Jessica Alba's eco-friendly brand, The Honest Company, is taking heat from customers who claim that its natural sunscreen is anything but effective.
People are blaming the company's SPF 30 sunscreen, which is listed as sold out on Honest.com but is still available on Amazon, for their sunburns -- and are voicing off on social media and in the reviews section of Amazon. As of Monday, 60% of the product's reviews on Amazon were for one star.
My best friend used @jessicaalba #honest #sunscreen - after about 40 minutes in the sun she looks like this #SunBurn pic.twitter.com/Nwszxr9uRZ— THE MAN ® (@DJ_DTM) August 2, 2015
Don't buy @Honest sunscreen unless u want to look like this. Second time I've tried this stuff and got fried pic.twitter.com/pEhO5GYIkQ— Lindsy (@LindsyMarshall) July 26, 2015
The actress cofounded The Honest Company in 2012 with the intent to sell all-natural family friendly products. In 2015, the company was valued at $1 billion.
Despite the product's recent negative reviews, the company released a statement that it values customer feedback and stood by the product:
Our Sunscreen Lotion was tested, by an independent 3rd party, against the protocols prescribed by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's (FDA) monograph for over-the-counter sunscreen products. The results showed that our product is effective and safe for use as an 80 minute water-resistant (FDA's highest rating), SPF 30 sunscreen lotion in accordance with FDA regulations when used as directed (Shake Well. Apply liberally and evenly 15 minutes before sun exposure. Reapply after 80 minutes of swimming or sweating, immediately after towel drying and at least every 2 hours).
The Honest Company added that the negative product reviews "constitute less than one half of one percent of all units actually sold at Honest.com."
Dermatologist Marjorie Rosenbaum told NBC Chicago that "natural" doesn't necessarily mean better.
“All natural isn’t necessarily good. And quote ‘chemical’ isn’t necessarily bad," Rosenbaum said. "I think sticking with the known products is probably a better idea than trying an off-label brand initially. They may be fine. But you don’t have the background or accountability and the years of some of these others."
UPDATE, Aug. 4, 9:45 a.m. ET:
Alba shared a response to the criticisms on her personal Instagram page, and directed customers to a longer message on honest.com.
In the response, Alba and her co-founder Christopher Gavigan stood by their product and expressed concern for their dissatisfied customers, before vowing to "do what it takes to make it right."
"Protecting our loved ones and yours is the reason we founded @honest. As parents, it pains us to hear that anyone has had a negative experience with our Sunscreen. We develop and use Honest Sunscreen to protect our own children – Honor, Haven, Luke, Evie, and Poppy – at the park, in the pool, outside, every day. As with everything we do, we take sun protection seriously here at Honest." I invite you to read the full message from @christopher_gav and I on our Honest Sunscreen Lotion here: http://honst.co/founders A photo posted by Jessica Alba (@jessicaalba) on Aug 3, 2015 at 8:11pm PDT