I “Honest”ly Love Them
This is a review six months in the making. It’s not sponsored (though I do use a referral link). I believe in the products and am excited to give you my most “honest” thoughts (pun intended).
Let me start at the beginning…
In January you might remember that I met Jessica Alba at the Alt Conference. She was there promoting The Honest Co., which she co-founded after finding it difficult to find healthy, non-toxic, affordable products for her family. (Her kids are the same ages as Elias and Adeline).
To me, words like “organic” and “natural” always seem like they will not work as well and be more expensive, so I couldn’t wait to try out The Honest. Co., which prides itself on offering, quality, affordable products. I also loved how much I connected with Jessica – a working mom like me, who loves her kids well and struggles to find time to do all that she is passionate about.
Can anyone else relate?
When I returned from the conference, I ordered a free trial of both the diapers and essentials pack. (They now have a vitamins essentials trial too, but that wasn’t available in January).
When I ordered the trials, it was $5.95 to ship both, making it an awesome deal. I love having small sizes of good products for traveling, so I figured even if I didn’t love the items, it was worth the shipping expense. You would pay more for small travel items at Bath & Body Works – and they don’t have diapers, ha! 🙂
It’s important to note that when you order the free trial, you are automatically entered in their monthly shipment program (more on that in a minute), but you can totally just cancel it if you don’t want it.
After receiving the trial, I decided to continue with the monthly bundle subscription, but not the diapers. They are by far the most adorable diapers I have ever used, but frankly, they are too pricey for my budget and they run a little small. I’ll stick with my Target diapers, thank you very much.
Speaking of Target, I know that some of these products are more expensive than if you would buy similar items there, but here’s why I think Honest Co. products are worth it.
- Honest products are non-toxic and healthy for your family: With all the chemicals in so many products today, I think it is great to avoid as many as possible.
- Convenience: I love that the products come to my door every month and that I don’t have to ever worry about running low on something.
- Customized: I pick what comes in my bundle each month. You can also pick the date, so if you need them to come less often (like every 6 weeks instead of 4) you can totally do that.
- It saves money, part 1: Yes, some of these products are more expensive, but in the long-run, it saves me money because it ensures that I don’t have to go to Target as often. Every time I go to Target I end up buying way more than what was on my list, so by having essentials shipped to me, I don’t need to go to the store to buy them and be tempted by those clearance racks and pretty displays. 🙂
- It saves money, part 2: Bundle packs save you up to 35% off the retail prices of the items. For example, here is what my next order looks like.
Retail cost would be nearly $52, but I will pay just $39.95, plus not have to spend time to buy the items or the gas to go to the store. - It’s charitable: I love that with every product you purchase, Honest Co. donates product, money, time, and effort to addressing critical health & social issues affecting children and families. I love that.
Since my January sample shipment, I have continued to receive monthly shipments from The Honest Co. and have tried just about everything offered in the essentials bundle packs. Here are my favorite products and those to avoid.
Favorites
- Healing balm: LOVE this stuff. If you or someone in your family has dry skin, this stuff is miraculous.
- Laundry detergent: Both the detergent and the laundry pods work awesome.
- Conditioning mist: Adeline’s hair is getting to be that snarly, hard to comb length and this stuff makes the comb go through her hair like butter. I am a bit obsessed with it.
- Dishwasher pods: I order these pretty much every month. They clean our dishes great.
- Face and body lotion: This is a very light lotion. I really like it.
- Cleaners: I have bought the surface, floor, bathroom and toilet cleaners and have been happy with all of them. I love that they are all non-toxic.
Avoid
- Bubble bath: It does make great bubbles, but it is very watery and I just don’t think you get enough for your money.
- Sunscreen: It’s awful. Thick. Sticky. Doesn’t rub in well. They reformulated it, but I still think its terrible.
- Hand sanitizer: It smells nice, but has a weird, lubricant consistency that leave a bit of a sticky residue. I don’t really like it.
- Bug spray: It smells really awful. Don’t make the mistake of spraying it in your house… the smell lingers for hours. It does prevent bug bites though!
Of course, this is all just my personal opinion. 🙂 Each month I am incredibly happy to receive my box of Honest products. There’s so much to love – even the packaging.
If you are a busy mom, I definitely encourage you to try The Honest Co. They just might be what you have been looking for!
Love, love, LOVE the stuff I have gotten from Honest Company! The Conditioning mist smells SO GOOD!
Our Costco has 2 packs of the Shampoo/Body Wash right now, and I have also used it as bubble bath – it’s the same scent as the mist, and I am really happy with it. I think I will be trying the healing balm and the dishwasher pods next!
I keep looking at our costco to get them, but not yet. I saw an article about them in the costco magazine and can’t wait to try them!
I’ll have to check out the shampoo/body wash at Costco. Sounds like it may be worth a try!
I ordered this trial back around Dec. I did my hand wash with the laundry detergent. The suds were great. No reside on my hands.(That was a huge plus for me, most detergents leave my hands feeling sticky.)
Problem, I had a major allergic reaction, my arms started to burn and swell up. Lucky for me I had some bendryl I keep around cause I sometimes babysit my little cousin, who’s allergic to cinnamon.
My son also had a reaction to detergent he hand washed his jacket. His reaction wasn’t as bad as the reaction I had. He was able to save his jacket.
In the end I gave away the rest of the trial items, I didn’t want to know anything more at the moment, this was the first time I had ever had a reaction to detergent.
I had to throw away three dresses and several other items. I wanted to save the dresses, but they were hand wash lie flat to dry only. I couldn’t hang them on the clothes line and hose them down. I was tempted.
The good thing is the ingredients are so few that my Dr was able to figure out what caused the problem. If they remade the product without the horsetail in it. I would try it again.
So I suggest to anyone please put a little on your arm and see if you have an reaction.
Customer service was really helpful (they tried to help save my clothes, The pods don’t have the horsetail, but customer service said it would be to strong for my hand wash. At least they were honest to tell me not to try it. ) and I canceled. I might try it again at a later date, but at the time. I was so much in pain and in shock I never had a reaction to laundry detergent. since I wasn’t sure what the problem was, I didn’t want to try the other items in the trial box and make the problem worst.
My son and I were both upset that we weren’t able to able to use the detergent, because we aren’t fans of the scents the other detergents have, that are available on the market. I like my clothes just to smell clean and not fight with my perfumes. My son said he doesn’t want to smell like lilacs or oranges.
I may try the other items now that we know what caused the problem.
My son just came into the room and said “if we didn’t have an allergic reaction to the detergent, we would have loved it. The product isn’t bad, it’s just doesn’t like us.”
Wow! So sorry to hear that you had an allergic reaction. We haven’t had any problems.
I contacted their customer service about their sunscreen and they reimbursed me. I was very impressed.