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One of America’s Most Trusted Brands
This year marks a full 40 years since Melaleuca was founded in 1985. With so many changes and improvements over those years, the fact that core values and founding principles have neither changed nor ever failed to remain practiced has earned Melaleuca a profound level of trust among a seriously growing number of customers. When you see our touting here of our own customer experience, the sentiments are shared by hundreds of thousands of other customers who order Melaleuca products every month.
This high level of trust has just earned Melaleuca a place on America’s Most Trusted Brands 2025 published by USA Today after an extensive research study and evaluation process. No one at Melaleuca was aware in advance that this study was being conducted let alone asking to be included for consideration. But it is nicely timed as Melaleuca celebrates their 40th Anniversary this year.
As Melaleuca Founder Frank Vander Sloot stated in a response to this award:
Melaleuca is being discovered! Of all the awards we have earned over the years, I believe this is the most valuable. We did not seek this award. We did not apply for this award. We did not even know that this research was going on. But we are extremely proud to be named among the 500 most trusted brands in America.
Be sure to check out Melaleuca’s announcement with more details of this award on their Newsroom page…
We Have Never Had This Happen
Next month in April will be our 19th Anniversary since becoming Melaleuca customers in 2006. I thought this would be a great time to point out something that has NEVER happened to us that entire time.
Let me begin by highlighting a Melaleuca policy which some potential new customers balk at, or at least initially, before they understand it so they can really appreciate it. First though, a vitally important point that when not made serves to help create the unnecessary knee jerk reaction to the policy:
There is no minimum order required to be a Melaleuca customer!
Now I can outline the policy, the reason for it, and the profound benefits it provides every customer while it benefits Melaleuca in a way that provides those benefits to every customer. The policy only affects those who want to receive the 30% to 50% discount on products, which by the way is by far the vast majority of customers. There is a monthly minimum purchase volume required which equates to approximately $75. Every Melaleuca product is assigned a “point value” which must equal a total of no less than 35 points each month. This is clearly emphasized when you enroll and decide if you want to be a “Preferred Customer” and receive the discount, and a rather large list of other benefits, or just simply order without any monthly commitment level (a choice that can be changed any time).
To assure you will never inadvertently lose your Preferred Customer status, you will be able to choose a standard backup order or create your own custom backup order which Melaleuca will ship to you automatically if you fail to order on your own. The list of reasons this might happen is endless so this backup order is equal to an insurance policy.
The types of purchases a non Melaleuca customer makes during their normal retail shopping are not only surprisingly toxic and always inferior to Melaleuca products, those costs are integrated into their total retail purchases in a way that very few people realize how much impact they have on the total store receipt/cost. Add the hidden cost of their toxicity and repercussions and the real costs are staggering! The Melaleuca minimum easily becomes a no brainer when you run the calculations, and exponentially more so when you experience the product differences.
So that thing that has never happened to us in 19 years…we have NEVER received a backup order of products! I couldn’t even tell you what’s on it after all this time but the selections can be changed at any time. If something were to ever happen where we received a backup order, I do know nothing in the package would go to waste. A single person household can super easily do 35 points every month, especially with over 400 products Melaleuca produces that are better at every level than you can find elsewhere. Our 19 years as customers has proven to us that Melaleuca’s commitment to always be better than even far more expensive products has never been compromised. Their entire business model assures they can always keep doing that.
NEW: Fruit and Veggie Wash
Last month, I got the email notice from Melaleuca about this new product so I was able to add it to our February order and be able to offer some preliminary observations and personal use experiences. Like other Melaleuca customers, I welcome this new product to easily make fresh fruits and vegetables more wholesome because you can’t always find organic options. Even with organic, impurities still find their way in or on and this beats plain rinsing.
You can find out more on the Harvest PureTM product page but I’ve had a few days to report on my initial experiences.
I’ll start with bell peppers. Although we grow some of our peppers in the garden, fresh bell pepper in the winter means buying them from the store which also means a wax coating used for retail environments. I did our first “wash” two ways: a whole bell pepper and another one quartered with insides removed. Since the whole one naturally floats, I turned and gently rubbed the pepper during the washing process. I could feel the difference as the wax coating gave way to the natural skin of the pepper. The quartered pepper felt the same after soaking for a minute but without the rubbing. This test means things like zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers will come out more wholesome.
Another test I consider key is being able to soak romaine lettuce and rinse clean any trapped dirt or other contaminates that might be hiding and the only thing you can taste after washing is the lettuce itself. This will work well for other leafy veggies too but for the record, we buy only pre-washed organic spinach and that will not change since it is available all year. Some items are just best left to the facilities equipped to perform the cleaning in mass volume and package them for convenient home use.
It’s also very revealing looking at the cloudiness of the water and the contaminants in and at the bottom of the wash bowl after removing the produce for rinsing!
Looking ahead, this product will be a game changer since we’re in Michigan, the second largest fruit producer in the nation, and we have a serious abundance of farms nearby. We’re able to pick our own strawberries, blueberries, and more at local farms and we process them for immediate consumption while fresh, then freezing and/or canning, jams, sometimes pie filling, and such. The product name, Harvest Pure, will be perfectly appropriate as we collect booty from farms and farmers markets to add to our storage of foods processed at home with loving care.
I can easily give this new Melaleuca product a shining customer review!
Better Salon Quality Hair Care
I somehow managed to miss the announcement about improvements to Melaleuca’s Sei Bella salon quality shampoo and conditioner but made the discovery upon trying to reorder our products and kept finding the set shown below no longer available. Upon digging a little deeper I found out why.
Thanks to a gifted stylist, my wife Sheryl’s hair looks just like it did 10 years ago but that now requires some extra talent in more recent years involving natural looking color. That’s not easy to achieve with her natural red hair but it is more easily maintained with special hair care products to preserve and enhance the color. Me, I’ve got less of my original color left but I’m glad to have most of my hair.
The new Sei Bella shampoos and conditioners take advantage of many years of product advancements and add even more benefits now found in the entire line. The benefits found in formulations specific to hair types are preserved in further improved products while adding what they call Restore 7 ComplexTM (as in seven distinct benefits) to every Sei Bella shampoo and conditioner product.
These benefits include:
- Restores and maintains shine
- Provides pollution protection
- Boosts the vibrancy of color-treated hair
- Restores and maintains hair strength
- Reduces frizz
- Restores and maintains moisture
- Detangles to improve hair combability (how easily hair can be combed)
Be sure to check out the Sei Bella salon quality hair care line which can be sorted to match specific needs.
Our Beef with Melaleuca
Last month, we initiated our subscription to receive Black Label Beef from Melaleuca’s Riverbend Ranch which began distributing subscription beef orders a year and a half ago. I wasn’t sure we would take advantage of this service mostly because we already order farm raised beef regularly and the “need” to supplement that was not a priority. I still would not classify it as an absolute need but surely a great benefit.
I guess first of all would be a quick primer on finding good sources to buy your beef. We’ve had a few over the years and the mix of pros and cons always applies. That would also be true of the current Riverbend Ranch offerings but only applies to the cuts of beef offered and never the quality, packaging, etc. For example, if you want soup bones, tallow, bone-in steaks and roasts (T-bone and Porterhouse included), or various other customization options to be found when a good collaboration exists between the farmer and a reputable meat processing facility, Riverbend Ranch serves as a stellar supplement but definitely not a substitute.
The former listed above, a conscientious farmer who cares for cattle properly with high standards, and a truly qualified processing facility, is a match made in heaven but can be very difficult to find. We had a case where we knew the family we bought our beef from but the only processor who was available at the phase of the pandemic we were in at that time was available only because they were totally inept. We got great beef but had to be very careful thawing it because the packaging was woefully lacking with poor labeling to boot.
When I had a conversation with them in advance about how we wanted it processed, it quickly became apparent to me that the person I was talking to was brain dead and that was the owner. No wonder they were available when everyone else was booked out months in advance! My wife Sheryl picked up the order and told me the place could have easily been featured in its own sitcom. Had we not known the family that raised the cattle it would have been a total bust, but even with that, we chose not to buy from them again.
Our most recent beef supply, not counting our Riverbend Beef, was from a local butcher shop in business since the 1930’s that only deals with farmers who let their cattle roam pastures. Our experience with them has been great but if I’m to mention one caveat, their ground beef takes leanness just a bit too far to the degree that I had some learning curve on grilling burgers because they’re so lean they can get rubbery if you’re not careful. It’s great for things like nachos/tacos, spaghetti, and the like because you literally don’t have to drain the fat, so cooking burgers is good if you do it just right but only if you do it just right.
Bottom line, the Riverbend Black Label Beef is a perfect supplement and bypasses the guesswork and pitfalls you might find elsewhere. You’ll need to invest heavily time wise into researching wholesome local beef sources, if they exist, which is worth it if you can, but Riverbend would be a painless and ideal solution for most buyers that definitely blows away their direct competition in quality, price, and in every other way. If you’re used to store bought beef that doesn’t even come close to a good restaurant that has better resources, you’ll discover why so may people are willing to pay more for something just not found in any mainstream market.
This post would not be complete without also giving a shoutout to ThermoWorks who has nothing whatsoever to do with Melaleuca but if you try to cook high quality meat without an absolutely accurate reading of the internal temperature, you could easily diminish or ruin an otherwise great meal—and that is especially the case with beef.