We get multiple emails a day asking about Jessica Alba’s line of baby and household products, The Honest Company, whose mission is “to reduce the ubiquitous presence of toxic chemicals in our our natural environment, man-made environments, and our personal environments.”
It seems that Gimme the Good Stuff readers are all dying to know: Is The Honest Company truly good stuff?
I’d feel comfortable using most of the products in the Honest line (and give my private clients the green light on the diapers, which people seem to particularly love), but unfortunately there are a couple that are Sneaky: namely, the hand wash and the dish soap. Honest Auto Dishwasher Gel and Honest Laundry Detergent are questionable as they have undisclosed ingredients (see below).
I think Jessica Alba was coming from a sincere place when she created this company, and the website is more or less transparent, with a few vexing exceptions (see below).
Some people might not like the following:
- The diapers contain SAP (less than conventional brands, however).
- Some Honest products contain the preservative sodium benzoate.
- Honest products are not 100% natural–they all contain a variety of synthetics, although for the most part these are synthetics that seem to be safe.
- Some ingredients don’t have any safety data available (sodium lauroyl oat amino acid, for instance).
- SNEAKY: Honest Hand Wash contains phenoxyethanol. This isn’t the very worst ingredient, but not the Good Stuff. Honest Dish Soap contains cocamidopropyl betaine, phenoxyethanol, and methylisothiazolinone.
- MAYBE SNEAKY: Honest Laundry Detergent contains “100% biodegradable anionic coconut kernel-oil based surfactant” and the Honest Auto Dishwasher Gel contains “biodegradable low foam surfactant.” No one at the company can tell us any more detail about what these ingredients are, other than that they are “corn-based.” We’ve called several times.
Bottom Line: This stuff is much better than anything conventional you will buy, and stacks up well against most natural brands. Avoid the dish soap and hand wash.
Oh, and here are our picks for:
- Hand Soap: Sonett or Eco-Me
- Dish Soap: Sonett
- Dishwasher Detergent: Seventh Generation Powder (avoid the gel)
- Laundry Detergent: Sonett (liquid) or Tandi’s Naturals (powder)
Stay sane,
JDP says
Any updates on this? They are back in the news again with a class action lawsuit…I can’t find a list of the actual ingredients that are considered toxic and what products they are in and it is driving me a bit nuts and leading me into endless web searching! I currently use the diapers, the organic healing balm (as diaper cream), the sweet orange vanilla shampoo and body wash (for my toddler), and just picked up the face and body lotion (for my soon to be newborn). Then I hear about all the bad stuff in regards to the class action suit. I can find the list of the products, but not the actual ingredients they are saying are “toxic”. To me saying they are making “natural” products but actually using synthetic ingredients is just morally wrong, but ultimately not that concerning if the synthetic ingredients are not actually toxic. But there are claims they are using proven toxic ingredients – which I would like to know what those ingredients are to check the products of theirs I use. That would be a deal breaker for me and I would no longer use the products that had ingredients in it that could affect my baby’s health! Thanks for all your work you do here guys!
Morgan Souza says
Maia, would you consider doing an update on Honest now that they have rolled out a whole new line of cleaning, laundry, and other household products? Thanks!