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Why and How I Rate Products
I rate products for their potential impact on your health for five main reasons, and use a rating scale to stay as objective and systematic as possible.
Why I Rate Products
Overwhelm: to understand everything about the difference between GOTS certified organic cotton, OEKO TEX certified cotton, and uncertified organic cotton processed with chemicals of concern, you have to spend hours learning and researching. I don’t shield you from this potential overwhelm by saying, “this is a healthy shower curtain! Just trust me!” Instead, I do the behind-the-scenes, potentially overwhelming research for you and then display my results as rating symbols so you can easily do a side-by-side visual comparison of what is healthier. You can click on each rating for more information about why, or simply rely on the visual clarity the symbols offer.
Well-Meaning Misinformation: I’ve seen certain couches and cribs and other products that keep making the rounds as “healthy” or “non-toxic” options that really aren’t any better than standard. I’ve also incorrect information about concepts spread (like plants purifying the air or PEVA being super toxic, for example). Once you break down a product into its parts and rate each part, it’s often surprising how healthy (or unhealthy!) it really is, and can stop the spread of misinformation.
Sustainability Conflated with Health: Sustainability is not a factor in my ratings, and products do not get better rankings for being eco-friendly. Which sounds bad— I do care about the earth! But, I am committed to being health-first. For example, a couch made with recycled plastic water bottles may help clean up our ocean, but snuggling up with any of the BPA or processing chemicals used in those bottles isn’t necessarily the best idea for health. (Also, I truly believe that the products that are healthier for people right now are actually the ones that are better for the earth long term, too, but that’s a different topic...)
Opaque Affiliate Relationships: I think affiliate relationships with companies can affect how positively a product is rated— if you know you have the opportunity to make some income off of a product, you might rate it a little higher, whether you do that consciously or unconsciously. I don’t think that’s acceptable for items that affect health, so these ratings force me to stay more objective. I also disclose any affiliate relationships I have not just on the main page of my website, but under each individual product, so you can make a decision about whether my ratings are biased or not.
Healthwashing: as more people demand healthier design, some companies are responding in fair and creating actually healthier products. Others are making their products seem healthier than they really are, using misleading terminology, icons, or phrases without facts or details to back it up. My rating scales are based on third-party certifications respected as the leading standards worldwide, like GOLS, OEKO-TEX, and GreenSeal-11, to name a few. This removes any false “auras of health,” sometimes given off by misleading terminology, and sometimes portrayed simply by calming colors and plants in the photos.
How I Rate Products
First, I use this Standard Rating Scale with easy-to-understand symbols. Here’s what each rating means:
This is the healthiest option available.
Healthy, but doesn’t meet the strict standards of the blue dot.
Minimal health risk. Verified to be healthier than its standard counterpart.
Caution is warranted.
Well-known harmful effect on health and should be avoided whenever possible.
Second, I use the Standard Rating Scale to create specific rating scales for each type of material class or product category. This is because fabric will have to meet a very different set of requirements than say, a wood stain, or an air purifier filter, would have to meet, to be considered the healthiest option. The requirements are based on third-party certifying bodies, industry standards, and material health research. Here are a couple of examples:
To obtain the Healthiest rating, a product usually has to meet a third-party certification if one is available. This means it was tested by an independent institution that verifies the product is as healthy as the company making it says. For example, for a fabric to receive the healthiest rating, it must have GOTS certification, which ensures that it both starts and remains organic, from the time its grown in the field, and throughout the entire manufacturing process. GOTS is the leading certifying body worldwide for healthy textiles. For categories without a GOTS equivalent, like wood finish, for example, I rely on industry standards set by institutions like the Environmental Working Group.
At the other end of the spectrum, the harmful rating is reserved for materials that can actively introduce a health hazard. This rating can’t be dependent on third party certifications because obviously no company seeks out certification that their product is harmful. One way for a fabric to receive a harmful rating is containing an additive that is an established carcinogen or endocrine-disruptor, like BPA, PFAS, or formaldehyde. This information is widely available and supported by health-centered institutions like the NIH, American Cancer Society, the European Chemicals Agency, and others. Not every category has something that fits into the harmful rating. For example, some air purifier filters can be less effective than the healthiest option, but none actively do any harm.
See each category’s specific rating scale here.
How I Get Product Information
Sometimes, assigning a rating is as easy as reading the details about the product on its website. For example, a company may declare online that its bed sheets are made with 100% GOTS-certified cotton. They will often have a link to display their compliance (example here.) Other times, it’s less clear.
In these cases, I email the company, call them, or even go on a tour of their factory. For example, an email about a company’s “all natural latex foam” will include questions about whether it is GOLS-certified, if it is processed by the Dunlop or Talalay method, and whether or not it contains harmful additives like synthetic rubber. If they don’t respond, or if their answers continue to be vague or unhelpful (“We assure you, everything is safe!” is very common), I give it the lowest rating it qualifies for.
Why I Include Some Products with ! or X Ratings
There are four reasons I consider including products that contain a rating that normally meets the caution or harmful status.
First, for waterproofing. Dog beds and shower curtains often need to be waterproof to protect you from mold, mildew, and bacterial growth. This usually requires some kind of polymer-based fabric to achieve. While I normally caution against using polymer fabrics, waterproofing is the exception. These are generally low-touch surfaces (like shower curtains) or indirect contact materials (like the waterproof lining in a dog bed’s cover). These are imperfect, but much preferred over PFAS. I do not include anything with PFAS, a very harmful chemical class commonly applied to fabrics that make them waterproof.
Second, I recognize that certifications are expensive to maintain, and that some small companies making very healthy products are as healthy as they say they are, but can’t prove it. In these cases, I give them the lowest rating they qualify for, and state that their product is likely healthier than this low rating, but that health-centered certifications aren’t met. While this may seem harsh, the standard for healthier products is high. Because one of the primary ways I fulfill my mission to prevent disease is by protecting against healthwashing, this is the decision I’ve made.
Third, there are some items that are either unrated or have low rankings because their health benefit is derived from their function, not their material make-up— for example, air purifiers, dish racks, and alarm clocks. These products are generally low-contact (meaning, you don’t snuggle up with them and they are chemically inert, not off-gassing into your lungs) and are very important in maintaining a healthy household, even if they are made of some plastic. Someday I hope everything is made of natural materials, but until then, effective functioning trumps material make-up in a select few cases.
Finally, there are some items that are making great strides in the right direction, but contain a few less-than-healthy components—for example, some of the couches I have listed. As long as the majority of their components are healthier, and the company is transparent about what falls short, I include them and publish the ratings as always. It’s important to honor baby steps in the right direction and recognize the fact that cost, convenience, or aesthetics will necessitate choosing less-than-perfectly-healthy items on occasion.
