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Should you give Pampers Pure Wipes a try?
Pampers as a brand has been around for a long, long time and there is no shortage of baby products on the market from this company. Aside from their Pampers Sensitive brand, the Pampers Pure wipes (or Aqua Pure wipes) look like their first foray into the natural or chemical-free wipe market.
Overall, we enjoyed using these wipes and our little man stayed comfortable and irritation-free for the entire time that we used them – always a plus! For our review, I’ll evaluate these wipes in our five main categories and give them an overall score based on the average.
Price: About $.04 per wipe for 12 pop-top packs (672 total) at Amazon
Pros: Great chemical safety score, low likelihood of irritation in general, moderately priced
Cons: Several reviewers noted that the wipes stung their baby’s skin when they already had diaper rash or cuts
Overall Score: 86 out of 100
Chemical Safety
When it comes to chemical safety, Pampers might not be the first name that pops into mind as they haven’t traditionally placed much emphasis on keeping their products free of dangerous chemicals. With their ‘Aqua Pure’ line of baby wipes and diapers, however, they have made a huge effort to catch up with the smaller brands that focus on keeping their products as safe and natural as possible.
With that being said, the Pampers pure wipes have a very safe list of ingredients. The picture to the left shows the complete list.
You’ll note that the ingredients for these wipes are advertised as 99 percent water plus a premium cotton blend for the wipe fabric itself. Indeed, water is the first ingredient and there are only 6 others on the list.
There is nothing on the list that is included on my list of common baby wipes ingredients to avoid which is a good sign and echoes the Pampers pure wipes’ commitment to avoiding the most dangerous chemicals in their more natural products.
Of the list, there are only two chemicals raise red flags and they are relatively mild:
- PEG-40 Hydrogenated castor oil – This ingredient is what is known as an emulsifier which basically helps remove soiled material during cleaning. On its own, it has been found to pose little or no threat to humans or animals when applied to the skin. Even ingested, it posed little to no risk. There is a possible risk, however, of this ingredient being contaminated with ethylene oxide. Ethylene oxide is a potentially very dangerous chemical.
- Sodium Benzoate – This is a preservative that is found in many foods and cosmetic products, especially cooked or raw seafood. It is synthesized from benzoic acid, which naturally occurs in some spices and fruits, and sodium hydroxide. Aside from rare complications, it has been deemed safe to use in small quantities (less than .1% by weight). There have been a few studies that have shown it to be more dangerous when it is added to foods stored inside metal cans, but these baby wipes are stored in a plastic pouch, posing no risk.
We rated these Pampers Pure Wipes a 90 in the chemical safety category.
I generally do an inverse scoring to EWG’s chemical safety rating which in this case was a 1 out of 10.
Comfort and Irritation
The Pampers Pure wipes might not necessarily be the best wipes on the market for preventing or treating diaper rash, but the manufacturer put a lot of effort into creating a wipe that is gentle on a baby’s bottom while providing protection after the job is done. They claim the citric acid and sodium citrate help maintain the natural pH balance of skin, for instance.
In our experience, we never noticed any problems with irritation and our baby never fussed (more than usual!) when we used these wipes on him.
Some online reviewers, however, noted that if their baby already had some rash or cuts on their skin that these wipes would actually sting them pretty badly. This is likely to do with the citric acid ingredient which, while not inherently dangerous, can sting skin just like a lemon would!
We rated these Pampers Pure wipes a 80 in this category due to their overall strong performance, with a slight ding for the potential citric acid stinging.
Anything that keeps a baby’s bottom free of red, painful diaper rash is great in our book!
Durability and Packaging
The packing for this item is a pretty standard plastic bag-style pouch with a cover that flips open so that you can reach inside for the wipes. They are ‘continuous feed’ which means one wipe should at least partially pull out the next one, making them easier to get out.
As for the wipes themselves, they are made of a ‘premium cotton blend’ that is very durable.
We didn’t have any issues with these wipes holding up while cleaning up one’s, two’s, or messy feedings. Impressively, almost nobody complained online that these wipes were too thin or ripped easily – hard to avoid those complaints! Some people did note that a lack of texture on the wipes made them a little more slippery when cleaning up messes, but we never had an issue with that.
Overall, we rate these baby wipes a 90 in this category due to their overall durability with a slight ding for lack of texture.
In short, these wipes should hold up very well for general use.
Fragrance
Keeping in line with the theme of the natural ingredients, Pampers choose to keep these baby wipes fragrance free. We always choose the fragrance-free option for wipes whenever available anyway so we didn’t have a problem with this decision at all.
Sometimes the lack of a fragrance can ironically create a pretty foul-smelling product as there is nothing to cover up the natural smell. In the case of these wipes, I didn’t have an issue and I personally think they are as close to ‘fragrance-free’ as you can get.
I’m personally rating the Pampers pure wipes a 90 in this category because we prefer products without fragrances and this particular product didn’t have any offputting odors!
Price and Value
Pampers pure wipes are priced moderately or even a bit cheap compared to other products in the ‘natural baby wipes’ category. Many of the smaller companies simply can’t compete with a large company like this on price and this is a great benefit of the scale that Pampers offers their customers.
To figure out whether or not Pampers Pure wipes are expensive I will compare their per-wipe price to the cheapest option available on Amazon, the Amazon Elements baby wipes flip-top packs.
As of the time of this writing we have:
- Amazon Elements going for $.02 per wipe (check reviews and buy on Amazon)
- Pampers Pure Wipes going for $.04 per wipe (check reviews and buy on Amazon) If you are willing to get the refill packs, you could probably find them for $.03 per wipe!
With that comparison, I’m giving these wipes an 80 in this category.
Although this brand is twice as expensive as the elements, natural baby wipes can go for much more than this and $.04 per wipe actually a pretty decent deal.
Overall Pampers Pure Wipes Score and Impression
There are a lot of really great things going for the Pampers Pure wipes and they look like a solid choice if you are looking for an option that avoids harsh chemicals and irritants.
Pampers has put a lot of work into creating a more natural product to compete with some of the smaller brands and they are definitely a contender. Sure, there are a couple of ingredients worth mentioning, but they are very mild compared to other brands and pose little to no risk for your little one.
An average of all our scores gives an overall score of 86 for this baby wipe review, representing a very solid choice.
The issues that plague these wipes are mild and at the end of the day will come down to personal preference on your part. Maybe you think the wipes are a little slippery or you don’t agree with me that they have a pleasant fragrance-free smell. Maybe you are worried that the citric acid will be a problem for your little one’s sensitive areas. I suggest you try them and see for yourself.
Top Online Pampers Pure Wipes Review Likes and Dislikes
My review has included my personal experience and what I consider important in a product. Of course, other people that have purchased the product have had other things to say, so I’ll highlight the most common likes and dislikes that I saw in online reviews.
Overall, this product was rated 4.4 stars out of 5 on Amazon as of the time of this writing with over 500 reviewers weighing in.
Likes
- Ingredients – Most 5-star reviews mentioned the fact that these were great in terms of avoiding dangerous chemicals. Clearly, they are hitting their target audience well.
- Durability – Many people mentioned that these wipes held up well no matter the use and they never had an issue with the wipes ripping or the packaging coming apart.
Dislikes
- Stinging – About 20 reviewers noted that the wipes stung the skin of babies that already had some diaper rash or cuts on their skin or caused irritation outright. This is likely from the citric acid.
- Pop-top issues – A couple of reviewers felt that the pop tops on these wipes are too easy to open, leading to prematurely dried out wipes. I never noticed this issue, personally.
If you want to check out the Pampers Pure wipes, check them out here to read reviews and buy on Amazon.
