Product testing

[Stiffy]

Hi, not sure if this is right forum for this question and if not admin please move?

My better half (she reckons its 51% on her side ) has been making candles and hand cream from excess wax. She now wishes to sell some at Christmas fairs and has contacted trading standards. Trading standards have advised that the hand cream and any other 'beauty' products require a registered pharmacist or chemist to state that the ingredients are safe.
My question is has any one done this and where did they get the accreditation?
Many Thanks
Stuffy

 

[BKF Admin]

Is there not some rule that if you use natural products then they are not regulated as they contain no drugs?

 

[Frisbee]

Is there not some rule that if you use natural products then they are not regulated as they contain no drugs?

Opium is fairly natural.................grows in poppies I believe

Interesting question really, I think Trading Standards would have to come up with a reply which covered their backs, so if you are making a face cream product which contains (this is from a recipe from a leaflet I got from Thorne's) - bees wax, vaseline, distilled water, light mineral oil and perfume. Everything in that is tried and tested safe, and all purchaseable from a chemist as a potential beauty product, providing you list the ingredients for all to see - not in tiny writing or hiding anything, call it what it is, not some fancy name which could imply other things, so call it Face Cream not Elixir of Youth, I can't see a problem. The buying general public these days are very savvy about ingredients and like to know what's in stuff.

You could go to your local independant chemist and ask about product testing. I suspect it would be very expensive.

Frisbee

 

[BKF Admin]

But Opium is a drug..

 

[Frisbee]

But Opium is a drug..

Sorry I was being flippant and playing with your words............I'm missing JC's banter..........perhaps you could be rude and abusive to me instead.....


Frisbee

 

[RoofTops]

Trading Standards people seem to vary from town to town and their interpretation of the rules differs. Traceability is the best answer to this problem. You have to know and have records for all the ingredients and if they come from acceptable sources, i.e. you bought the oil in a health shop then you should be OK. But you must record any lot numbers and keep records. The idea is if you only use "authorised" ingrediants from known sources you will be safe. Where it gets a bit tricky is firstly the wax as there is every chance it may have residues in it but I am not sure you can do much about this. Getting it analysed would scupper the economics of the project. I can only suggest you describe it as "natural beeswax" and again have records of any hive treatments etc. Also, only use ingredients which are commonly used for these sort of products.

The other "dodgy" area is if the creams have Borax in them. Most of the home made creams do but it has been dropped from all the commercial stuff and is banned outright in the US. The clue was on the side of a box of Borax I looked at recently: "If you have sensitive skin wear rubber gloves for handling". This is not good to see on something you are planning to add to hand cream. The alternative, and what are used in commercial creams are emulsifying waxes, which you can get from people like Neal's Yard, but they are not cheap. This is what I use but I don't try and sell it commercially.

My suggestion is just go ahead and make the stuff, avoid Borax, and sell it on a small scale. Try selling a few hundred tins to Boots and you will need to follow the rules to the letter.

 

[hedgerow pete]

stiffy first abuse to fris later

stiffy i have a friend who sells wax/ honey based beauty products in a small scale around 100 , 50gm tins per year and a few dozen bottles of something else, she makes a point of the ingreadiants as her main selling point, showing people what they are and how much is used, by teaching people whats what with her products she does not get any problems with the trading standards, try it as your selling point
and as for fris complant time you seeds arrived in pefect condition and in perfect time , so how am i supposed to rant and rave at you when every thing is absolutly fantastic, thanks so much for the seeds i just have to behave untill spring

 

[Frisbee]

and as for fris complant time you seeds arrived in pefect condition and in perfect time , so how am i supposed to rant and rave at you when every thing is absolutly fantastic, thanks so much for the seeds i just have to behave untill spring

I just like the abuse.........you don't have to have a reason

Pleased seeds have arrived, it's a lovely squash.

Frisbee