Baby wipes may not seem like a large line item, but every penny adds up. And considering that you will literally use thousands of these bad boys you might as well find what works the best for you.

Are wipes really that big of a deal?

Well, I will admit that I didn’t actually think so. I have never been brand loyal and figured all wipes were pretty much the same. However, after testing these out (in a similar experiment method to how I found the best diaper) I’ve become surprisingly discerning.

Now that I’ve noticed all of the small differences between wipe brands, I can’t unsee them and a clear winner sticks out.

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How I tested the wipes…

I tried the following 7 brands of wipes and compared them:

1. Pampers Complete Clean
2. Huggies Simply Clean
3. Seventh Generation
4. WaterWipes
5. Up & up (Target)
6. Parent’s Choice (Walmart)
7. Little Journey (Aldi)

There was way more variety in many of the brands than I realized. Given the option, I chose the most basic and unscented wipes.

I used the pack of each brand and recorded my observations on feel, texture, and rips. I also compared how the wipes dispense or how easy/difficult it was to pull the wipes from the packaging.

Note that I couldn’t come up with any good way really compare how many wipes per diaper due to too much variation in poops. Also, I think I’m an overwiper, so I probably use way more than average.

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Observations

It seems that there are really 2 wipe styles. This is most easily seen with Pampers and Huggies.

Pampers wipes are thinner and Huggies wipes are thicker and textured. So I used these two common brand styles as the basis for comparison of the remaining brands:

My Ranking	Brand	Feel	Style similar to…
1	Huggies Simply Clean	thick/textured
2	Pampers Complete Clean	thin
2	Little Journey	thick/textured	Huggies
3	Up & up	thin	Pampers
4	Parent’s Choice	thick/textured	Huggies
5	Seventh Generation	thick/textured	Huggies
6	WaterWipes	thin	Pampers

• No skin reactions were notes using any of the wipes.
• The only wipes that I noticed rips were the Little Journey wipes, in which 2 from the packaged ripped.

When comparing the ease of pulling wipes from the packaging, I realized just how much I was overthinking baby wipes. That said, there were some differences I noted:

There are 2 ways that wipes are connected in the packaging to pull out – folded (like tissues) or perforated (like toilet paper).

The Huggies were the only brand that used the perforated method. The others used the folded method. The water wipes were the exception here as they don’t actually connect at all and are just folded on top of each other.

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An The Winner Is…

Huggies!

With few objective criteria, this totally comes down to personal preference. I preferred the thicker, textured wipes as they felt more effective. Even without any actual counting, I know I used fewer of the thicker wipes.

Also somewhat difficult to compare, the Huggies wipes seem a bit wetter. I find the “wetness” makes wiping easier.

The perforated way the Huggies wipes are connected is the best. I find it the easiest to avoid pulling out a ton of extra wipes.

Since I like the Huggies style the best, I was also a fan of the Little Journey, Parent’s Choice, and Seventh Generation wipes, even though they are folded together.

But what if you are a Pampers fan?

I know that some moms prefer the thinner, Pampers-style wipes. If they are your jam (and you want to save a  few cents) try the Up & up wipes. They are nearly identical.

The Disappointment

I wanted to love the WaterWipes, but I just couldn’t. Believe me, I tried.

Considering I hear moms rave about them and they were the most expensive of the wipes I used, I suppose my expectations were too high.

The WaterWipes are the most difficult to pull from the packaging. For one thing, the opening covers with a sticker instead of a plastic lid like all of the others.  This is too hard to use one-handed and also too easy to not seal back properly, allowing your wipes to dry out.

Additionally, the way they are folded (but not connected) makes you pull one wipe at a time. This is nice in that you don’t waste wipes by pulling out too many, but it’s annoying when you’re trying to grab another wipe quickly and seem to find the edge of the next wipe.

Due to the price and difficulties, I personally won’t be using these on a regular basis.

That said, they are supposed to be great for diaper rash and I think the biggest pro for the WaterWipes is that they are probably the gentlest wipe. Unlike the other wipes, they have only 2 ingredients listed:(1) water and (2) grape fruit seed extract.

Jo here. Just wanted to pop in and save that I 100% agree with Rachel on this one (despite us usually being “at odds” on most subjects!).

Huggies wipes are the perfect thickness, wetness, and texture. But in addition to the quality, my favorite part is the fact that they are constantly on sale (with coupons) on Amazon Family! So they are both cheap AND shipped to me for free.

I hoard baby wipes. If they are kept sealed they almost-never dry up or go bad. Both of my kids are potty trained at this point, but I still keep baby wipes in my perfectly packed “diaper bag” and we’re using them regularly for cleaning hands and faces when we are out.

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