01 Jul The Honest Company: Jessica Alba’s Passion Project
With Jessica Alba stepping down as chief creative officer at The Honest Company, it’s time to reflect on the bygone years and the highly regarded products and technologies she and other co-founders have championed. This urgency is underscored by recent research findings, which have uncovered the harmful ingredients in many skincare products, but mostly their effects on our health.
It’s time to delve into the inner workings of The Honest Company and its unwavering commitment to non-toxic, eco-friendly products for your home and your family. The Honest Company’s commitment should reassure you and give you confidence in your chosen products. And hey, when it comes to trusting celebrities, we should all be weary, but when it comes to this honest company, it’s clear that Jessica Alba put humans first instead of wealth.
In-house Toxicologist and Ultra Clean Lab
Image: Arch Daily, 2024
The Honest Company’s emphasis on product quality is no secret. Their acquisition of a renowned toxicologist for in-house product testing is a testament to this commitment. The company’s rigorous testing protocols, overseen by the in-house toxicologist, ensure that consumers only purchase the cleanest products and that the company only produces what they consider safe. This high standard of safety should be the norm for all chemical-based product companies. The Ultra Clean Lab, which opened in June 2017, further reinforces this commitment, providing a secure and protected environment for product development.
The Ultra Clean Lab focuses on meticulous testing protocols to ensure the safety and purity of the products sold to consumers. Alba states that when she first started building the company, she was excited to create a brand that families could trust, with affordable, non-toxic, eco-friendly lifestyle products to shake the industry. It seems like it has. The Honest Company had undergone a valuation of 1.4 billion dollars in 2021, and it’s mission continues to take centre stage within the company.
Make-Up by The Honest Company
Image: WWD.com, 2024
Make-up has been shown to have an array of hidden chemicals that can effectively eat away at our skin barrier. Whether it is a foundation from a top-notch brand promising flawlessness or lower-end dollar stores selling questionable mascara from China, it might contain harmful chemicals. This knowledge should make you more cautious and aware of the potential risks. What’s worse is most of the time, the ingredients are not even disclosed.
The Honest Company is committed to transparency, aiming to formulate products with clean ingredients, without harmful chemicals or unnecessary additives. Instead of using fragrances and other potentially toxic substances, they use naturally derived ingredients and tested synthetics, ensuring you know exactly what you’re putting on your skin.
From lash serums and tinted sunscreen to blushes and lipsticks, The Honest Company’s make-up is something every person who likes to sass themselves up should try.
Baby Products by The Honest Company
Image: TSM Interactive, 2024
Their diapers make The Honest Company stand out in the baby industry. Every three months, they change the print on the diapers. It’s vibrant, fashionable, and widely recognised, but most of all, it’s free from nasties. They use eco-friendly materials with no harmful chemicals and leak-proof protection with a wetness indicator, making it clear when your baby’s dirty diaper needs a change.
These diapers are super-absorbent, hypoallergenic disposable diapers made with plant-based materials, designed with sensitive skin in mind and formulated to prevent diaper rash. With their limited-edition prints, your baby is not only at their most comfortable but also at their cutest.
The Honest Company does not just manufacture cute diapers, though. They also created flushable wet wipes and various bath and body baby products to make your baby feel great without compromising their health. Multiple ingredients in household products have severe symptoms on your health; many of those symptoms are small enough not to be noticed but harmful enough to have long-term effects.
The Honest Company’s Household Products
Image: Studio 111 Design, 2024
Do you know how many toxic chemicals are in unassuming household products? Among the most dangerous of these chemical concoctions is laundry detergent. But don’t let me forget to mention tile cleaner, candles, air freshener, sanitising wipes, and anything else you can think of. Household products also contain fragrances, another red flag for anybody wanting to live a purer life.
Prolonged exposure to certain fragrance chemicals is known to aggravate asthma and respiratory conditions in general. The most striking of all the long-term symptoms is the hormone disruption it causes, otherwise known as endocrine disruptors, such as phthalates. These chemicals can cause reproductive issues, developmental problems, and more. It’s best to let go of the synthetic citrus scents and opt for fragrance-free household products.
That’s where The Honest Company comes in. They sell various cleaning products to make your home feel fresh without compromising your and your baby’s health. They sell Hypoallergenic Baby Laundry Detergent, Sanitizing Alcohol wipes, hand sanitiser, and more. Our skin is our body’s largest organ; it absorbs everything we surround it with. And yes, scents, chemicals, and nasties are absorbed and enter our bodies to disrupt it from the inside out. If you want to start small, start with your laundry and take it from there.
The Problem and The Mission
Image: Mother Jones, 2024
The problem with everyday products that we use, albeit laundry detergent, tampons, or even dish soap, is that they contain various petrochemicals. And no, not every petrochemical is a threat to your health. However, navigating through the endless list of chemicals in any given product could be daunting, overcomplicated, and exhausting. Knowing which petrochemicals are harmful and which are not is the problem. It’s the product’s transparency, whether it contains the wrong or good stuff. Legislation is another significant factor that plays a role in the type of products allowed on consumers’ shelves.
This set the pregnant Jessica Alba on a quest after suffering from allergies and health complications all her life, not wanting her baby to suffer like she did. Her mission was to lobby for Chemical Reform. During the time of her pregnancy, her research showed that the TOSCA (Toxic Substance Control Act, a piece of legislation centred around chemicals) was put into legislation back in 1976 and had not been reformed since.
This outdated legislation had no standard to measure what chemicals are allowed to enter consumer-based products and gave way to more than 80,000 chemicals entering the marketplace. These chemicals had not been tested for safety because no standard had been established for testing. For a chemical to be banned by this legislation, enough people had to die from it first. The lobbying process was frustrating to change, and ultimately, Jessica Alba decided that consumers could vote with their dollars by spending money on transparent products with no hidden ingredients.
In a nutshell, The Honest Company was founded on a simple mission: to make safe, practical goods for your entire family. The Honest Standard, their set of guiding principles, is how they turn their purpose into reality and apply their ideals to innovation and development. Protecting human health is their top priority, and it’s an admirable one at that. Every product purchased helps research chemicals and their side effects and aids non-profit organisations across the US.
Another critical aspect of the company is that they think about the future, too. The Honest Company continues to improve its renewable resources, from plant-derived components to the most recent advancements in green chemistry to the proportions of recycled and recyclable material in its packaging.
If you want to learn more about the effect of technology on our health, be sure to read about the role of technology in fitness and wellbeing.
Jessica Alba Making Life Purer with The Honest Company
Image: Vox, 2024
Although Jessica Alba stepped down as the creative director, she will remain on The Honest Company’s board of directors. Her passion for clean living extended into her company, ultimately establishing itself among the few consumer-based companies with health at the forefront of their operations. It’s an admirable business, and thanks to Alba spearheading the concept of clean products, many other small businesses have taken it as inspiration.
Also, with her celebrity status, many fans soon became aware of the hidden dangers in everyday household and body products. Today, it is mostly common knowledge that what we make use of is dangerous, and many people have begun to make the necessary changes. So, thank you, The Honest Company, for making life purer, one product at a time.
