatemala that might be iffy - even sewn items...but they can be sold here.

I am not even sure I trust what is said to be Fair Trade to really be fair...and there are SO MANY of the same hand made items these days - I think the definition of hand made has morphed to include mass produced machine made things whose buttons are pushed by peoples hands...

I got to wondering, what with all the pandemic proportions of H1N1, and everything else...were we risking spreading germs by buying/using items touted as fair-trade-made-by-hand-by-women...etc..