Book Review: The Honest Life

I read a book (actually two) over spring break.  I reread Pride and Prejudice, which I liked A LOT better than Sense and Sensibility, but also The Honest Life, by Jessica Alba.  I was prepared for your run of the mill "how-to-live-greener" guide, but I was pleasantly surprised.   I was prepared to reread info that I already know.  I realize this makes me sound arrogant, like I already know everything there is to know about being green, but the fact is, I've read SO MANY of these books that there's rarely anything that's totally new to me.  Congratulations Jessica Alba!  You had a new fact in your book!  Tear Free baby shampoos?  Not gentler than regular shampoos, as we're lead to believe.  It's not the fact that their ingredients are safer and gentler, they're tear free because there's a numbing agent in them.  Nice!

I also liked the format of her book.  She had it divided into different life sections, home, baby, cleaning, etc.  She wrote it so that you could pick it up and read any section in any order.  I read it cover to cover, and I liked that there wasn't any redundancy, like I've found before in books that are written to be read in sections.  She had a lot of the same old stuff that all those books have, which you need to have, especially if your target audience is starting to go green, or is less educated about green products.  (Clearly not people who read my blog!)  I also LOVED that she considered her audience and threw a little fashion magazine aspect into it.  I want to be green, but I'd also like to know how to create smokey eyes using greener products.  Jessica explained it.  She also suggested how to decorate your home, pick your style of clothing that works for YOU and get ready for a baby (this section annoyed me because she kept telling me what to expect with kids.  Really, mother of two and the oldest is a 5 year old?  You're giving me tips?  Then I remembered that it was intended for new parents or those expecting a child.  I'm a little touchy about getting parenting advice, apparently.)  So on Jessica Alba's advice, I joined Pinterest and I've been LOVING adding ideas for MY style, ideas for greening my house, gardening tips, a new hairstyle, recipes, stuff for my kids---EVERYTHING is on there!  Overall, I'm glad I read the book.  Even though there's not a lot of NEW info that I learned, as I've said before, it's always good to read that stuff over and over again to help me remember it all.  It seems so overwhelming the first time you read it all, that I NEED to read and reread and reread it just to digest it all.  Plus I learned about the tear-free shampoo!

I've blogged before about Jessica Alba's line of green cleaning, personal care and baby products.  I recently unenrolled from The Honest Company's bundle because I thought it was too expensive and I was trying to cut costs, but after reading her book,  I reenrolled and I'm pretty enthusiastic about it.  They've increased their product line and after reading her book, I feel a little more like I can truly trust her products--which is really saying something with all the "greenwashing" that happens. (Greenwashing (a compound word modelled on "whitewash"), or "green sheen,"^[1][2] is a form of spin in which green PR or green marketing is deceptively used to promote the perception that an organization's aims and policies are environmentally friendly. Whether it is to increase profits or gain political support, greenwashing may be used to manipulate popular opinion to support otherwise questionable aims.) I'm excited for my new bundle to get here, with my soy candle, my lip balm trio and of course, the hand soap, laundry detergent, oxy boost tablets, body oil, body lotion, and shampoo and body wash (without numbing agents!).