Helping you undersand soap and cosmetic regulations — in plain English.
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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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Myth: Soap Labels Aren’t Regulated
One of the myths that I still frequently hear is that “I can put whatever I want on my soap labels because they aren’t regulated.” I believe that particular myth got started because of the “soap exemption” in the FDA’s definition of “cosmetic:” Directly from the regulations: A product, except soap, intended to be applied to […]
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FDA Warning Letters – Drug Claims for Cosmetics
There’s been an increase in cosmetic warning letters. What sort of claims are being made?
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Cosmetic & Drug Claims
“Americans spend a lot of money on creams, lotions and other cosmetics that promise to improve their skin, hair and even eyelashes. “But sometimes those promises go too far.” So says a new page on the FDA website intended for consumers, to inform them of the differences between drugs and cosmetics. In my opinion, they’re […]
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What Is the “Common Name”?
The FDA has said that the “common name”1 is required for cosmetic ingredients. But what does that mean, exactly?… Let me tell you the story of the Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary, and INCI names. Once Upon a Time Back in the 1970’s, a book called the Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary (CID) was published by the Cosmetic Toiletries and […]
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Unpackaged Cosmetic Products
We all know that the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act requires that all consumer products (including cosmetics) have the identity of the product and the net contents on the front, as well as the name and address of the manufacturer somewhere on the label. Cosmetics also require a list of their ingredients. Here’s a question […]
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Helpful Pages from Updated FDA Site
The FDA continues (as of 2015) to update their website, clarifying and making things more understandable. I love the new articles as they are very clear and easy to understand (as well as many of them being targetted to small and emerging business). The only thing is that they are a little hard to find! I […]
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Labeling Book 2015 Edition – Preorder
Well, it’s finally happened. I’m OUT OF STOCK on the 2nd Edition of the book (2010)! The 2015 updated 3rd Edition (I’m calling it the “purple edition”) is almost finished. I’m on the final round of edits and updates. In a way, it’s good that the project was delayed a bit because now I’ll be […]
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FDA Responds to HSCG PO Box Petition
As handcrafters, often working out of our homes, it’s always been an issue that the street address is required on our product labels (unless published in a current phone or city directory). The Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild (HSCG) just announced that the petition they filed with the FDA in 2012 to allow the use […]
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Cosmetic Claims and Required Approval
Recently (2014) there has been some discussion online (in a Facebook Group) as a result of a report of a conversation with someone from the FDA. The report was that this FDA representative said that if you wanted to use the word “moisturizing” to describe a soap, then your recipe would need to be submitted […]
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FDA Sends Warning Letters to Two Essential Oil MLMs
I have posted numerous times, including here and here, about FDA warning letters concerning “drug claims” used for supposedly cosmetic products. After those posts went up, I had a number of people tell me about several national companies selling essential oils that were making all sorts of claims, and asking why they could get away with […]
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Updated Info on FDA site
The FDA recently updated several pages on their website that have to do with cosmetics. The regulations haven’t changed, but it appears that they are continuing in their trend to making them more understandable (although it is still a bit difficult to find things when you need them). Here’s a brief overview of some of […]
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Calculating Percentages for Blended Ingredients
Ingredients are supposed to be listed in the ingredient declaration in “descending order of predominance.” In other words, the ingredient at the highest percentage (by weight) goes first, then then next highest, etc. Ingredients that are present at less than 1% can be listed in any order following the ingredients present at 1% or greater. […]