The Honest Company

Image the property of The Honest Company

While looking at the recommended reading list for a blog I follow, I saw a book called The Honest Life by Jessica Alba (the actress). The subtitle is "Living Naturally and True to You." Intrigued, I got on the waiting list for that book from my local library, and was very excited when it arrived!  Jessica Alba talks about her own conversion to living more of a "hippie" life; she shares her insights into many categories, such as food, cosmetics and toiletries, household cleaners, materials in your home (paint, fabrics, furniture,etc...), etc... She talks about developing a personal style, decorating your home, and even has a section on maternity and raising children. She also introduces her new company, The Honest Company, which strives to make clean, healthy products that are safe for you and your family.  It was a very fun book to read, and I loved her "honest" discussion about everything: she tells how her family has changed to using better things, but admits that sometimes she still uses the unhealthy things, too. That is one of the biggest lessons I have learned in this past year - not everything has to be so black and white.  I do the best I can, and forgive myself for the things that I can't (or don't) do.

Naturally, I went online and started looking at the products offered through The Honest Company.  We have tried many of their products. Here are the ones we have currently in our house:

1. Honest diapers: As many of you know, I have been using cloth diapers for about a year and a half now.  However, I was having some problems with cloth diaper use overnight, so I was still using a disposable at nighttime.  I didn't like having to use regular disposables for the 12 hours at night, but I heard a lot of bad things about some of the other "natural" disposable diapers (like a lot of leakage problems).  When I discovered the Honest Diapers, I decided to give them a try, and now they are the only ones I buy! They are free of "chlorine processing, latex, lotions, fragrances, common allergens, phthalates, optical brighteners, PVC, heavy metals, organotins (MBT, DBT, TBT) & harsh petrochemical additives." I can totally justify paying $14 for a single pack of diapers each month, since my cloth diapers paid for themselves over a year ago and I spend nothing else for diapering.  They also come in a lot of cute designs!

2. Honest Wipes: I use cloth wipes with my cloth diapers, but it is always nice to have disposable wipes to go with disposable diapers. Plus, baby wipes always come in handy for messy faces and fingers. Most baby wipes are soaked in tons of nasty chemicals, so I had started buying Burts Bees baby wipes. Unfortunately, those wipes were super thin and not as efficient.  The Honest Wipes, however, are nice and thick and free of "alcohol, chlorine, phthalates, formaldehyde, parabens, phenols, quaternary ammonium compounds, SLS & SLES, lanolin & unnecessary additives." 

3. Honest Shampoo & Body Wash/Honest Conditioner: I tried to do the whole "no-poo" solution to hair care (washing with a baking soda paste and rinsing with apple cider vinegar). Two weeks later I had super greasy hair and there was no end in sight. Plus, even once your hair is trained and doing well using only baking soda and vinegar, if you use normal shampoo even once you have to start the training all over again. That's just not something I was willing to do, so I started researching healthier, store-bought options.  I have been using the Honest Shampoo and Conditioner for months, now, and my hair is doing great! I have a homemade shampoo I want to try making in the near future, but until then this is the only product I will use.

4. Honest Sunscreen: Commercial sunscreens are pretty terrible...even sunscreens marketed as safe for children.  The old sunscreen I had was a Coppertone Kids Sunscreen Lotion...rated a 7 with the Skin Deep website I shared a few days ago! I am trying to be better at using sunscreen on the boys, and myself now that I am taking medication that makes my skin more sensitive to the sun. The Honest Sunscreen is rated 1 with the Skin Deep website - so much better!

5. Honest Face & Body Lotion: Commercial lotions can be pretty terrible, too, and with eczema in this house we have to be careful with the products we use.  We started using this lotion from the trial pack I did when I first discovered this company, and now it's all we buy. I even use it as my facial moisturizer, too! 

6. Honest Body Oil: I never really understood the use of body oil, but I'm discovering that it's just an extra something to moisturize your skin. You can also mix it in with the lotion for an extra moisture boost.

7. Honest Healing Balm: This is kind of a "does everything" product. I use it on my hands to keep them soft and smooth, but I also put it on cuts and scrapes like Neosporin, or on other dry skin (even lips!) like Vaseline.  This is the first winter in at least a decade that I don't have "dragon hands."  This stuff really works! A lot of people use this as a diaper cream, as well.  

8. Honest Toothpaste and Honest Kids Toothpaste: I have tried Burts Bees toothpaste and Toms of Maine toothpaste, but the Honest toothpaste is my favorite of the three. And don't get me started on companies adding food dyes and artificial sweeteners to children's toothpastes.  These 2 products have the highest Skin Deep rating of any of these listed (they are rated a 3), but I still feel better knowing that we are using safer products.  

9. Honest Toilet Cleaner: I was so happy to discover that they made a toilet bowl cleaner, since that is something I am kind of anal about when it comes to cleaning bathrooms. The toilet bowl must be scrubbed clean! I'm sure I could find a homemade solution, too, but sometimes it's nice to just have one on hand when you need it.  So far it has worked great.

10. Honest Bathroom Cleaner: I had made homemade cleaning solutions already, but I had to use 2 different cleaners for bathrooms, my all-purpose cleaner and a separate disinfectant.  Those homemade cleaners are perfectly fine for everyday use, but I decided to order this bathroom cleaner for a more hard-core solution for tub and tile.  I haven't used it much, but so far it seems like it does the trick.

Other products I have tried:

1. Honest Laundry Detergent: I have tried making my own detergent, exploring liquid and powder options. But the clothes never got as clean and the detergent was leaving stains on my clothes. It was a very frustrating period of time.  I finally ordered some of this detergent to use, but it still wasn't quite what we were looking for.  I have been using Molly's Suds for awhile, and this is definitely the winner for us! It works so well and is still very clean.

2. Honest Hand Soap: I got a sample of this in the trial kit, but I just buy Earth Friendly Products hand soaps at a local health store, so this wasn't a necessity for us.

3. Honest Bubble Bath: I liked having this for my boys, but we recently ran out and I just haven't ordered another one, yet.  Did you know that baby products that claim 'tear-free' actually just add an extra chemical to numb their eyes so they don't feel the sting?  It's disgusting.  Just another reason for me to use better products on my kids.  

4. Honest 4-in-1 Laundry Pods: I got a free sample of these with one of my orders. They seemed to clean really well (better than the regular detergent), but I think cost-wise it is more expensive per load.  They do claim they can be used to clean cloth diapers, but I never attempted it.  

So there you have it, my introduction to the Honest Company!  There are still many products I would like to try, so I will probably blog about those products as they come.  The bundles are good deals if you are only ordering from one category, but you also get free shipping if you spend $50 in one order.   And the customer service has been fantastic the few times I called in to ask questions or get help with orders.  Please feel free to comment below if you have tried any of their products - I'd love to hear other reviews!

*I am not affiliated in any way with The Honest Company. I am simply a satisfied customer. :)*