Jessica Alba's The Honest Company is in hot water for not being, erm, honest.

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Jessica Alba‘s beauty and lifestyle brand The Honest Company is making headlines again, this time amid accurations of not being, well, honest with its customers.

A Wall Street Journal investigation has alleged the brand’s laundry detergent contains an ingredient it promised to avoid, in line with the company’s ethos of creating non-toxic products for the whole family to use.

The ingredient in question is sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), a harsh ingredient commonly used to create suds in cleaning products which can also irritate the skin and cause dermatitis.

On its website, the company (which has been valued at around AUD$2.2 billion) lists SLS as a chemical all products are "honestly made without." Instead, the brand's detergents claim to contain sodium coco sulfate (SCS), a coconut-based gentler alternative.

Yet two studies performed in two independent labs cited by the Wall Street Journal found large amounts of SLS in the detergent.

In a statement released by The Honest Company, the brand says it stands by its claims, arguing that the WSJ are out to damage the company's reputation.

"The Journal clearly had the goal of harming the reputation and good will that we are so proud to have built here at Honest and we wanted to set the record straight," it said.

"Despite providing the Journal with evidence to the contrary, the Journal has falsely claimed our laundry detergent contains Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS). At Honest, we use Sodium Coco Sulfate (SCS) in our detergent and multi-surface cleaner. In fact, the Journal never even tested for SCS." (Post continues after gallery.)

However, the Journal stands by its article.

"The Journal's report is accurate, fair and meets the Journal's established and trusted high standards, including giving the Honest Company numerous opportunities to respond to our findings," Steve Severinghaus, director of communications at The Wall Street Journal, told Cosmopolitan.com in a statement.

"We took great care in preparing this story, relying on two tests with two different labs and numerous experts during an extensive and lengthy investigation."

It's not the first time The Honest Company has made headlines for less than positive reasons.

Last year, customers complained about the efficacy of the brand's sunscreens after many got sunburned. There have also been a number of multi-million dollar lawsuits filed against the company alleging false claims about ingredients.

Seemingly in a stalemate, we'll have to wait and see what happens next.

Have you tried any of The Honest Company products?