Our Glossary

Alcohol refers to Ethanol (Ethyl Alcohol) or Isopropyl Alcohol, also known as rubbing alcohols. Ethyl alcohol is an effective active ingredient in our hand sanitizer sprays and wipes but may cause skin dryness. Products we label “alcohol-free” or “made without alcohol” may contain other forms of alcohol like longer chain and fatty alcohols. Longer chain and fatty alcohols like cetyl alcohol and stearyl alcohols help stabilize formulas and are known for their hydrating and moisturizing effects, providing a nourishing or soothing feel.

We believe you have a right to know the ingredients that we choose to incorporate into our formulas. At Honest, we meticulously formulate our products without ingredients that we believe pose significant hazards to either human health or the environment. We are transparent by specifying the ingredients that we select for our formulas, but manufacturing products is complicated, and it is possible that unintended ingredients or migratory chemicals may be present at trace amounts despite our choice not to use them in our formulas.

We have a team of in-house, board-certified toxicologists conduct thorough risk assessments on our raw materials and product formulas, and we have implemented rigorous clinical safety protocols as part of our standards for safety, effectiveness, and integrity.

Many of our products are verified by respected third-party certifiers, such as the Environmental Working Group (EWG), National Eczema Association (NEA), and Oeko-Tex® STANDARD 100, ensuring they meet the strict criteria for human and environmental safety. We partner with and use science-based, data-driven tools like CHEMFORWARD for comprehensive material hazard assessments. We're mindful of our packaging and packaging-to-product ratios, continually exploring and improving our use of recycled content and recyclable materials when feasible. We aim to create products that are gentle, effective, and Honest Clean.

Dry skin needs moisture. Since colloidal oat is a naturally derived ingredient that acts as an emollient, it’s one of our favorite ways to soothe itchy skin.

Honest is a cruelty-free brand. We do not test on animals during product development or production—or allow any third parties to do so with our products.

We define Microplastic as a solid, synthetic polymer that falls between 0.1 μm and 5 mm in size and is both insoluble in water and not degradable. Made without microplastics or microplastic-free means that we have not intentionally added microplastics to the formula.

A finished natural product contains a minimum of 95% natural ingredients in the total formula. The non-water portion is at least 50% bio-based (which means animal-, plant-, or microorganism-based), or the product contains acceptable mineral ingredients.

Natural ingredients are water, minerals, plants and animal materials made with minimal processing to keep them true to their natural form.

Naturally Derived Ingredients: Any ingredient whose starting material originates from plants, minerals, microbes or animals that may be adapted to provide performance.

The quantity of the plant or plant-derived ingredients represents at least 50% of the total formula or materials.

Botanical Ingredients:
Come from a plant source and are made with minimal processing to keep them true to their natural form.

Plant-Derived Ingredients:

Any ingredient whose starting material originates from plants and may be adapted to provide performance.

Like a healthy meal for your skin, prebiotics fuel the good bacteria that support skin’s natural barrier.

Toxicologist Audited is a part of our Honest Standard and means that we’ve reviewed the final formula and raw materials for potential chemical hazards, dose-response, anticipated exposure, as well as risk characterization. While we know nothing in life is truly risk-free, our toxicologist audit process allows us to provide our consumers extra peace of mind about the long-term use of our everyday products.

A vegan product does not contain any animal ingredients or animal-derived ingredients. This includes, but is not limited to, honey, beeswax, lanolin, collagen, albumen, carmine, cholesterol, and gelatin.