A rant of sorts - and a question about Goat's milk lotion?

[SoapDiva]

Yesterday I went to a farmers market, a very well known one a few hours away. I love this market and I go when I can.

They have 3 B&B makers in there.

The first table I came across had some truly beautiful stuff. Lots of original and fun ideas and scents. With labels even! I was impressed and told her as much.

The second table had someone selling various items, labeling was good, but he tried to tell me that his 100% all natural, unrefined shea & cocoa butter lotion was made from boiling the roots of the shea and cocoa plant.

Um. Ok.

I told him that he must have some great sources, that I get my unrefined shea butter from suppliers because shea comes from the Katrite nut that grows on a tree in Africa, and boy his lotion is so white and, gee, I can't even smell the normal woodsy scent that natural shea carries. He started to stutter then. He was also slinging his M&P soaps as "all natural". To give him credit, he had some awesome scent combos and a few fragrance oils that he was pushing as EOs

The NEXT table really burned my ass. And this is where I have a question. He was selling goat's milk lotion. He had NO labels except for the name of the product. He tried to tell me that everything was scented with essential oils (including the PEACH lotion - he had several others that I went "huh?").

Anyway, I asked what was in it, and he said goat's milk and glycerin. I said "thats it?", he said yes. I said "what about emulsifiers or preservatives?" he said nope.

Is this possible? I don't make lotion from scratch, but from what I've read here, and my limited understanding, um, thats impossible. I tried the 2nd guys shea and cocoa butter, and it was nice, but there was no way in hell I was sticking my fingers in that goats milk lotion.:lipsrseal

[BLSoaps]

If you were to mix goat's milk and glycerin, it'd go bad. Basically, it'd be like mixing milk from the store with glycerin. There's no way it'd keep.

And PEACH EO.... I wish. I always see red when I watch the Glade commercials. 'Made with essential oils'. Yeah right. Cinnamon Apple and Strawberries and Cream. Okay, need to stop as I have way too many bad words going through my head and my hands want to type them! :lipsrseal:mad::lipsrseal:mad:

People like this just tick me off. EOs and 'all natural' are such hype words now that they hardly mean anything anymore. And for those of us who actually care and know what they DO mean, well, you know how I feel....

[Dolphin146]

Hi I don't blame you for not tring the goats milk one. I make lotions and some are from a base and some are handmade. The bases I buy allready have the preservatives in them and the ones I make I add a preservatives to. One time I made a bottle of goats milk lotion and diden't add the preservatives to it and after a while it got really nasty. If all he adds is goats milk and glycerin I woulden't want to touch it either, An as for the peach EO I'm not even gonna go there. Regina

[SoapDiva]

LMAO! Lyndsey that is what I thought. My husband didn't understand why I ranted about this all day yesterday, I tried to get him to realize that idiots like this hurt MY business because those that get burned won't try handmade again.

But yeah, I was thinking....hrm....raw milk...room temperatures...water....dirty fingers....I started to itch!

Dolphin- I use pre-made bases as well, I don't think I'm ready to start making lotions from scratch. The ones that I use have ingredients that I would definitely use if I made my own. I make a SheMango butter, but nothing that requires phases and emulsyfiers...

[Laura]

ick, unrefrigerated milk with glycerin?! who in their right mind?!!!

[kidsngarden]

The recommended about of GM in lotions is 10% of the entire weight of the formula, not just the liquids. I make a GM lotion and yes, I use a preservative and yes, that milk is pasturized (I use GM from my own goats) along with all the other liquids I use in it. And most certainly it is less than 10% and it has been tested too. People ask me if my lotions are natural and I say "more natural than what you'd by in the store, BUT some are fragrances with FO's and they all have a preservative in them for your safety" Then I tell them that if they ever find a lotion without a preservative to run the other way - especially if it has GM in it.

And to help along with your rant - what kind of person sells lotions without the complete listing of ingredients (and technically they chould have the INCI names) on the as required by law? Glycering and GM - RIGHT!

This reminds me of the gal I know who is a distibutor for soy candles advertised on this forum. She was next to me at a show once and was telling me how EVERYTHING in those candles was "All natural" and that you could probably eat them if you wanted. I thought, "HMMMM so you can get sex on the beach in EO's, huh?" RIGHT!:rolleyes2 I politely told her that the "triple fragrance" in those candles could not possibly be created by anything other than Fragrance oils which are synthetic. I have not problem with FO's, use them all the time, and those candles seem pretty ok - and I do prefer soy to parrafin, but TOTALLY natural? I don't think so.

When told her about the fragrance she was like, "I don't know, I guess I need to check on that. I know they are specially made in Europe...." But I heard her for the rest of the day extoling the the "natural" thing and how you could "probably" eat them. Whatever.

Ok, now I'm in a rant!

Bethany

[Prettyinpink]

These people do not become dangerous until people believe all what they say....

BTW why would a person look at a candle if S/He wanted to eat something?? I never got that "It is so natural you could eat it" kind of markeing

sorry i could not resist

[Jadryga]

Scary! Some of our locally produced B&B products have no ingredients lists. Those I avoid like the plague. You never know, they might be perfectly good products, but I don't see why I should risk it. I mean, if the manufacturer doesn't care enough about the consumer to label their products... tsk. I guess our labeling laws aren't as strict as some countries, and that worries me. I've been thinking for a while to do a freelance article about reading B&B product labels to send to magazines, but haven't really gotten around to it.

Why can't these people just research some before touting "all natural" products (or peach eo)? It really confounds me. I mean, it's not like Google was invented yesterday!

[8-GRAN-ONES]

Oh my goodness!!!! This post got me to thinking about a Peddlers Market My daughter had a booth at..in May of this year..I went to help her at her booth..so as it goes you walk around and look at everything..And would you believe I bought just some of these soaps,,,Says Ja Nene Organic soap...I got 2 different scents...All it says for Ingrd..Saponified organic oils of plam, coconut, olive, palm kernel, organic oatmeal, vanilla cream & pear fragrance, rosemary extract..Made in Vermont..Do you see anything that is a preservative? It says ..SOOTHE YOUR SKIN THE SAFE, NATURAL WAY WITH USDA CERTIFIED ORGANIC SOAP. What do you think??

This was before I even started reading on this board..my wouldn't I have had some question to ask now..lol

[Jadryga]

If it's bar soap, don't worry about it! Bar soaps don't need preservatives, so that's a pretty solid ingredients list.

I can't quite remember if liquid soap needs preservative.

[Meridith]

Oh my goodness!!!! This post got me to thinking about a Peddlers Market My daughter had a booth at..in May of this year..I went to help her at her booth..so as it goes you walk around and look at everything..And would you believe I bought just some of these soaps,,,Says Ja Nene Organic soap...I got 2 different scents...All it says for Ingrd..Saponified organic oils of plam, coconut, olive, palm kernel, organic oatmeal, vanilla cream & pear fragrance, rosemary extract..Made in Vermont..Do you see anything that is a preservative? It says ..SOOTHE YOUR SKIN THE SAFE, NATURAL WAY WITH USDA CERTIFIED ORGANIC SOAP. What do you think??

'

This was before I even started reading on this board..my wouldn't I have had some question to ask now..lol

It sounds like they are playing up on the fact that they use organic oils and butters. You can buy them and they are a bit pricier - I guess it adds to the label appeal.

I make soy candles and never tell anyone they are all natural. I try to give all my customers both sides of the argument for and against soy and let them choose. But one time, I am in the back of my shop working and hubby is in front waiting on customers, when I hear him say, "Yeah you can even eat our candles if you want." Now I have heard some doozers come out of his mouth over the years but this one took the cake. I just could not believe my ears and had no problem marching right out there and informing the customer that you could technically eat anything but why would you? I told him I could eat the stool at the cash register if I really wanted to and then proceeded to tell him that under NO circumstances should you eat any candle. Hubby stood there looking like the idiot he was at that moment and when the customer left, I was all over him like a bad rash and ripped him a new one. I asked him where in the world he got that info and he said he read it somewhere. I told him to quit reading or I'd poke his eyes out. I was joking of course. I asked him if he had EVER heard me say anything like that and of course he admitted he had not. He was then informed of the rule that he can not repeat any information that he has never heard me say before and to do so will result in swift and immediate infliction of pain to very tender areas. We then revisted his responsibilities around the shop - to look good, flirt with the ladies and lift heavy stuff. lol

[8-GRAN-ONES]

lol:laugh2: it sounds like you got the upper hand..