Our Methodology & Rankings
Hey there, Camille and Cody heređź‘‹
You’re here to find non-toxic products that work, but what’s toxic and what’s not is controversial.
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Just like with food, everyone’s idea of what’s good for you is different.
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All this conflicting information is overwhelming — like you need a PhD in Toxicology just to read an ingredient label and keep your home free from toxic chemicals.
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Luckily, many organizations are doing great work in providing resources to consumers to make safer purchasing decisions.
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But this information is spread out, hard to find, and difficult to interpret.
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Welpr is a product research hub that brings all this information together into one place, so you can make informed purchasing decisions quickly.
The Problems With Certifications & Safety Ratings
There are many different standards and certifications for rating the safety of a product. A summary of the standards and certifications that exist on Welpr can be found here.
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While these standards and certifications are useful, they come with a set of problems:
Everybody’s different.
Allergies, sensitivities, and other needs (e.g. vegan, gluten-free, etc.) vary from person to person. A rating simply can’t encapsulate these variations in people.
Lack of consensus.
There’s debate in the scientific community on which ingredients are safe for humans and which aren’t. Certifications and ratings are forced into taking a position, but because the science is debated, they may or may not be accurate in how an ingredient impacts their rating.
Pay to play.
Sometimes we come across great products that lack certifications. The truth is, many small businesses can’t afford these certifications, but still use non-toxic ingredients and ethical practices. We don’t think that’s fair.
Welpr Rating
The question arises: given the issues with certifications and ratings, why does Welpr have its own rating, the Welpr Rating? Do we really need another rating?
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Here’s our stance — we want to keep things practical because it will help more people.
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The truth is, the majority of people we spoke to before building Welpr wanted to purchase cleaner products, but were overwhelmed by all the conflicting information and deterred by the time investment required to find and verify cleaner product options.
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They wanted to quickly find a product that’s reputable from a source they trust and then move on with their busy life.
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The Welpr Rating addresses this need.
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After using the Welpr Rating to identify a shortlist of products, you can further refine your choice by consulting the resources linked on Welpr, such as ingredient analyzers and summaries of consumer feedback. This will help you make an informed final decision that’s personalize to you.
How the Welpr Rating is calculated
The Welpr Rating is made up of 3 parts:
- Product Safety
- Consumer Satisfaction
- Ethics & Environment
Product safety
Different organizations and ingredient databases each have their own methods for determining how safe a product is.
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So instead of relying solely on any one of these companies for safety information, we rely on all of them.
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We pool together evaluations from many of these organizations and ingredient databases. This means, that even though you see just one rating from us (i.e. the Welpr Rating), it's actually powered by the collective insights and ratings of multiple organizations.
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In essence, our ranking system uses the "wisdom of the crowd" approach. You get a more rounded, trustworthy rating because it's not just one organization's opinion; it's a consolidated view reflecting the broader consensus.
Consumer Satisfaction
When you’re shopping for a non-toxic product, safety is probably your first concern, but effectiveness is a close second.
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Our goal with Welpr is to eventually test product effectiveness ourselves.
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We don’t have the resources to do this yet, so we’ve landed on the next best thing — tapping into the collective wisdom of the internet.
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We assess ratings and reviews from online sources to see how well a product performs. Then we blend this consensus into our Welpr Rating.
Ethics & Environment
When you buy a product, you’re supporting that company with your dollars.
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We believe it’s important to support companies with:
- Ethically produced products
- Environmentally friendly products
We pool together evaluations from organizations that certify a company's ethics and environmental impact.
Help Us Improve
This page is a living, breathing document subject to change.
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The science and resources available surrounding what’s clean and what’s not is constantly evolving.
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So should we.
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But we need your help.
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Let us know here how we can improve Welpr đź’š