I'm positive this isn't as difficult as I am making it... I have read all the FDA information until I was cross eyed, then read it again but I am still having trouble figuring out how to label my ingredients, mainly my colorants. Is there a software program or something that can help me?
Can't wrap my head around labeling
- Thread starter bkb
- Start date
Help Support Soapmaking Forum:
What colorants are you using? And specifically what are you concerned about -- the names or the order in which to list the colorants?
I"m concerned about breaking down my ingredients and properly listing them. When I get to colorants I know that I used, say for example new leaf green mica from nurture soap, but I don't know how I label it. I see other labels that say things like blue 5. What am I missing. It is making me feel incompetent :headbanging:
kchaystack
Supporting Member
Each mica on the Nurture site lists the INCI. For New leaf it is INCI: Mica, titanium dioxide, chromium oxide green.
So, if that is the only color in your soap, at the end of your ingredients you list those 3 things. If you use several different colors, go thru and get each INCI, remove any duplicate ingredients (for example mica) and list all of them at the end.
As they are less than 1% of your recipie they do not have to be in decending order.
An example list might be:
lard, olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, sodium hydroxide, shea butter, castor oil, fragrance, mica, titanium dioxide, chromium oxide green.
Nurture should be able to give you the INCI name for a colorant. Often times it's listed right in the product description. Sometimes there's a link you can click to read the tech info for the product.
For example, Nature's Garden 24 karat gold mica has an INCI of Mica, titanium dioxide, and iron oxide. That's in order from most to least. One of my soap recipes includes this mica as a top decoration. The ingredients list for this soap is:
Lard, beer, high oleic sunflower, tallow, coconut oil, sodium hydroxide, avocado seed oil, fragrance, potassium hydroxide, tetrasodium EDTA, cocoa powder, mica, titanium dioxide, and iron oxide
For ingredients under 1% of the total, you can list them in any order, at least in the US. In this example, I know tetrasodium EDTA, cocoa powder, and the gold mica are under 1% of the total. I also know for sure the EDTA weighs more than the other two, so I choose to list the EDTA first to play by the rules as best I can, the cocoa second because it's more interesting ingredient and probably a little more "user friendly", and the more esoteric mica INCI last.
This is what's called "what goes into the pot" method of creating an ingredient list and this is okay for US soap makers. If you are not in the US, you may have to list ingredients that are actually in the soap after saponification. Your colorant would still be listed by INCI name, but your other ingredients would look different. You'd list the soaps created -- sodium lardate, sodium sunflowerate, etc. -- in order, from most to least, as well as the glycerin created by saponification. All of these names would also need to be official INCI names, not the common names as you would use in the US.
For example, Nature's Garden 24 karat gold mica has an INCI of Mica, titanium dioxide, and iron oxide. That's in order from most to least. One of my soap recipes includes this mica as a top decoration. The ingredients list for this soap is:
Lard, beer, high oleic sunflower, tallow, coconut oil, sodium hydroxide, avocado seed oil, fragrance, potassium hydroxide, tetrasodium EDTA, cocoa powder, mica, titanium dioxide, and iron oxide
For ingredients under 1% of the total, you can list them in any order, at least in the US. In this example, I know tetrasodium EDTA, cocoa powder, and the gold mica are under 1% of the total. I also know for sure the EDTA weighs more than the other two, so I choose to list the EDTA first to play by the rules as best I can, the cocoa second because it's more interesting ingredient and probably a little more "user friendly", and the more esoteric mica INCI last.
This is what's called "what goes into the pot" method of creating an ingredient list and this is okay for US soap makers. If you are not in the US, you may have to list ingredients that are actually in the soap after saponification. Your colorant would still be listed by INCI name, but your other ingredients would look different. You'd list the soaps created -- sodium lardate, sodium sunflowerate, etc. -- in order, from most to least, as well as the glycerin created by saponification. All of these names would also need to be official INCI names, not the common names as you would use in the US.
navigator9
Well-Known Member
bkb, actually it IS as difficult as you're making it! Marie Gale literally wrote the book on soap and cosmetic labeling, and she has a website that can help, but just know that it isn't you...it's complicated even when you have the book and read it and re-read it, and highlight it, and make post it notes!!! But once you get your labels set up correctly, the worst is behind you, and all you have to do is change the name of the soap and the ingredients for each one. Hopefully this will help. http://www.mariegale.com/quick-labeling-faq/
Do you think we're giving you a better idea about how to do this? I sure hope we've given you some ideas that help you feel more comfortable.
