# Does anyone list their ingredients properly?



## Carl (Mar 28, 2020)

I know.  I periodically go off on rants similar to this topic.  But really, does anyone actually label their products properly?  I'm specifically referring to micas and colorants.

For example, I have a mica that I use and the ingredients are:
    Fluorphlogopite, Titanium Dioxide,Tin Dioxide,Iron Oxide

I actually put this on the label and on the website.  

I cannot find 1 person or soap business that does this.  NOT ONE.  On soap business websites or Etsy.

Everyone just puts "Mica" or "Colorants" on ingredient lists and labels.

Has anyone else ever seen anyone else that does it properly?


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## Arimara (Mar 29, 2020)

Nope.  Never seen it listed in such a way unless it was just select few colorants like titanium dioxide. I can also understand why many won't. If it is not overly complicated, the color blend may be proprietary.


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## Carl (Mar 29, 2020)

Arimara said:


> Nope.  Never seen it listed in such a way unless it was just select few colorants like titanium dioxide. I can also understand why many won't. If it is not overly complicated, the color blend may be proprietary.



I guess I'm the only one in the world that is breaking Red Mica down into the following:
         Fluorphlogopite, Titanium Dioxide,Tin Dioxide,Iron Oxide

That blend to make Red Mica really isn't proprietary though; I just copied/pasted it from the WSP website.


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## Lin19687 (Mar 29, 2020)

In other countries they HAVE to, Canada is one.
No I do not and I also put Lye as people just don't know it any other way.
KISS = keep it simple silly


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## Primrose (Mar 29, 2020)

Look to be honest I went to do it, and for several of my soaps I had six or seven colourants in them, each with three, four or five ingredients. I honestly couldn't fit it on my labels ...


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## xavalyss (Mar 29, 2020)

I did a few times a few years back, but I'm  back to "saponified oils of...".

It js so hard for me getting used to using a laptop!


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## Nona'sFarm (Mar 29, 2020)

When I started making soap several years ago, I did. I stopped when I saw that it wasn't required and now just list "mica" or "oxide colorants." Prefer to keep it as simple as possible .


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## Millie (Mar 29, 2020)

Yes @Carl you posted a very long rant about this previously.


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## jcandleattic (Mar 29, 2020)

Even when I use several colorants, it ends up being less than 1% of the total weight of the batch, so I only list my colorants as "colorant". (but I do at least list it as that)
I believe equal to or less than 1% you don't have to break down the specifics, but honestly, I haven't looked at the FDA rules and regs in a while, so could absolutely be doing it wrong.


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## TheGecko (Mar 29, 2020)

Carl said:


> I know.  I periodically go off on rants similar to this topic.  But really, does anyone actually label their products properly?  I'm specifically referring to micas and colorants.



Define "properly"?  

If you are making Cosmetic or Drug claims about your soap, then yes, you would need to break down the ingredients of your colorants.  But if you are not, then you don't.


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## MGM (Mar 29, 2020)

Lin19687 said:


> In other countries they HAVE to, Canada is one.
> No I do not and I also put Lye as people just don't know it any other way.
> KISS = keep it simple silly


Do we though, in Canada? My supplier doesn't even list ingredients (although I know it's vegan, kosher, from India and free of peanuts *and* BSE!).
Our food can just say "colour" (Is that orange coming from tartrazine? beta-carotene? ground-up tabby cats? who knows?), so I'd be surprised if our soap had to list all the mica ingredients.


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## penelopejane (Mar 29, 2020)

Carl said:


> I guess I'm the only one in the world that is breaking Red Mica down into the following:
> Fluorphlogopite, Titanium Dioxide,Tin Dioxide,Iron Oxide
> 
> That blend to make Red Mica really isn't proprietary though; I just copied/pasted it from the WSP website.


I don’t use mica. I make as natural as can be soap.


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## Cellador (Mar 29, 2020)

I list all the proper names of my micas & colorants. I always thought it was required, so I do.


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## Lin19687 (Mar 30, 2020)

MGM said:


> Do we though, in Canada? My supplier doesn't even list ingredients (although I know it's vegan, kosher, from India and free of peanuts *and* BSE!).
> Our food can just say "colour" (Is that orange coming from tartrazine? beta-carotene? ground-up tabby cats? who knows?), so I'd be surprised if our soap had to list all the mica ingredients.



Can someone from Canada confirm this?  I was under the impression that you are like the UK and have to have things listed correctly and inspected or something.  Sorry I am not thinking clearly today so I can't think of the wording i mean


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## LilyJo (Mar 30, 2020)

We have to lidt the CI number which should correspond with a mica "blend" rather than list each component individually.


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## dixiedragon (Mar 30, 2020)

I just list colorant. My understanding is that I am not required too. If I use clay, I list clay.


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## Alira (Mar 30, 2020)

Since I generally use pigments for my CP, my labels are listed with the base ingredients, fragrance/essential oil, Iron oxides and/or TD. I've got a tiny little box to work everything into, so the labels have to be reworked. I'm probably going to switch to the saponified names.


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## Misschief (Mar 30, 2020)

I've registered my recipes and I've listed them as Fragrance and Colour and my recipes have been approved (at least the ones I've gotten back). I was not required to specify the fragrance, nor the ingredients in the colourant, just the percentage used of each.

We do not have to have our recipes tested; they are submitted to Health Canada to ensure that we're not using ingredients we shouldn't be using.


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## cerelife (Mar 30, 2020)

MGM said:


> Our food can just say "colour" (Is that orange coming from tartrazine? beta-carotene? ground-up tabby cats? who knows?), so I'd be surprised if our soap had to list all the mica ingredients.


"Ground-up tabby cats" - that made me laugh!! Don't get me wrong I LOVE cats but that was just funny. Thank you @MGM for making me laugh after a crappy day at work!! It's harsh working in a hospital these days and I really needed that belly laugh!!


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## Lin19687 (Mar 31, 2020)

Misschief said:


> I've registered my recipes and I've listed them as Fragrance and Colour and my recipes have been approved (at least the ones I've gotten back). I was not required to specify the fragrance, nor the ingredients in the colourant, just the percentage used of each.
> 
> We do not have to have our recipes tested; they are submitted to Health Canada to ensure that we're not using ingredients we shouldn't be using.



Ah thank you   That was what I was talking about but for some reason I thought you had to list the colourants.


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## amd (Mar 31, 2020)

I state "skin safe color" on my labels. I make soap, I really don't have to provide ingredients at all.


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## shunt2011 (Mar 31, 2020)

I do the same as amd.  You are free to list them any way you choose as long as it allowed by where you live. You’ve brought this up before and the answer isn’t going to change. It’s different from soaper to Soaper and where they life and guidelines required.


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## cedarstar (Mar 31, 2020)

Lin19687 said:


> Can someone from Canada confirm this?  I was under the impression that you are like the UK and have to have things listed correctly and inspected or something.  Sorry I am not thinking clearly today so I can't think of the wording i mean



In Canada we are required to list every ingredient or CI number if the colorant has one. When I use mica's, neon's, pigments, etc I list all ingredients. It does take up a lot of space on the labels but it is required by Canadian laws.


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## Satinfox (Apr 3, 2020)

This is an article I found regarding labeling soap.  Hope it helps.


https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/label-your-soaps-for-sale-517046

The FDA website defines what soap is and who regulates it.

https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-laws-regulations/it-cosmetic-drug-or-both-or-it-soap#Soap


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## Rsapienza (Apr 3, 2020)

I list each ingredient in the micas I use. I was under the impression we had to so I just always have. When I did my research on labeling soaps (US), I read that every ingredient had to be listed, (if including an ingredient label), in order of predominance, except for ingredients under 1% (or some low percentage like that). They could be listed in any order. I have had to change my font size on some labels if the list was long, but that is rare as many micas have the same ingredients.


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## Carl (Apr 4, 2020)

Great info, thanks.
And yes @Millie I rant about this all the time.  Maybe my rants are unjustified though. 

You are at an extreme competitive disadvantage if you are putting words like this : Fluorphlogopite
on your your label and someone making the exact same product is calling it Mica.

My understanding has always been that you do not have to list ingredients, but if you do, you have to break it out with the big words.

I guess that is not the case, so I may just start saying Mica or Colorant.

Then, I can stop ranting and complaining!  LOL


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## Rsapienza (Apr 24, 2020)

Carl said:


> Great info, thanks.
> And yes @Millie I rant about this all the time.  Maybe my rants are unjustified though.
> 
> You are at an extreme competitive disadvantage if you are putting words like this : Fluorphlogopite
> ...


So...just to be clear. Is the consensus that in the US, if the product is soap (no claims), we do not have to list each of the colors' ingredients and we can just list "colorant"?


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## Carl (Apr 24, 2020)

Rsapienza said:


> So...just to be clear. Is the consensus that in the US, if the product is soap (no claims), we do not have to list each of the colors' ingredients and we can just list "colorant"?



That is my understanding thus far.

My confusion always came after you made the decision to list ingredients.
I have always known and it's common knowledge I think that listing ingredients on soap in the U.S. is optional.  No one is arguing this.

But if you decide to list ingredients (even though it's optional), how do you list them?  There are 2 ways, you just say Colorants or you break it up into components (Iron Oxide, Mineral A, Mineral B, etc.).

 My initial understanding was that if you decide to list them, you only had 1 option which was to break up the colorants into components.  This triggered me to complain, gripe, etc since no one breaks them up into components. 

But I think based upon the info in this post my initial understanding is wrong.  Once you decide to list ingredients, you can do it either way.

Hopefully I'm making sense.


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## Rsapienza (Apr 25, 2020)

Carl said:


> That is my understanding thus far.
> 
> My confusion always came after you made the decision to list ingredients.
> I have always known and it's common knowledge I think that listing ingredients on soap in the U.S. is optional.  No one is arguing this.
> ...


You are making perfect sense. I, too, list them all and I could swear I read that you had to. I just don't remember where I read that. Maybe I read false information. Thank you for your response.


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## SideDoorSoaps (Apr 25, 2020)

I use the INCI provided by the company I buy the mica from.


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