rebeccajo99

I'm finally breaking down and getting a credit card processor. I have been doing research on them actually since Feb, but they were always so expensive and not having that much in sales yet, couldn't justify paying the monthly fee (cheapest I found was $10 a month, making 120 a year!!!) Found out about propay a few weeks ago and even though the per transaction fee is higher, decided I'm just going to use them for at least the first year. So, now... can I just use my regular carbonless 2 form paper that I use for sales to write down their credit card transactions (writting the last 4 on their slip and the whole part on mine, unless I can get on the internet at shows and can enter the card right then) and then have them sign that or does it actually have to be special credit card paper. I can't find that information anywhere, so it might not be a probelm then. Thanks

Thank-you to everybody who responded willing to be testers. I looks like I have enough, so I don't need anybody else. They are all packaged up and will go out in the mail tomorrow (unless my youngest wakes up for his nap in time for me to get to the post office yet today). I did throw a little slip in there of some specific things I'm looking for, but you can follow those or just give me your thoughts/suggestions. Anything is helpful. (don't be afraid to criticize either, I won't be offended. ) After I had the slips all printed, I realized I forgot to put my e-mail address on it. I randomly wrote it on the paper (if you’re wondering what it is). Feel free to e-mail me your results there or on here. For those who responded living outside of the US. Thank-you so much for offering. I did check postage and it would be just a little too pricy for me to send just for testers. Plus, I don't know what your cosmetic rules are and would hate for them to get confiscated at the border. Anybody who is wanting me to test stuff too, just shoot me a message and I will do it. (candles with are hard since I have small boys who like to blow them out, but will do my best if you want those tested... they may be good abusers then ) Thanks again, looking forward to the results. Hoping I get A+'s from you all.

They are giant jugs, but not from costco, they were from GFS.

Thank-you everybody. If you want to send me a pm with your address I will get them on the way. I'm really excited to hear your results!!!

I couldn't find this in my quick search this afternoon and this was something I didn't think about when I was doing my extensive research, so sorry if this is actually mentioned somewhere. I was price checking oils in my local stores this morning. The place with the best price on oils listed in the ingrediants that it contains citric acid as a preservative. I didn't see it listed on the bottles from the other stores. Can I use these oils for soaping or is that citric acid bad for soap? Secondly, some recipes I found said to use crisco. The off brand crisco ingrediants were soybean and cottonseed oil where as the crisco was soybean and palm oil. If I used the off brand crisco, is that going to throw off soap calc's lye numbers? I'm sure it would throw off the qualities numbers, but I'm not as concerned about that as the lye number. Thanks in advance

Love it!!!

yes, thanks Toni. It was very helpful to get my labels for the lotion bars. Didn't have the soy wax, but you triggered the word I needed to do a g.oogle search for it. THANK-YOU:yay::yay:

I hope I'm not violating any rules here. I would like a few more testers for my lotion bars. Would anybody on here like to be testers. I have 3 recipes that I'm trying to determine which is the best, sellable (as in, you would buy again) and any other feedback that you may have. Also, since you guys are the exports, I would like to know if I have them labeled correctly for the ingrediants. They are not fancy pieces, just cut up a bar that I made... so they are not how I will present them once I hit the market. I'm just looking at recipes right now. If you are willing to help me out, please send me a PM with your address. Thanks:):) Note: Ingrediants- in no particular order right now.. just getting this typed up, they are listed in prominance on my label Bar #1: Shea butter, cocoa butter, olive oil, soy wax and beeswax Bar #2: Shea butter, cocoa butter, jojoba oil, soy wax and beeswax bar #3: Cocoa butter, beeswax and jojoba oil

Well, after doing months/years of reading, researching, talking with my husband, and just getting over my nerves (for the most part) I'm going to try my hand at making soap from scratch (in about a month when we get back from vacation and my oldest starts school)!!! I have my recipe picked out from here and I decided that I'm going to do cphp for a couple reasons. Please correct me if I'm wrong on any of these reasons facts. 1. very little to no cure time. I don't have a lot of room to store curing soap, plus don't have the patience to sit and wait for it to cure 4 to 6 weeks Once I get my recipe down I'm going try cp to get the pretty swirls that I keep seeing, but I only have room for about 2 lbs of soap curing at a time. 2. Can keep it in my work room. I will only be soaping when my husband is home, my boys are gone or when they are sleeping. So I want to be able to lock the door and keep them out of my workroom until the soap is completed (so no stove top for the dbhp and I really don't want to occupy the 1 and only oven in my house for ohp) 3. I have to buy the least amount of new equipment. I already have an old crock pot, just need to get myself a stick blender and maybe some spoons. So now here comes my questions on things that I couldn't find researching. 1. I have gloves that I use when I'm doing my m&p, lotion bars and tarts, but they are just standard non-latex gloves. Would those still be ok to use with the lye for protection or should I get thicker ones (either dish gloves or medical exam gloves) 2. I have those sylicon spatula's with the wood handle and some with a plastic handle. Would those work and be ok to use to mix the soap and/or lye/water mixture? 3. For those who order your oils online- where do you get them. I have not ventured to the health food store yet to check out prices and availablity, but want to check online stores as well and buy from whoever has the best price. Sorry if this is actually answered somewhere and I just wasn't looking in the right spots. I'm getting excited to try it out.

I agree also katshe. I've been wanting to make soap from scratch for a while, but didn't want the lye in the house while my kids are little and I didn't have a workroom that I could lock them out of. NOw that I have my workroom, I have been doing a lot of research. When I see soap at shows and it only has 3 to 6 ingrediants listed it just looks a lot more appealing. I love my soap recipe that I have for my M&P, but I just want that feeling I actually created the soap myself too. I hope that makes sense as I feel like I'm rambling a little and can't get my words out on the page:)

I'm writting up the labels for my lotion bars for my testers and was wondering how I would label the soy wax. I used ecosoya 135 and it says it is made with 100% soybeans and carefully selected botanical oils. Can I still just say soy wax? I hope I can figure this out because my favorite recipes uses the soy wax and the cost is cheaper to make, which would benefit the customer too. Secondly, how would I figure out the "technical" name for ingrediant? Not the every day one that everybody knows, but the complicated one required to list. (hope that makes sense, I'm drawing a word blank right now )

Does the company you buy the base from indicate percentages for labeling? I know when I was researching bases, I saw at WSP that things listed at 3% went after the second to last ingrediant (of their natural white base). So depending on how much you are using, you would put it ofter that ingredient in the order listed on the bottle. If it doesn't, could you contact the supplier to find out? I think that would be your best option to make sure it is labeled correctly. According to the FDA labeling law, order doesn't matter for ingrediants not exceeding 1% (as long as i'm reading that correctly), so don't know if how much your adding to your base would make any of the ingredients in the liquid soap over 1% mark, but at least you have the order in the liquid soap to help you out in case it does, so I would keep it in that order to be safe. Here is the link to the FDA labeling site if you want to read it too. http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/CosmeticLabelingLabelClaims/CosmeticLabelingManual/ucm126444.htm

very cute. My son likes to help me with my soap too. I let him put my cut up chuncks in the pot when I'm making testers. I can't wait until he is older and can actually help me make my marketable stuff and come to the market with me.

I have a shea butter and goat milk combination soap and I also make one that is without the shea butter for those allergic to shea butter. I was thinking about offering some others, like oatmeal and aloe. I baught an aloe base to try out and test. I don't want to offer to many typed, but also want to have a varity for people. Still think I may do the oatmeal and/or aloe as specialty seasonal soaps. Others, feel free to answer and give feedback on my idea if you would like. Thanks

Do you offer multiple types of soap in a few scents (like oatmeal, goat milk or shea butter) or 1 type of soap with many scents.

Thanks for responding. Hopefully it was a fluke or bad group of testers and will have better luck this time.

shoot, that is worse than what I thought in needing a sheet for each fragrance. If I would survive this bill if passed, I think I would only be able to offer 1 or 2 scents and maybe 1 product. I've been working on getting the word out. telling as many people as possible and getting my letter typed up for the politions. I'm not going to be a silent bystander who prays this doesn't pass. I work hard on making my products safe. I go to shows and find things unlabeled, using food coloring to color the soaps and bath salts, using fragrances baught at wal-mart (they could be safe, but really don't know since I never researched them). I don't want all my hard work and money to go down the drain because of this bill. Like Scented said, some things seem fair and will be benefical to the consumer, but most are over baring with no benefit to the consumer.

I got mine at sears and it does not contain the spicot. I just use it without it.

They had it written in two spots on their website. One was written like this "This legislation will be good for consumers, but it will also level the playing field for businesses that are making the safest products."... and the other way was written like this "Level the playing field so small businesses can compete fairly." The first way makes it sound like your way, the second doesn't . Guess they can't make up thier mind either

I'm about done getting things put together to give out my lotion bars to testers. Do you ever give a Thank-you gift to those that complete the testing? Like a coupon for so much off or something. I just don't know if letting them keep the unused samples is intising enough to finish the testing in time. I had issues with people getting back to me in time when I sent out my soaps for testing.

I agree with you Ah-soy. I have been doing some reasearch on it and I found a website that supports this act that says this will level the playing field for small business. I really don't know how since I have read the bill a couple times now and cannot see how that is going to happen. The paperwork alone will put me out of business.

Thank-you for letting us know. Hopefully they will be albe to get something accomplished!!!

Thanks bugtussle I know I have a lot more research to do. I figured this was years down the road since I have to save up the money to even buy stuff. You didn't discourage me at all since like I said, I don't know if I will be able to do it. Right now, all profits I make is turned back around and used for testing of new products. I just wanted to start researching now instead of waiting for when/if it got closer to me being actually able to do this. Sounds like then if all I have to do is get a permit, then I don't have anything else to research on actually selling and just need to research on the stuff I want to sell. Am I understanding you correctly?

I've been doing some research and pricing out things to become a "supplier" I take this term lightly because I don't want to be like Peak, CS or the big guys, just buying what I use in large bulk, directly from the manufacter, and then selling it in smaller quantities. I cannot find information on rules/laws on doing that. Do you have any idea where I would find that information? I've tried this forum, google and my states website. I don't know if I will ever be able to actually do it since like I said in another post, I'm doing this business debt free, but I want all my i's dotted and t's crossed so I can jump on it if I ever can. Thanks in advance:)

wow, I was looking for this post so I could pass the link onto some friends who want to sign it too (they don't make any B&B items, but want to support fellow small business owners since they own business themselves). I just noticed that Michigan Rep is supporting this bill. Now I just need to get them all written. Is anybody willing to share what they wrote to thier reps. I will make it my own, but need a good starting outline. Thanks