# Listing soap ingredients with multiple ingredients



## FlybyStardancer (Mar 19, 2015)

Okay, the title isn't exactly crystal clear, sorry about  that!

My question is... When writing up a soap ingredients list (specifically following US "common name" cosmetics laws), how do you handle ingredients that have multiple ingredients of their own? 

Beer and wine, for instance, can be listed as just that. But what about the dairies that are purchased at the store that contain more than just the dairy? For instance, the cream I used earlier this year has carrageenan added to it. And then in another soap I added buttermilk whose ingredients list looks like: Cultured reduced fat milk, Butter granules, (Churned Cream [Annatto-a color]), Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D3. The list of things goes on and on! (Lard, I bought some Canada Dry ginger ale for another soap on my list...)

Now, I can get away with just going "cream" or "buttermilk", or even "Canada Dry ginger ale" right now since I'm only producing soaps to give away to family & friends. They trust me enough to know that I will warn them if I know they'll have a problem with an ingredient, and are smart enough to look some things up (and they have no known issues with some of those "hidden" ingredients). However, I'm trying to think long-term for that maybe-someday when I might sell.


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## Dorymae (Mar 20, 2015)

All ingredients need to be listed. Sometimes this means you need to make an educated guess as to the amounts but usually the amounts are so small they would simply be listed at the end before the color and fragrance. 

So if you used 5 ounces of cream with carrageenan added you would place the milk in order according to the 5 oz and the carrageenan (which I would think would be less than say 5% of the 5 oz at the end of your list.


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## PinkCupcake (Mar 20, 2015)

I would list the ingredients in the standard descending order, listing the ingredients of any multi-ingredient components in parentheses. I wouldn't try to figure the proportions of the carrageenan. The manufacturer has already listed the cream's ingredients in descending order for you. So the label would look like this:

Water, heavy cream (cream, carrageenan), olive oil, coconut oil..


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## zolveria (Apr 10, 2015)

The rule pertain to you Country of Origin. EX INCI list from greatest to lowest. eg Lotion: Water , shea butter , Emulsifier ( this does not need to be listed as it may be a trade secret) fragance ( also does not need to be listed ) red 40 . this is an example. 

another example is when creating lipgloss. I use Versagel. so i would list it as Hydrogenated Polyisobutene (and) Ethylene/Propylene/Styrene Copolymer (and) Butylene/Ethylene/Styrene Copolymer. 
Hope this helps. when not wanting to list your specific colorants. you get around this by writing may contain +/- red 40 , red oxide, mica, titanium dioxide etc. 

hope this helps


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## AnnaMarie (Apr 10, 2015)

This issue alone is enough for me to avoid multiple ingredient "ingredients":-D. I really don't want to spend all day on labels. One time I used some melt and pour for embeds, and when it came time for labeling, well, yikes! Needless to say, my labels were very wordy. So yes, you do need to list everything. I handle multiple ingredient "ingredients" by listing the extra ingredients in parenthesis as Pink Cupcake mentioned.
Best,
Anna Marie


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