The purpose of this study was to identify challenges in gaining acceptance of voluntary organic and natural standards for personal care products outside of governmental mechanisms. This example of non-state market driven (NSMD) governance was compared to an existing academic framework used to predict challenges for voluntary standards where regulation from state authorities is lacking. The Cashore, Auld, Newsom (CAN) framework identified 10 criteria from experiences in the forestry sector that could be used to predict the success of an NSMD standard. This case study used in-depth interviews and document analysis to assess the strength of the CAN explanatory framework by examining what CAN criteria were associated with success of standards in the organic and natural personal care product sector and identify emmergent new themes associated with successful NSMD standards. The analysis strategy was to compare the findings from each factor to what CAN predicted in the forestry sector and identify new factors by analyzing common themes from interview responses. The study revealed that 8 of the 10 CAN criteria developed from forestry experience were corroborated in the organic and natural product sector; foreign imports, foreign exports, industry fragmentation, cohesive trade associations, shared access to agencies, cohesive supply chain, cohesive industry wide approach and presence of competitor standards. Two additional themes were identified through this study. The first suggested that a standard’s rules and transparency are important to successful adoption. The second suggested that the presence of a regulation in a nearby sector can be significantly debilitating. This research builds upon the CAN framework and will help non-state actors mitigate challenges as they attempt to establish NSMD initiatives in other sectors. NSMD gives consumers a mechanism that allows them to vote with their purchases to support practices that protect natural resources, promote sustainability, or empower workers.