Jessica Alba took a page out of her company’s name and honestly tried to explain her company’s side with regards to the sunscreen debacle that made headlines.
The actress and her business partner Christopher Gavigan recently received a deluge of complaints from customers who claimed The Honest Company’s sunscreen was ineffective in protecting users from the sun.
Some of the disgruntled customers have even posted photos of their sunburns as proof that the company’s SPF 30 sunscreen, which claims to use a “non-nano zinc oxide formula free from the harmful chemicals usually found in SPF-rated products,” does not live up to its promise.
Sunburned customers are roasting the natural sunscreen from Jessica Alba’s company http://t.co/96v05bEyZ7 pic.twitter.com/DE15KqquXp
— Mashable (@mashable) August 3, 2015
Sunburned customers are roasting the natural sunscreen from Jessica Alba’s company: http://t.co/J4Zre0c4lP pic.twitter.com/fGVLAhh68Z — Mashable (@mashable) August 4, 2015
The 34-year-old Alba has since taken to addressing the complaints personally via a blog post she allegedly wrote with Gavigan.
Alba explains that they founded The Honest Company because they wanted to come up with products that would be able to protect their loved ones as well as other people and that it was a blow to them when they heard about people’s negative experience with their sunscreen.
Jessica Alba stands by the Honest Company’s sunscreen amid controversy over its effectiveness http://t.co/Vvk7JxsAu3 pic.twitter.com/bs7DDCgOCT
— People magazine (@people) August 4, 2015
“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,” Alba wrote, adding that “as with everything we do, we take sun protection seriously here at Honest.”
The actress also claims that her company has “gone through extensive third-party testing in accordance with government regulations and our Sunscreen Lotion passed all SPF 30 testing requirements.”
However, there have been reports stating that the company has actually lowered the sunscreen lotion’s zinc content from 20 percent to 9.3 percent. The Honest Company explained that they utilized other ingredients to keep the lotion at an effective level.
It’s possible that some of the users who complained might not have followed the lotion’s directions correctly, but one user claimed that he had only been out in the sun for about an hour when he developed sunburn.
But regardless of that possibility, Jessica Alba assured consumers that they have “redesigned our Sunscreen Lotion for 80-minute water resistance and an improved formulation that allows for easier application and a lighter-weight feel.”