Honest Company Diapers, SAP (Sodium Polyacrylate) and creative marketing

I love the Honest Company's diapers. I have used them, along with the wipes, from day one and have been happy. Plus, they have super cute designs.

Credit: Honest Company Website

Recently, I read a review of the diapers from BabyGearLab . While I have not found any issues with the diapers absorbency, versus other "green" diapers, as the review did, I was taken a back by what the review said was some misrepresentation by the Honest Company's marketing. Specifically that their diapers had been touted as "100% plant-based."

Also, the Honest Company, in its "What's Inside Disposable Diapers" section, is highly critical of competing diapers inclusion of SAP in their absorbent core, stating "sodium polyacrylate (SAP) is the main component of those absorbent gel crystals found in many diapers and it can be a skin irritant."

That's fine, but to be fair, the Honest Company, who is transparent in its ingredient list, also uses SAP, which is a petrochemical.

The review went on to say that the company's co-founder Christopher Gavigan told BabyGearLab that the Honest Diaper is 80% plant-based and claims of being "100% plant-based" have been removed from the company's marketing. However, this remains:

Honest diapers are FREE of: 

chlorine processing, latex, lotions, fragrances, common allergens, phthalates, optical brighteners, PVC, heavy metals, organotins (MBT, DBT, TBT) & harsh petrochemical additives

I had tweeted a comment to the Honest Company, asking about SAP in their diapers. Later, a rep from the company reached out to me. Below is her comment regarding SAP in the diapers:

"Our Diapers have an absorbent BIO Core (wheat and corn starch) that is blended with SAP for increased absorbency. As traditional SAP is petrochemical-based, we try to use as little as possible while still maintaining superior absorbency, which is why our Diapers contain a minimal level of SAP to ensure premium performance. It's definitely an ingredient we'd like to eliminate altogether someday, but currently there are no better substitutes that don't compromise the absorbency of the diaper."

"The main reason we want to eliminate SAP altogether is that it's a synthetic component of the diaper, not that it has any serious health risks associated with it. SAP has gotten an awfully bad rap over the years, but largely from misunderstanding - the gel used in disposable diapers today is not the same as that used in super absorbent tampons, linked with toxic shock syndrome, a number of years ago. In fact, SAP has been rigorously tested and it has been concluded that it is completely safe and non-toxic. MBDC, which is the leading US-based design chemistry firm, has assessed SAP as GREEN, which is the safest assessment a chemical or material can receive."

My question to Honest was, if you are transparent in your use of SAP, then why do you tout that your diapers are FREE of petrochemical additives when they are clearly not?

While Honest may not consider the level of SAP used in its diaper to be "harsh" it is still a petrochemical and that part is coming into contact with the child's skin as the diaper gets absorbed.

So what gives with the misleading marketing? I read the"FREE OF" line that is highlighted in the Honest marketing and was happy with the product and hadn't looked into the detail in the ingredient list that had actually listed a petrochemical-based product. 

Maybe it is creative marketing and the way the word harsh is used means one thing and not another. But as a parent and customer of Honest, it makes me wonder what else is being manipulated in Honest marketing. It is slightly disappointing. I felt happy to have been able to rely on Honest to give a great product that was exactly what I was looking for.

Other non-toxic ("green") diapers use SAP as well. It seems really hard to get away from. But when looking at the marketing for Earths Best diapers, they mention that their diapers are "made with fewer petrochemicals," not FREE OF.

It's not great, but at least more accurate.

The rep from Honest went on to say this:

"We are truly sorry you felt misled by this statement. It is technically accurate that we do not use and harsh or dangerous petrochemical additives/ingredients - only ones that meet our safety standards - but we also understand your concerns.

We're always listening, and I have passed your feedback along to our team. We will be updating the language on our package later this Spring, and we will update the website accordingly as well.

We take feedback like this very seriously and always want to be clear and transparent in how we market our products. We will continue to look into how we can improve this on our diapers and other products."

I would say that, technically, despite the rep's email above, Honest does use petrochemical additive ingredients, but I suppose the use of the word "harsh" is the issue here and how it's defined is up for debate.

I will continue to use Honest diapers. The alternative for me would be cloth diapering but after looking into it for a while and doing much research, I cannot commit to making my life a little more hectic by adding more laundry to the mix. Maybe with the next babe, I will work up the courage to turn to cloth but until then, it's Honest for me.

Let's just hope Honest gets a little more honest in all aspects of its marketing!