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Wellness Blog

We Have Never Had This Happen

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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.

Melaleuca currently manufactures over 400 products
Melaleuca currently manufactures well over 400 products

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

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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.

Melaleuca's EcoSense Harvest Pure Fruit and Vegetable Wash

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

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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.

Previous Sei Bella Color Lock shampoo and conditioner

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.

Steve and Sheryl 2014
Us in 2014
Steve and Sheryl 2024
Us in 2024

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:

  1. Restores and maintains shine
  2. Provides pollution protection
  3. Boosts the vibrancy of color-treated hair
  4. Restores and maintains hair strength
  5. Reduces frizz
  6. Restores and maintains moisture
  7. 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

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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.

Grilled Riverbend Ranch Black Label steak on cutting board

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.

Things Stalking in Dark Places

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In 2022, Melaleuca ran a series of features they called The Skin You’re In aimed at highlighting interesting facts about our skin and the benefits of properly caring for it. As someone who is a bit of an information junky and favors knowing things, I found the pieces interesting. There was one in particular that really stood out to me and actually resulted in a permanent change to one of my own personal care habits.

The feature cited an obscure fact I never heard of which made me even wonder how such info was acquired. They stated that 20% of the population does not scrub below their waist in the shower but simply assume the soap bubbles running down their body is good enough—the kind of faulty logic comedy skits are made of. It’s mildly entertaining to speculate about how this information was discovered and cataloged.

Soap bubbles in hands

Was there a man on the street with a clipboard asking strangers how they shower? Regardless of how this happened, one of every five people you know are lacking in truly proper personal hygiene, which provides a source of amusement when reflecting on your social life, especially those who are not Melaleuca customers and perhaps not good candidates for becoming one.

They also pointed out that our feet have 125,000 sweat glands each. Is it any wonder the feet can become so smelly?!

While making this point they raised another issue that we instinctively know to be true if you just think about it. Bad bacteria thrive in dark, moist, and warm places. Our feet inherently contain that perfect breeding ground right between the toes. It’s an anciently recognized truth. Darkness and evil have been closely associated through time and culture. Even the Bible in Psalm 91 uses the expression, “The pestilence that stalks in the darkness.”

I had never been consistent on scrubbing between my toes before reading this but I saw the “light,” repented of my “dark” ways, and corrected my previous sin.

Washing feet

There’s one more funny part to share in my experience. I don’t recall how we got on this topic with some friends but when I mentioned the part about the 125,000 sweat glands on each human foot, my friend said to me, “Don’t you hate it when someone fact checks you while you are talking?” He then immediately looked it up and found out I quoted the number exactly right. That’s me though. If I state a hard fact I make sure to be accurate. Otherwise I make clear I am being approximate or I don’t recall exact specifics. That ought to be common practice but there are those among us who are sloppy with just showering, let alone the presentation of information.

Remembering the 125,000 number is good but not required. All you really need to remember is to wash off well when you shower. Melaleuca personal (skin) care products will do their job well if you just do that. There’s also great value in being informed about skin care, something about which Melaleuca does a proactive job of sharing.

Farmers Markets

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August to me is a mixed bag. It’s harvest time and falls in the middle of the best food of the year. To shop fresh food at local farmers markets in communities of all sizes is a true seasonal highlight. But it also goes by so fast! For a 31 day month, I consider it to be likely the shortest month of the year with its blinding speed. Summer is winding down rapidly and peak season food has a short window of opportunity to seize.

That also makes us appreciate it all the more and I’m pretty sure our love of local food and farmers markets is a common bond among Melaleuca customers—probably all customers, as our love of the natural products we enjoy also means food from the loving hands of those who nurtured it to get it to market would be at least as important. Just the experience of shopping a farmers market, often outdoors, with direct connection to the farmers, the sights, sounds, smells, and colors, and the festive atmosphere of other shoppers who share that common bond, could never be equaled, even by the fanciest of supermarket environments.

Produce displays at a farmers market

After decades of commercialization and industrialization that pretty much sterilized our society’s connection to nature, even urban areas like ours have been rediscovering traditional agricultural value in increasing measure. To me, that is a great transformation. The growing movement toward “local” both in stores and restaurants is a welcome change. There are byproducts like farm to table events and culinary artists who craft menu selections based on the availability of fresh, local ingredients.

Melaleuca has long referred to themselves as The Wellness Company and though they don’t operate a farmers market as far as I am aware, the core values are very much shared and I will take the opportunity this August to salute farmers markets and the many other efforts being made to reconnect us to fresh, local, natural, and every related element that contributes to our well being. Enjoy this bountiful season!