So the bottom line is : TALK to your customer! "I get asked this question about natural ALL the time! Tell me what that means to YOU?" {with a big smile.}
USDA Organic, Certified Organic, and Oregon Tilth are some of the biggies in the US. They don't all cover the same products, and their definitions vary. They also leave a lot of territory open by what they don't cover.
Instances from other categories besides soap that *I* deal with just to give you an idea of how crazy this can be:
HONEY
To acquire a USDA Organic label, I have to prove that ALL the forage in range of my hives is managed according to USDA standards. Since bees fly in a 6 mile radius, that means I have to certify 12 square miles {THOUSANDS of acres} as organic. HOWEVER -- if honey is imported to the US, and *claims* to be organic, the USDA will certify it WITHOUT testing, because they have no jurisdiction in other countries, and cannot prove or disprove whether it meets their standards. I know of only *2* honey producers in the US who actually qualify for USDA, one in Hawaii, and one on the Olympic Peninsula of WA. Over 2 million pounds of New Zealand "Manuka" honey are sold around the world every year. But only about 1.2 million are actually produced. Hmmm. RAW Honey. People usually mean "Pasteurized" when they ask about this, but don't realize it. Honey is NOT required to be pasteurized as it is anaerobic, and does not support microbial growth. Most people would not eat truly raw honey. That is honey as it comes out of the hive, period. Wax bits, leaves, bee parts, honey etc. "Filtered" means pushed through a micro fine filter, removing some or all of the pollens. "Strained" is what I do -- dripped through mesh similar to hosiery size that removes wax, leaves, bee parts, etc. But it WILL "sugar up", which is natural, not spoilage. If your honey doesn't sugar, it either has been super filtered and pasteurized, and/or had HFCS added. {Illegal in the US unless clearly labeled so, supposedly.}
SOY WAX
The USDA, does NOT, nor does anyone else, certify WAX as organic. If you see that, it's been mislabeled. There is no such animal. Vegetable OILS can be organic . . . Only about 2% of the soy oil produced in the US is Organic, and/or non-GMO. All of it goes into food. Even if organic oil is used to make wax (highly doubtful) it cannot be labeled that way . . . but is. Lack of enforcement, etc. Hexanes are used to make oil into wax, and they are fairly potent chemicals, so even if the OIL was organic, it would be hard to call the wax organic.
Organic does not just imply no INSECTICIDE use, it implies no HERBICIDE use. And guess what? Monsanto's Round Up CAN be used in organic applications. It stays in the soil for over 2 years. It kills bees and ladybugs and other good critters. And it's just one of many in use.
The point is, the terms mean little, and are often unregulated. Define them for yourself so you can articulate them to your customer. Most people mean well, but are subject to the same marketing we all are.
Years after Jerry Seinfeld's truly awful "The Bee Movie", I still get people asking me quite sincerely if I smoke the bees or not since "it can give them lung cancer". No, bees can't get lung cancer. Yes, I smoke them since it confuses their sense of smell and calms them (by covering alarm pheromones.) Since I live in south TX where Africanized Honey Bees {so called Killer Bees, which they are NOT} are common, smoke is a necessity, is standard practice, and has been for about 200 years at least. But people ask.
Go forth and educate!
~HoneyLady~