Natural, Organic, Biodynamic – What’s the Difference?

The organic & natural beauty market is increasingly saturated with new brands and products, and growing confusion about what’s ok for you and what’s not. Now seems like a good a time to provide a basic outline of what you need to know. In the posts to follow I’ll cover these in more depth but here’s a good starting point:

Natural: Widely defined as any substance harvested or derived from nature and then isolated, processed or purified by a variety of environmentally sound techniques including filtration, fermentation, distillation, expressing and other like processes.

Organic: Organic goes beyond and includes natural. Simply stated, this refers to ingredients that are grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms or ionizing radiation. Most high-level organic brands have pending or achieved third-party certification.

Biodynamic: Often thought of as the ultimate in the organic and natural world. Biodynamic is a holistic, sustainable form of responsible agriculture that actually predates the organic movement. As in organic agriculture, biodynamic cultivation enriches the soil and yields plants that have not been burdened with synthetic/chemical fertilizers or pesticides, sustaining and fostering a healthy ecosystem. The soil the plants are grown in is clean and considered organic. Only biodynamic fertilizers and natural pesticides are used to support abundant life in the soil and maximum plant health. All plants are harvested at peak times during the day to preserve optimum benefits – usually at sunrise and moonrise.