There are tons of different baby wipe brands on the market and it can be overwhelming trying to pick the absolute best baby wipe to take care of your little one. I’ve used lots of wipes over the years so I thought it might be a good idea to see how some of these stack up head to head in terms of ingredients and value. Today, we’ll check out Water Wipes vs Pampers Aqua Pure wipes.
In a direct comparison, Pampers Aqua Pure wipes deliver more value for the dollar that more than makes up for the slightly less impressive ingredients list offered by Water Wipes. With practical use, you won’t notice much of a difference between the two in terms of quality and performance.
Let’s see just how those lists stack up and what differentiates the two based on my experience raising three kiddos.
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Water Wipes Vs Pampers Aqua Pure Wipes Overall
Both of these wipes will hold up very well when they are used in typical situations like changing a diaper or cleaning up a baby after a meal.
In terms of performance, this means they are really interchangeable so we’ll need to look more closely at some of the finer details to see whether or not one of them is going to come out ahead of the other. Basically, what would make me pick up one or the other to use if they were both sitting on the table and which would I buy again before I bought the other one.
If you want to, go ahead and look at the Water Wipes here or Pampers Aqua Pure wipes here (check the latest reviews and buy on Amazon).
I’ve also reviewed both of these wipes in more detail and the one for Water Wipes is available here while the Pampers Aqua Pure is available here.
Water Wipes have the better ingredients list
If you are looking for the simplest, safest ingredient list then the Water Wipes definitely win in this category.
When we are looking at a list of ingredients in a baby wipe, we want to make sure they avoid any chemicals that will be toxic or otherwise dangerous to our babies. This includes cleansers, surfactants, antibacterials, alcohol, chlorine, and other things that are likely to cause irritation and lead to diaper rash or other issues.
In my personal experience, avoiding these has kept my son diaper rash free for thirteen months and counting!
Here’s the full list of all three ingredients in Water Wipes:
- Water
- Grapefruit extract (.01% of the solution)
- Benzalkonium Chloride – This is not really an ingredient, but a byproduct of the grapefruit extraction process. For years, it wasn’t listed and it isn’t required to be because it’s a negligible amount, but there is a trace amount
Clearly, there isn’t much to worry about on this ingredient list. Although the Benzalkonium Chloride (BZK, BKC, BAC) is a quaternary ammonium compound used as a biocide should generally be avoided, you won’t even be able to measure the exposure. Practically, you’ll find this chemical in much higher concentrations around the house that you would need to worry about before you eliminated these wipes.
On EWG’s toxicity scale, this product receives a 1 out of 10 (lower is better), indicating that it is extremely safe relative to other baby wipe brands.
As for the Pampers Aqua Pure ingredients:
- Water
- Citric Acid
- PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil
- Sodium Citrate
- Sorbitan Caprylate
- Sodium Benzoate
- Disodium EDTA
- Bis-PEG/PPG-16 Dimethicone
- Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride
- Xanthan Gum
Obviously, there are quite a few more items on this list and a few of them look pretty scary. In reality, there are only a few things, the dimethicone, castor oil, and sodium benzoate that are even mildly concerning. Each of those carries a 3 out of 10 on EWG’s scale of toxicity and the overall product itself receives a 1 out of 10.
Both Water Wipes and Pampers Aqua Pure wipes offer similar quality and durability
Like I said before, you won’t find a huge difference between the way these two wipes perform side-by-side as they will both get the job done. However, there are a couple of differences.
Between the two, the Pampers has a better texture on their wipe which is nice to have when you are trying to scrape…things off of a baby’s bottom. It keeps the wipe from slipping in your hand and picks up a bit more stuff in one pass. I also think that the Pampers are a bit more resilient to tearing or otherwise breaking down while in use. To make that decision though, I had to try to forcefully tear each of them apart one-by-one which isn’t exactly representative of normal use!
Although both of these wipes are fragrance-free, I’ve always preferred the scent that Water Wipes have over much of the competition. Sometimes fragrance-free baby products can have a strange, almost chemical smell to them even if the other ingredients are natural. Since they only have a dab of grapefruit seed extract, it must be the faintest bit of grapefruit coming through to my nose. I know this might sound nit-picky, but it is something that my wife and I notice and talk about when it comes to baby wipes.
What about eco-friendliness?
I would classify both of these particular wipes as natural baby wipes in general based on their ingredients list and chemical safety scores.
Unfortunately, neither the Water Wipes or the Pampers Aqua Pure are ‘flushable’ or fully biodegradable. I don’t normally pay much attention to whether or not a wipe is flushable since I never do that anyway, but I do care greatly about whether or not they will break down once they make it to the landfill.
The best baby wipes are going to have a cloth material that will breakdown fairly quickly in water and will decompose or compost completely once it lands in its final destination. At this point, Pampers does not offer any biodegradable baby wipes and Water Wipes has pledged that they will ‘get there soon,’ but haven’t yet.
If you want to check out some great options for baby wipes that are both natural and biodegradable, check out my top picks in this roundup.
Packaging and other little details
It is easy to find both of these brands in either a big refill bag to use with the cases or pouches that you already own or in the standard 80-count packages with a side dispenser.
In the case of the Water Wipes, you won’t get a flip-top on the side of the package, but rather an open slit with a plastic covering taped to it. You can usually re-seal them pretty well, but it’s definitely the less robust option. Also, they are not interlocked inside the packages so you’ll find it hard to grab just one wipe at a time – usually a few will come out together!
With the Aqua Pure, you’ll get a nice plastic flip-top dispenser on the side with interlocked wipes that are easy to pull out.
This might seem like it doesn’t matter much, and overall it doesn’t, but it’s still one of those little things that might bug you over time since you’ll be using so many wipes in the first couple of years!
Pampers Aqua Pure wipes offer a better value
Now that we’ve determined that we’re pretty close to comparing apples to apples with these wipes, let’s see if the price will push us in one direction or the other.
As of the time of this writing, Pampers Aqua Pure are selling for about $0.04 per wipe while Water Wipes are selling for about $.06 per wipe. These prices have stayed pretty consistent since I reviewed both products earlier this year and will likely stay where they are for a while. That means that Pampers represent the better deal, all other things being equal.
With that being said, I think the Pampers win the Water Wipes vs Pampers Aqua Pure battle. Check them out on Amazon here to get the latest price!
