I keep hearing about this “new” multi-level marketing company called Arbonne. My pediatrician actually called me a couple of weeks ago and advised us to try it for the boys’ eczema. “We’ve tried everything else, why not try Arbonne?” she said. I have never ever heard a doctor recommend something I DIDN’T have to get via prescription. She’s getting desperate for us, I think.
Last night, I went to an Arbonne “show.” I can’t tell you how many of these type things I’ve been to in my life, but it’s one too many. I have also played hostess to one too many of them. I don’t enjoy them as much as I used to. This one was different in that the women/consultants didn’t really seem to care if I ordered anything or not. They never even mentioned the order form! I don’t know if all Arbonne consultants work that way, but it was nice. And she had homemade pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese icing for a snack.
The hostess knew the only reason for my being there was my boys. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a skin-care, anti-aging kind of woman, and all of that serum talk is lost on me, but I am willing to listen to any two-hour sales pitch if it will make a difference in my kids’ eczema.
Yes! It was a two-hour sales pitch! You know, the one where the woman sits, flips her chart and reads. I don’t enjoy those, but since she’s new to the program, I’ll cut her some slack. I know how she feels. I was a Mary Kay consultant for about a month in 1998.
The other great thing is that she gave me two packages of samples for free. A different Arbonne consultant told me a few weeks ago that I had to buy them and they weren’t worth the money I’d pay for them. Well, they are small packages, but I’d much rather sample a small amount before I fork over $50 just to try something. This way, if I use it on the boys and they scream because it burns, I haven’t lost anything. But if it does help like they say it will–and I’ve seen some before and after photos of children with eczema who’ve used this stuff–then you better believe I’m going to turn into one wild, crazy Arbonne-loving-selling spokeswoman.
Sorry for the randomness of this post, but I gotta have some input. What I am wondering is if any of you dear blog-readers have heard of this stuff? Have you used it? Do you like it? Is it a bunch of hyped-up crap? Is it worth the big bucks they ask for it? Does anyone have an incredible eczema relief story?
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Leslie Wiggins 
17 responses to “Arbonne, Anyone?”
Leslie,I am an Arbonne consultant because I have rosacea. I tried lots of skin products for years with horrible results. Arbonne was the first product that calmed my rosacea so that I didn’t have red cheeks all the time. I’m about to turn 49 and most people guess me about 10 years younger. I can’t speak to eczema, but I used the diaper rash cream on my daughter beginning when she was about 18 months. She could tell the difference.
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I have heard of it, but haven’t used it. My son had really bad eczema when he was younger and cetaphil (over the counter) seemed to help him quite a bit. I hope it helps your boys! I know how miserable it can be.
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goldvoice–I have rosy cheeks, too. I don’t think it’s severe enough to be considered rosacea, but I have spent hundreds of dollars on high end department store cleansers and moisturizers to fix it, but nothing has helped. It is not as bad as it used to be, but it has not gone away.wendy–we use cetaphyl, too, since the boys can’t tolerate soap.
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We have been using the baby products from Arbonne with Bradley. The bath wash and lotion. I stopped for a while after he began to break out with his hives, but I have started back again. I have also gotten the sunscreen for the summer since so many have perfumes added. His eczema is not that severe though. All of this to say that I use it, but I am not sure if the reason his decreased amount of eczema! Not that helpful, but I do like their products for babies!
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Thanks, Kelly! It’s just good to know that there is someone I “know” who is using it on her babies. I put some of the lotion on Benjamin last night and he didn’t complain about it burning or anything…so far so good.
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I hope this works for them!
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I wanted to let you know of a gluten free website I found that has recipes. It is http://www.gluten-free-food-recipes.comI thought it might be helpful since you were going to try some gluten free foods. Also, we have found a lot of prepackaged gluten free foods at our local Kroger. I don’t know if that is close to you guys with the million groceries stores, but we have found quite a bit!
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Thanks, Kelly! We don’t have a Kroger, but I’ll be on the look-out for those kinds of things. I didn’t know they existed. I’ll check that site, too.
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Hi Leslie, I came across your blog and really enjoy your posts. My oldest son has struggled with eczema and we used the Arbonne products for a while. The sunscreen is not great b/c it is not waterproof/sweatproof. The ONLY sunscreen that works for us is the coppertone white bottle (fragrance free). We also found that Aveeno lotion really helps clear up any flare ups. Hope that helps!!
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I have tried the arbonne skincare line for women…I didn’t like it…but my skin does better with very simple skincare…it was not for me. I don’t know about anything else.For Jack Henry’s occassional excema(nothing like Benjamin’s)I have our pharmacist make up a cream in their compounding center. It is for excema… It works great. I use it on my skin when I get a dry itchy patch.Hope you find something that helps!Kim
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I used the phytoprolief for awhile to try and assuage my premenopausal/hormonal symptoms naturally.In the end, it was overpriced stinky cream that didn’t work for me.I have one with horrendous eczema so if it works for you, I might give it a go!
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Hi Leslie,I deleted the last comment because you didn’t ask for our diagnosis of the problem only about helpful creams. Sorry about that. I tend to give my unsolicited opinions too often!!!! (I guess that’s why we blog?)About the wheat, my allergy was to the wheat itself and not the gluten. This may be helpful to you because gluten is in a lot more that wheat and you may be cutting out more foods than neccessary if your son’s allergy seems to be wheat also.I hope you are able to get to the root of this soon. Eczema is not fun to live with. A good elimination diet would probably be more revealing that tests, although hard to do with a little guy. Good luck and keep us posted!PS I find Baby Aveno (fragrance-free) to provide the best relief for flare-ups. And its cheap too.
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While I’m thinking about this, one more thing…Soy Sauce has wheat in it; they use it in the fermentation process so even a little bit caused me to break out terribly. Tamari type soy sauces are a great wheat-free alternative!
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I personally like Arbonne, and I am not a consultant. But I have not used it for eczema, just face cleaner, toner, etc..
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Not exactly a ringing set of endorsements…
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I have a non-commercial web site to help people problem solve and eliminate their eczema. I receive amazing eczema resolution stories all the time from people who used the site. People with the worst eczema you can imagine get rid of it without having to use any medications or lotions again. I have even heard from doctors who found the site useful in their own lives, and several have told me they now refer patients to the information. I don’t post most of the letters I get — I don’t have an easy way to update my site — but there are a few on the site now.Good luck with your own quest, I hope you find something that works for you regardless of what it is. A.J. http://www.solveeczema.org
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Sorry, I did not mean to post as “anonymous”, I am not sophisticated with blogs!A.J.
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