I have been wanting to do a comparison of the ingredients in the baby wipes marketed as ‘natural’ for a while now. When buying wipes I have usually always gone for the brand ‘Water Wipes’ because they have the shortest ingredient list. This is usually a good sign when trying to choose the least toxic products. However they are also the most expensive so I wanted to check if the other natural baby wipes with longer ingredient lists actually contained anything bad. I chose the four most common brands of natural baby wipes found in Australian supermarkets. None of the wipes were listed on the EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database so I individually searched for each ingredient to find out its safety rating. Ingredients are rated for safety based on published scientific literature. A rating is given between 1 and 10 with 1 being the safest and 10 being the most concern about the ingredient.
Here are the results:
ECO by Naty (56 wipes)
Price per packet: $4.70
Price per wipe: 8c
Ingredients and their safety rating:
Water (1)
Gluconolactone (1)
Potassium sorbate (3)
Propanediol (1)
Sodium benzoate (3)
Caprylyl Glucoside (1)
Maltodextrin (1)
Aloe barbadensis leaf juice (1-2)
Chamomilla recutita flower extract (1)
Calcium gluconate (1)
Citric acid (2)
GAIA Bamboo Baby Wipes (80 wipes)
Price per packet: $5.95
Price per wipe: 7c
Ingredients and their safety rating:
Water (1)
Glycerin (2)
Aloe barbadensis leaf juice (1-2)
Chamomilla recutita flower extract (1)
Green tea extract (1)
Phenoxyethanol (4)
Lavender flower extract (1)
Cocamidopropyl betaine (4)
Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (4)
Polysorbate 20 (3)
Didecyl dimonium chloride (1-3)
Tea tree oil (1)
Lemon oil (3)
Citric acid (2)
Water Wipes (60 wipes)
Price per packet: $7.50
Price per wipe: 12c
Ingredients and their safety rating:
Water (1)
Grapefruit seed extract (3)
Tooshies by TOM (70 wipes)
Price per packet: $5.00
Price per wipe: 7c
Ingredients and their safety rating:
Water (1)
Glycerin (2)
Silver citrate (2)
Sodium citrate (1)
Citric acid (2)
Glyceryl caprylate (1)
Aloe barbadensis leaf juice (1-2)
Chamomilla recutita flower extract (1)
Rose geranium oil (1)
So the product with the best ingredient ratings is Tooshies by TOM. Its ingredients are only rated 1 or 2. This was a great surprise to me as they are very well priced. Next best product is Water Wipes. It has one ingredient rated as a 3. This ingredient is a 100% natural one though – grapefruit seed extract. So I’m not sure what the concern is with it – something you might want to do some further research on! Also there is only a tiny amount added to the water so I still feel quite comfortable using these. I personally will always be buying Tooshies by Tom and Water Wipes. Probably the cheapest one at the time is the one I will go for. The third ranked product is ECO by Naty. It has just two ingredients with a rating of 3. In last place is GAIA Bamboo Baby Wipes. They have three ingredients rated as a 4 and three ingredients rated 3. Their packaging is plasted with words like natural, organic and pure. It goes to show you should be careful to not be fooled by clever marketing and should always examine the ingredients list. This is the most accurate way of knowing what’s in a product whether it is for your mouth or your skin (or your baby’s skin!)
Note: The prices were taken at Coles on 28/03/2018.
This was very useful for
Me to have a quick read while
I was standing in the supermarket today trying to figure out what wipes to get and lucky that Toms was on special!
That’s so good to know you found this review useful Amy! Oo stock up on Toms then yay! xx