The Importance of Doing it Right

I've been doing a little internet research this evening on various other soap/body product makers.  There are so many really excellent people out there doing really excellent work and producing beautiful products that should be applauded and bought by the truckload!

But, and I hate to say this, there are some who aren't ... who's products may look very nice in the pictures, but when you look at their ingredients listing, they aren't following EU regulations regarding cosmetics and sale of same.  Now, we may all laugh at EU regs at times (remember the straight bananas?) but cosmetic legislation is put in place in order to protect you, the consumer.  From ensuring that a manufacturer (and I mean the big boys like Lush etc to the small producer making everything themselves by hand, like me) is fully safety assessed, that all the ingredients are stated correctly using the full INCI* terminology (for instance, when water is stated as Aqua, it's not that we're trying to sound posh, that's the law) to being fully insured... all of this is hugely important. 

Tonight, I found some producers who aren't keeping to these regulations and I felt the need to clearly state to everyone that we at Soaperstar are very proud to say that we've worked long and hard to ensure that we fully abide by EU cosmetic regulation, are fully safety assessed for all our products, are fully insured and very aware of the importance of all of these things to our customers.  I would HATE for anyone to lump our company alongside the producers that I found this evening. 

We strive to ensure the highest quality of production and ingredients for all our products and we test, test, test and test some more all new ideas before we ever launch them on the market.  We want to only produce products that we love to make, that we feel are of the highest possible quality and that we truly believe in and can stand by.  We would feel like total frauds to pass off some ill tested, badly labelled and poorly performing products to our customers. 

It really upsets me that there are people out there who think it's ok to not list all the ingredients, to not list any potential allergens, to not disclose fully what goes into their products, to market only the "label appeal" ingredients but not list every single thing that goes into their products - what happens if someone buys something from them and is horribly allergic to it? If they'd been open and above board with their labelling in the first place, that customer could then make an educated decision to not purchase the product.  It annoys me that some producers are happy to put products out on the market to unsuspecting customers - the legislation is there for a reason, that reason being the protection of consumers. 

Soaperstar was the first non UK member of the Guild of Craft Soap and Toiletry Makers - the Guild's has two very specific aims:
(1) To raise awareness of the legislative standards that are in place that apply to craft soap and toiletry makers
(2) To register as members of the Guild crafters who work in compliance with this legislation and who hold relevant public liability insurance

In order to achieve membership, you have to produce written evidence that, as a producer, you are fully safety assessed and fully insured - without this, you cannot become a member. 

I would urge any consumer who loves to buy handmade products to keep buying them but please ensure that the ingredients in the products are fully and correctly listed (for instance, no label should list Cocoa Butter but should call it Theobroma Cacao, Coconut Oil should only be listed as Cocos Nucifera) - if not, ask why not.  Ask the producer are all the allergens present in Essential or Fragrance Oils listed.. if not, why not.  If you want to, ask are they full safety assessed, or fully insured... they should be.  If they're not, why not. 

It's so important to us at Soaperstar that the customer comes first, they are the whole reason we exist in the first place - we work so hard to ensure that everything we do, we do for our customers and we do it in the right way... and this includes extensive (and expensive!) research and development into new products, correct and full labelling (not just highlighting the ingredients you want to see and hiding those you don't!) and abiding by the rules laid down to protect the customer. 

I am sorry if this is a little ranty but I got so annoyed tonight - and then got to thinking that people would think that maybe we're like that too and I had to come here and talk about it. 

We are so passionate that we do the right thing, make our products in the right way, make our customers happy and safe that I don't want anyone to think that we're like other companies who don't care enough about their customers to help protect them. 

There are, of course, many many many producers out there who make fantastic products and the few that don't abide by the regulations are, thankfully, few and far between.  Consumer awareness though is so necessary and I felt it so important that people know what they should be looking for and what level of service they deserve to get.

End of rant!

* INCI means International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients - you can find more information here.  If you'd like to read more about EU cosmetic regulations, please click here (be aware, it's pretty dense reading!