My Take On The Topic of “Natural Vs. Organic”

Working in the makeup field, it is not uncommon for someone to ask me what the difference is between natural products and organic products. I will admit that I am not an expert, not a dermatologist, or even an esthetician but I do truly love to research the topic of what is means to be a natural or organic product - but it can be so overwhelming. When I first got into my whole two hours per day researching habit, I always had all the information but I still didn’t understand what really classified something as Natural or Organic. Then, as I started to learn more I realized how weird the word natural is in the world of food, cosmetics, and skincare.

When my sister found out she was pregnant last year I went on a legit week-long internet binge and read everything and anything I could about natural cosmetics and skincare products. The big topic of discussion was parabens, which I will definitely get into in a future post. But for now, let’s dive in and see what I found out about this natural vs. organic topic!

According to the USDA definition, food labeled “natural”, does not contain artificial ingredients or preservatives and the ingredients are only minimally processed. However, these foods may contain antibiotics, growth hormones, and/or other chemicals. With this is mind, it’s easy to say that regulations can be fairly lenient for foods labeled “natural.”

“A USDA Organic Seal denotes that a product has an organic content of 95% or higher. Products with 70% or greater organic composition can be labeled "Made With Organic Ingredients,” according to yoexpert.com.

“An organic ingredient is by definition natural, and vegan cosmetic products are necessarily cruelty-free,” according to yoexpert.com.

Ultimately what I learned is that when it comes to food, organic does not use any toxic persistent pesticides, GMO’s (genetically modified organism), growth hormones, or sludge and irradiation. The organic route also provides lower levels of environmental pollution, has animal welfare requirements to meet, requires that cows be on pasture for pasture season, has an audit trail from farm to table, has to have a certain certification and meet legal restrictions on allowable materials, as well as pass inspections. Natural, on the other hand, allows the use of pesticides, GMO’s, antibiotics, growth hormones, and sludge and irradiation. There are also no animal welfare requirements, audits, certifications required, legal restrictions, and this route does not ultimately expose the environment to lower levels of pollution.

How is it that these so-called natural foods aren’t so natural? In the United States, the FDA and the USDA, do not have regulations for products labeled as “natural” and therefore, manufacturers often slap the good ol’ natural label on there product for marketing purposes, even though it may not actually be all that natural.

Are you as surprised as I am with these findings?? (Serious question, please respond below!) ….But natural always sounds so healthy, doesn’t it?

I know what you’re thinking, what about the cosmetics and skincare products?

The Skin Deep Cosmetics website is absolute lifesaver when it comes to knowing whats in my products and how safe it is for me to use. If you have never heard of this website, I highly suggest you give it a try. Click the link and type in your favorite beauty product and learn something new about it. Warning: what you learn, you may not like but it may help you in the long run.

https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

So what did I gather on natural vs. organic beauty products?

What I learned is that researching this topic could definitely drive people nuts! It seems that these terms are often tossed around and used interchangeably when they really do have different meanings. When a product is labeled as natural, it suggests that the ingredients used to create it are sourced from nature, rather than synthetic chemicals. And what synthetic chemicals means, is that the ingredients are made to imitate certain ingredients, but are not from nature. As an example, vitamin C is a natural ingredient found in foods like oranges, green peppers, mango, and berries, to name a few. However, vitamin C can also to be synthetically created. The chemical name for Vitamin C is Ascorbic Acid, and it comes in two forms, L-ascorbic acid and D-ascorbic acid. “The L variety, which can come in both natural (found in fruits and vegetables, and also whole food vitamins) and synthetic forms (found in most other supplements), is synonymous with vitamin C and carries all its benefits, while the D carries identical antioxidant properties but not the vitamin C content of L and is not used in any form of vitamin supplement,” according to SmartyPantsVitamins.com.

Natural ingredients generally don’t include synthetic chemicals, parabens, sodium lauryl sulfates, laurate sulfates, phthalates, formaldehydes, petrochemicals, GMO’s, and/or synthetic dyes, and the ingredients come from nature and are not just created in a lab. Unfortunately without the needed regulations, any manufacturer can slap on a natural sticker even when the natural product content is very low. Natural ingredients can also be poisonous. Think plants. They come from nature and are natural but while an aloe vera plant is a multi-purpose plant known for it’s healing properties, a hemlock plant is highly poisonous and fatal. Hello, headache, please go away?

Organic product manufactures don’t have it as easy as other manufactures, because thankfully they have to meet specific requirements and pass certifications in order to have their products stamped with the USDA organic seal. This seal denotes that 95% or more of this product is organic, made naturally without the use of synthetic pesticides and must be non-GMO. And as a side note, when I learned about this seal I went into work and checked all the organic brands I was familiar with and shockingly, NO SEALS! AHHHH!!!

So which products are healthier and better to use?

Not everyone thinks natural or organic are the best. In fact, some people may even think natural and organic products aren’t all that good for you (trust me… I’ve read it, discussed it, argued it….) There are some valid points when it comes to this topic of discussion however, this is something that is truly for you to decide but I can help you! What’s important to you? Once you know this, you will definitely have an easier time shopping for products!

(Shout out to Cruelty Free Kitty!)

And vegan and cruelty-free mean what…?

Vegan and cruelty-free are their own, shall we say “categories”. Vegan products are free of animal products and cruelty-free, meaning the product is not tested on animals. Cruelty-free products are not always vegan. Vegan products are not always natural. Has your headache turned into a migraine yet? I promise we’ll figure this all out together!

Next time you are shopping for “natural” or “organic” products, really take a look at what you’re buying. I think the key to healthy products is knowing your ingredients. If you have access to the internet, take a moment to plug the product into the skin deep website to see if the product is right for you. In my near future posts, I plan to talk more about the different terminology used in the world of natural products, what ingredients really mean, how I got rid of my acne by switching to more natural products, and what this whole “comedogenic” word is about (because at least one person asks me everyday!) I have had so many people tell me to start a blog over the last few months and that was the extra motivation I needed to move forward with this! Thank you to everyone who is consistently encouraging me, I appreciate it and love it.

If you’ve made it this far - a big thank you to you! Thank you for taking the time to learn a little bit about me and my views on natural and organic products. Ultimately, my goal is to provide a better understanding of what makes a product natural and help others to gradually make the switch from chemical-loaded products to something that’s a bit safer but still provides results!

Lastly, you may thinking about the products you use right about… now…. but I don’t think it’s imperative that you rush to your makeup and chuck all your products - just yet. These harmful ingredients I talk about are used in such minimal amounts (sounds like another future post!) but this is about making the switch and doing so at your own pace. Not everything I currently use is either Natural or Organic and I actually don’t even personally use a lot of Organic products! I’m OK with this because this is where I am at with my switch right now and I am aware of what am using and how it can potentially affect me. Making the switch and finding replacement products that work is a fun, yet long game of trial and error.

There’s just so much to talk about when it comes to the world of natural beauty! I literally can’t even wait to put up my next few post!

Thank you again so much for reading and please comment below with any thoughts, information or feedback! No, seriously, please do!

Thanks for reading!

-Lauren

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Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored and I was not paid in any way to promote the mentioned products. I only recommend products that I have personally used. This post does not contain any affiliate links. I write all of my own posts which contain my own personal opinions. The information within my posts was obtained through research I’ve done. I always encourage everyone to research these topics I talk about to discover your own thoughts and opinions on it. I am not a doctor and I do advise you to use your discretion before trying anything at home. I also encourage you to talk to your doctor about any serious health questions. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions guidelines concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising.