The Honest Company positions itself as a cleaner, safer alternative to conventional brands, and for most of its product line, third-party ratings back that up. The Environmental Working Group rates Honest baby and personal care products as “low hazard” across the board, and several products carry the EWG Verified mark, which is the organization’s strictest seal of approval. That said, the brand has had real controversies around ingredient transparency that are worth understanding before you fill your cart.
How Honest Products Score on Safety Databases
The EWG Skin Deep database, which scores personal care products on a scale from low to high hazard, rates every reviewed Honest product as “low hazard.” That includes baby wipes, bubble bath, shampoo, body wash, and healing ointments. Some products go further: the Honest Face and Body Lotion (fragrance free), for example, carries the EWG Verified mark. That certification requires a product to hit EWG’s lowest hazard thresholds, fully disclose every ingredient including fragrance components, and avoid everything on EWG’s “Unacceptable” ingredients list.
One thing to note is that EWG lists “data availability” as only “fair” or “limited” for many Honest products. This doesn’t mean the products are unsafe. It means there isn’t extensive published toxicology research on every single ingredient. That’s common for plant-derived formulations, which tend to have less lab data than heavily studied synthetic chemicals.
The Honest Company does not appear in the MADE SAFE certified product catalog, which is a separate third-party certification that screens for bioaccumulative toxins, behavioral toxins, and environmental pollutants. If that particular certification matters to you, it’s worth knowing Honest hasn’t pursued it.
What’s in Honest Cleaning Products
The household cleaning line relies on plant-derived surfactants (the compounds that actually do the scrubbing). The multi-surface cleaner, for instance, uses coconut-based and sugar-based cleansers along with organic grapefruit oil for scent. These are relatively gentle ingredients compared to the petroleum-based surfactants in many conventional cleaners.
This is also where the brand’s biggest controversy lives. Multiple class action lawsuits alleged that Honest’s laundry detergent, dish soap, and multi-surface cleaner contained sodium coco sulfate, which plaintiffs argued was essentially the same thing as sodium lauryl sulfate, a harsher cleaning agent the company claimed its products avoided. Honest maintained that sodium coco sulfate is scientifically distinct from SLS. The company ultimately settled for $1.55 million and agreed to change both its advertising and product formulations. Whether you see that as a genuine deception or a gray area in ingredient chemistry, it’s a meaningful chapter in the brand’s history and one reason some consumers remain skeptical.
Honest Diapers: A Recent Change Worth Knowing
Honest diapers were originally made with totally chlorine-free (TCF) wood pulp, which was a selling point for parents concerned about chlorine byproducts like dioxins. As of late 2023, the brand switched to elemental chlorine-free (ECF) pulp. Both methods are safer than conventional chlorine bleaching, but TCF is considered the gold standard because it uses no chlorine compounds at all. ECF uses chlorine dioxide, which produces significantly fewer harmful byproducts than old-school chlorine gas but isn’t entirely chlorine-free.
This shift frustrated some loyal customers who had specifically chosen Honest for the TCF designation. If avoiding any chlorine processing is a priority for you, this is a meaningful distinction. If your main concern is simply steering clear of the most harmful bleaching methods, ECF still represents a substantial improvement over what most conventional diaper brands use.
Cruelty-Free Status
PETA confirms that The Honest Company is cruelty-free. Neither finished products nor individual ingredients are tested on animals, and the company requires the same standard from its suppliers and third-party partners.
Packaging and Environmental Claims
The brand’s shipping cartons from Honest.com are made from 100% post-consumer recycled cardboard. Baby personal care product cartons use FSC-certified, 100% recycled materials. All baby personal care and household cleaning bottles are either recyclable or incorporate recycled content. These are solid benchmarks, though the company notes it’s still working to increase the percentage of post-consumer resin in its plastic components, which means the bottles aren’t yet made entirely from recycled plastic.
The Bottom Line on “Non-Toxic”
“Non-toxic” isn’t a regulated term, so no brand can technically guarantee it. What you can evaluate is ingredient transparency, third-party verification, and track record. Honest scores well on the first two: EWG consistently rates its products low hazard, several products meet EWG’s strictest verification standards, and the ingredient lists are publicly available and readable. The SLS lawsuit and the quiet shift away from TCF diapers, however, show that the brand’s marketing has occasionally outpaced its actual formulations. It’s a genuinely cleaner option than most mainstream brands, but worth verifying specific product claims rather than trusting the label on faith.