Natural vs unnatural - Natural ingredients are for us all, about how our products work and we treat each ingredient based on its merits. That said, natural products contain complex organic compounds that can be difficult to isolate but contribute something significant. The best analogy we can think of is a band - you can't always hear all the instruments but it would be worse if there was only a recorder. 

For Brother Earth (a great 70’s folk band name if ever there was one) this is clearest in our decision to use essential oils - the oils contribute not just to the scent but also how you feel and how well it works. The synthetic scents we tried, though often ‘stronger’, smelled cheap and had none of the associated benefits.  

So in practice 

• we use natural ingredients (those with the least number of processes between a natural source and the product) by default because we think they make better products but
• where we have not been able to use classified natural ingredients we have used those most closely related - typically called ‘naturally derived’ 

We hope this make sense but we are always about to talk it through - please get involved - drop us a note and stay clean

Brother Earth