Written by Maia, President
UPDATED: January 2018
Guess what–you probably don’t even need a non-toxic, natural baby wash. There is no reason you can’t use a non-toxic shampoo on your baby’s body as well as his head, and most products are labeled for use as shampoo and as baby body wash.
That said, shampoos, even the ones I consider Good Stuff, generally has more ingredients than a simple bar of natural soap, so I prefer the latter for babies.
Some companies do make a separate natural baby wash that doesn’t double as shampoo. This Safe Product Guide gives you the run-down of the best and worst of these, plus recommends some great bar soaps (which, by the way, can be used on your little one’s hair, too!) and bubble baths, which I use every night for my boys just because they love it.
My Top Pick for Best Natural Baby Wash
I love Dr. Bronner’s 4-in-1 Organic Baby Sugar Soap because it lacks any sneaky ingredients and can be used on their body as well as hair.
$17.99Buy Now
Ingredients to Avoid in Baby Soap
When it comes to soap for your baby’s body, the biggies to stay away from are fragrance, anything ending in “paraben,” and all the obviously chemically-sounding names (like PEG-40).
Adult soaps and shower gels often include harsh petroleum-based detergents, but baby wash does tend to be gentler, if not necessarily safer. Ideally, you should choose a baby wash or bubble bath that specifies 100% natural ingredients; choosing organic baby wash is an even bigger plus.
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate Is Ok…Sort of
One soap ingredient that has stirred a lot of controversy is sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS).
After lots of research, I’ve decided that while I’m okay using products that contain SLS to wash clothing or dishes, I don’t want it in anything that I rub directly onto my kids’ skin because it can be irritating.
Fortunately, most natural baby wash doesn’t contain SLS. Note that sodium laureth sulfate–often found in natural baby wash–is a different ingredient all together, and one that should always be avoided as it is often contaminated with carcinogenic 1-4, dioxane.
(Here’s more on the differences between these two ingredients.)
Now that you have some basic info on what you should stay away from, here is my roundup of Good, Bad, and Sneaky body washes, bar soaps, and bubble baths for babies and kids. I hope this makes picking a natural baby wash much easier, and feel free to post questions in the comments section below.
The Good Stuff
Dr. Bronner’s 4-in-1 Organic Natural Baby Wash
This unique product is a shampoo, body wash, hand product, and also gentle enough to use on your own face. This unscented sugar soap contains no questionable ingredients, and is great for those of you who want zero scent in anything you put on your baby. It is my favorite natural baby wash.
$17.99Buy Now
Babo Botanicals Bubble Bath & Natural Baby Wash
Babo’s line, all produced on an organic farm in upstate New York, boasts a clean ingredients list and yummy scent, without any synthetic fragrances.
My kids enjoy nightly bubble baths in Babo’s lavender formula, which doubles as a shampoo.
Please note that we are no longer carrying Babo’s Moisturizing Oatmilk/Calendula Bubble Bath & Wash in our online store because they added sodium benzoate to the formula (read more on this below in the box titled “Some Okay Stuff”).
$15.99Buy Now
Lafe’s Organic Baby Foaming Shampoo & Body Wash
If you want a very pure, basic fragrance-free liquid soap/shampoo for your baby, this is a good bet, although I don’t love the way it smells (a sort of castile soap smell).
Lafe’s wash is 100% organic, with hydrating saponified oils of sunflower seed, coconut, olive, and palm. You can buy it on Amazon for around $13. Like I said, this is a safe natural baby wash, but not my favorite in terms of performance.
Farmaesthetics Fine Herbal Cleanser & Natural Baby Wash
This is the best of the best if you’re in search of a natural baby wash for a newborn. I originally bought it to use as a facial cleanser for myself, and then began using it on my kids as well. (Parenting.com calls it one of only three cleansers they “…would ever recommend using on a child.”)
The simple ingredients list includes witch hazel, vegetable glycerin, and essential oils of geranium and lavender. Note that is won’t work as a bubble bath.
$38.99Buy Now
Farmaesthetics Homemade Bath Bars
If you love bar soaps, try Farmaesthetics Rainwater Bath Bars, which are gentle enough for babies and kids, and made of organic ingredients. I often prefer a simple bar soap to natural baby wash when I bathe my kids.
The soap ingredients are basic: just purified rain water, olive, palm, and coconut oils, and various herbs, flowers, and essential oils. You’ll pay $12 per long-lasting bar, and you can buy these pretty soaps from the Good Stuff Store.
$12.99Buy Now
MADE OF Baby Shampoo & Body Wash
Made’s Of’s Baby Shampoo & Body Wash is a great gentle soap option for kids– it’s free of synthetic fragrances and problematic surfactants.
Paleo Skincare Tallow & Herb Soap for Babies
I am not a Paleo momma (in fact, I barely eat meat), but I love this soap!
It’s mild, unscented, and made with a variety of seasonal herbs, which are gathered in the wild or grown by the soapmaker herself.
This soap–like the rest of the Paleo Skincare line, is beef-tallow-based, which means it yields a rich, moisturizing lather and lasts longer than vegetable-based soaps.
If you’re looking for the most environmentally friendly, natural baby wash on this list, Paleo Skincare’s tallow soap is for you.
$9.99Buy Now
Earth Mama Angel Baby Bath Blossoms
Earth Mama offers another safe bar soap option. With some slightly more interesting ingredients than most natural bar soaps—such as oats, cabbage rose, and lemon balm–this pleasant smelling soap is available on Amazon for $5.
By the way, Earth Mama’s Baby Wash & Shampoo is also Good Stuff!
Beautycounter Kids Body Wash
I am normally not a fan of direct sales companies (Arbonne, Ava Anderson, etc.), but there are some exceptions.
Beautycounter is one of the companies that is genuinely committed to bringing safe products to market.
The only caveat here is that their stuff is definitely NOT all natural or organic–but they do choose all ingredients that EWG has rated as low concern–and conduct their own research to boot.
Beautycounter’s body wash for kids has a pleasant smell (and doesn’t contain any undisclosed chemical fragrances), and is free of sodium lauryl and laureth sulfates. It also doesn’t contain sodium benzoate. You’ll pay $18 for a 10-ounce bottle.
Honest Bubble Bath
While not 100% natural or organic, the bubble bath by The Honest Company is a safe option from a fairly reliable company (there are just a few of their products that I wouldn’t recommend–the majority are non-toxic).
You’ll pay around $12 for the 12-ounce bottle, and the bubble wand they include is a fun touch. Honest Bubble Bath is now available on Amazon.
Dr. Bronner’s Baby Unscented Pure-Castile Liquid Soap
This very basic soap contains only a few organic ingredients, but one of them is potassium hydroxide, which some readers have been concerned about (it gets a 3 from Skin Deep). Otherwise known as lye, potassium hydroxide is a caustic agent used to turn the coconut oil in Bronner’s soap into, well, soap. Fortunately, none remains in the finished product, and therefore, I consider this Good Stuff.
This is a solid natural baby wash choice, and you can use it for general household cleaning as well.
$9.99 – $16.99Buy Now
Poofy’s Organic Castille Soap
This is about as simple as it gets, and I love this natural baby wash for infants especially.
Poofy’s organic castille soap contains coconut, olive, and jojoba oils, as well as soothing aloe vera.
This product will NOT foam, so it won’t work as a bubble bath.
Seventh Generation Coconut Care Foaming Shampoo & Wash
There is nothing bad or sneaky in this product, but there are a large number of synthetic ingredients. This isn’t a natural baby wash, but I do believe it’s a safe baby wash.
Baby Mantra Natural Baby Wash, Shampoo & Bubble Bath
Baby Mantra is another brand that makes a nice, safe bubble bath (although it does contain potassium sorbate for those of you wanting to avoid that).
Baby Mantra sent me a free bottle of this natural baby wash to try, but of course this review is my own.
Baja Baby’s Bubble Bath, Shampoo & Body Wash
This natural baby wash and shampoo gets extra points for no icky presevatives and for being organic. I haven’t tried it, so I can’t speak to how it performs.
Tom’s of Maine Natural Baby Wash & Shampoo
Other than not being organic, I can’t say anything bad about Tom’s of Maine natural baby wash and shampoo.
It’s unscented and reasonably priced.
The Okay Stuff
The following products are not quite Good Stuff because they contain sodium benzoate, an ingredient that Skin Deep rates a 3 and about which I have some concerns.
Beautycounter Baby Gentle All Over Wash
Despite the small amount of sodium benzoate it contains, I would feel comfortable using this wash on my own kids, as it has a short ingredients list and Beautycounter is committed to testing all their products for purity.
It’s not a natural baby wash, since nothing from Beautycounter is 100% natural, but it is safe.
California Baby Bubble Bath & Natural Baby Wash
California Baby products are widely available and people ask about them all the time.
Despite a recent change in their formula (now containing sodium benzoate), I would be okay using this bubble bath.
Babo Botanicals Moisturizing Oatmilk & Calendula
Bubble Bath & Natural Baby Wash
As I mentioned above, we are no longer carrying this variety of Babo’s bubble bath in our store since they added sodium benzoate to their formula.
If you want a Babo bubble bath, choose their Lavender Bubble Bath, which does not contain this questionable preservative.
In a pinch, however, any of this Okay Stuff is fine.
Weleda Calendula Cream Bath
Weleda is a tough one. It’s one of those companies whose ingredients are all natural, just as they claim; unfortunately, some of the oils (limonene, geraniol, etc.) that make up Weleda’s fragrance are rated poorly by Skin Deep/EWG. So I can’t call Weleda Good Stuff.
But, strictly speaking, this is a 100% natural baby wash, and it smells incredible.
The Bad Stuff
Fisher-Price not only makes toxic plastic toys, but also toxic bubble baths and baby washes, complete with synthetic fragrances and PEG chemicals galore.
Johnson’s tops the gross list, since most of their baby washes and soaps include fragrance, parabens, and artificial coloring. Johnson’s has, however, recently launched a natural line that is free of phthalates, parabens, artificial fragrances, and dyes (although none of it is organic).
Mustela, a high-end but noxious baby product line, makes several formulations of baby wash and bubble bath, full of fragrances and PEG chemicals.
Aquaphor’s Gentle Wash & Shampoo throws chamomile in their formula and hopes you won’t notice the PEG chemicals.
The Sneaky Stuff
Burt’s Bee’s Bubble Bath contains synthetic fragrance (which can be home to dozens of undisclosed chemicals).
Earth’s Best Soothing Bubble Bath contains a host of concerning natural ingredients, such a linalool and limonene (both linked with immunotoxicity), as well as benzyl alcohol.
Gaia Natural Baby Bath & Body Wash contains the scary formaldehyde-releasing sodium hydroxymethylglycinate. I don’t know how they get away with calling this a “natural baby wash.” Oh wait, yes I do: total lack of regulation over this terms.
Gentle Naturals Eczema Baby Wash is not particularly gentle nor natural, with phenoxyethanol and several PEG chemicals among its ingredients.
Aveeno Baby Calming Comfort Bath contains synthetic fragrance and immunotoxic cocamidopropyl betaine, plus a range of PEG chemicals.
BabyGanics Bubble Bath is better than the other products listed in this Sneaky Stuff section–but I don’t like that it contains phenoxyethanol and sodium benzoate.
Dr. Brown’s Foaming Baby Wash claims to be a natural baby wash but definitely is not, and includes “fragrance” as an ingredient.
Yes to Baby Carrots Naturally Cleansing Bubble Bath contains retinyl acetate, which Skin Deep gives a 9 (out of 10) on their hazard scale.
Little Twig Organics Bubble Bath contains suspected immunotoxin cocamidopropyl betaine and sodium benzoate.
While in general I consider Shea Moisture products to be at least Okay Stuff, I don’t like their baby washes because they contain cocamidopropyl betaine, which is given a hazard score of 4 from EWG because of it’s immunotoxic properties.
It’s not that there is anything so terrible in the Tubby Todd products, but they are full of it with their 100% natural claims. There are plenty of synthetics in there.
So many of you have asked about Just Hatched brand, but it’s decidedly sneaky, with fragrance, cocamidopropyl betaine, and PEG chemicals.
Noodle & Boo is a Sneaky brand has phenoxyethanol, synthetic fragrance, and other questionable ingredients.
Read our Safe Bar Soap Guide for other great natural soap and organic soap options for kids and grownups alike.
Sarah says
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Julia Luna says
Hi! Thank you so much for your guises, it has made life much easier in finding safe products for my family.
What are your thoughts on the brand “Wash with Water”. They have a whole line of baby and kid products.
Kelly says
Hello! Thanks to you I found a love the Babo line. I ordered quite a bit a while back and honestly didn’t even look at the ingredients because I thought the whole line was “good stuff.” Then after reading on your guide that they added sodium benzoate I checked our Babo products to see if they contained it. They did not, but two products contained “natural fragrance.” What is your thought on this? I know I read once on your site only to trust fragrance that says it 100% essential oils. Thanks!
Erinn says
You haven’t actually addressed Tubby Todd’s ingredients. You’ve said they’re full of it with their 100% natural claims. That’s cool but is it actually safe to use on our babies? Is the synthetic ingredients they have at least okay to use? They seem pretty great to me. Would like to have a more in depth opinion from you. Thanks!
Priyanka Bansal says
Hi, I skimmed through the blog and found that some baby care companies use toxins and chemicals, but there are Babo Botanicals, Bella b which makes 100% natural and organic products. A lot of products are even EWG and Made Safe certified which ensures they are safe to use for kids and even their mama.
Micki says
My son had a reaction to the Weleda. I didn’t even bother to read the ingredients and then I saw that it is made with almond oil and sesame oil, both of which my son is allergic to. Besides that though, it has carrageenan as a top 10 ingredient, which i know is linked to cancer. I can’t believe that they would put that in a baby product!
Kelsey Sullivan says
Maia,
Do you have a recommendation for baby eczema wash?