Monat Global Review: “Naturally-based” hair care products
Monat Global launched in late 2014 and operates in the personal care MLM niche.
The company is owned by the Alcora Corporation, who are based out of Florida in the US.
According to the Alcora corporation, the company was initially founded in 2001 as L’EUDINE Global.
L’EUDINE Global, was originally established in 2001 as a direct sales company specializing in beauty and wellness with offices in Maracaibo, Venezuela and Miami, Florida.
In 2008 we embarked on to another level of fruition in the United States, expanding into a broader conglomerate of brands and transitioning with a new corporate name, Alcora Corporation.
The name L’EUDINE now refers exclusively to the renowned brand of trusted beauty and wellness products, while a new direct sales division specializing on modern, natural formulas for the hair -MONAT- emerged in 2014.
Heading up Monat Global is Chairman and Founder, Luis Urdaneta. Urdeneta’s son Rayner Urdaneta serves as CEO.
According to Luis Urdaneta’s Monat Global corporate bio, he’s
a first-generation direct-sales entrepreneur (who) recognized the potential of social marketing when he was just 15 years old.
That’s when he started his first direct-sales business, which would ultimately lead to MONAT.
One other name that caught my eye on Monat Global’s executive team is company President Stuart MacMillan (right with Rayner (left) and Luis Urdaneta (center)).
Stuart MacMillan was appointed interim CEO in the dying days of the TelexFree Ponzi scheme.
MacMillan is believed to have been the architect of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy exit-strategy adopted by TelexFree’s owners.
To be clear MacMillan had no role in designing and operating TelexFree’s $3 billion dollar Ponzi scheme.
To date however I don’t think he’s ever publicly addressed why he thought it’d be a good idea to try to help the owners cover their tracks.
TelexFree’s bankruptcy escapade was thwarted by the SEC, who shut down the company in April, 2014.
According to a Monat Global press-release, MacMillan was appointed President six months later in October.
Over the past year Monat Global has filed two separate lawsuits against critics of the company.
In the first lawsuit filed in July, 2017, Monat Global claim defendant Mags Kavanaugh, owner of California Beauty Studios,
made repeated, malicious, and false claims against MONAT, its products, and employees for her own personal and financial gain.
Further, the suit maintains that she deliberately misled customers about the safety of MONAT products for the sole purpose of diverting sales to her own business.
Monat Global filed the second lawsuit was filed a few weeks ago on January 26th.
In it the company alleges defendant Vickie Harrington is
the principal behind an online, self-proclaimed anti-MONAT group.
MONAT alleges that Harrington made and repeated explicitly false statements about the ingredients and safety of MONAT’s products.
The suit also maintains that Harrington made these false statements in order to mislead and deceive consumers.
Both cases are currently playing out in court.
Read on for a full review of the Monat Global MLM opportunity.
Monat Global Products
Monat Global market a range of hair care products.
The company claims its hair care range is made from “naturally-based, safe, pure and sustainable” ingredients.
Monat Global’s flagship product is Rejeveniqe Oil Intensive.
MONAT’s invigorating proprietary blend of 11+ unique molecular ingredients, which includes vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, beta-carotene, omega-6 fatty acids, nutrients and amino acids, suitable for all skin and hair types.
These ingredients have been proven to mimic the body’s own natural oils to reduce hair thinning, prevent oxidative stress, and add volume and shine.
REJUVENIQE’s special properties energize and rehabilitate the scalp to visibly repair hair with instant and long-term Age Prevention benefits.
Rejuveniqe Oil Intensive retails at $99 for a 30 ml bottle.
In addition to be sold as a stand-alone product, Rejuveniqe is also listed as a key ingredient in other Monat Global products.
Other hair care product categories Monat Global markets span hair rejuvenation, repair, thickening, hydration, volume, growth boost and management, styling, children’s hair care, color enhancement and eyebrow enhancement.
There are far too many Monat Global products to list here individually, however a full catalog with retail pricing is provided on the company website.
The Monat Global Compensation Plan
Monat Global combine retail and recruitment commissions with residual unilevel team compensation.
Additional performance-based bonuses are also available, mostly tied to Monat Global affiliate ranks.
Monat Global Affiliate Ranks
There are five affiliate ranks within the Monat Global compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Marketing Partner – generate 200 PV a month
- Managing Marketing Partner – generate 300 PV a month, recruit and maintain at least two Marketing Partner or higher ranked affiliates and have a total monthly downline volume of 1200 GV
- Associate Market Builder – generate 400 PV a month, recruit and maintain at least three Marketing Partner or higher ranked affiliates and have a total monthly downline volume of 2400 GV
- Market Builder – generate 500 PV a month, recruit and maintain at least four Marketing Partner or higher ranked affiliates (one must be a Managing Marketing Partner or higher) and have a total monthly downline volume of 4000 GV
- Managing Market Builder – maintain 500 PV a month, maintain at least four Marketing Partner or higher ranked affiliates (two must be a Managing Marketing Partner or higher) and have a total monthly downline volume of 7000 GV
- Associate Market Mentor – maintain 500 PV a month, maintain at least four Marketing Partner or higher ranked affiliates (one must be a Managing Marketing Partner and one a Managing Marketing Builder or higher) and maintain a total monthly downline volume of 7000 GV
- Market Mentor – maintain 500 PV a month, maintain at least four Marketing Partner or higher ranked affiliates (two must be Managing Marketing Builder or higher) and maintain a total monthly downline volume of 7000 GV and 30,000 DV
- Managing Market Mentor – maintain 500 PV a month, maintain at least four Marketing Partner or higher ranked affiliates (one must be a Managing Marketing Builder and one an Associate Market Mentor or higher) and maintain a total monthly downline volume of 7000 GV and 60,000 DV
- Associate Executive Director – maintain 500 PV a month, recruit and maintain at least five Marketing Partner or higher ranked affiliates (three must be Managing Marketing Builders (one recruited in the last 12 months) and one a Market Mentor or higher) and maintain a total monthly downline volume of 7000 GV and 120,000 DV
- Executive Director – maintain 500 PV a month, recruit and maintain at least six Marketing Partner or higher ranked affiliates (four must be Managing Marketing Builders (one recruited in the last 12 months) and one a Managing Market Mentor or higher) and maintain a total monthly downline volume of 7000 GV and 300,000 DV
- Senior Executive Director – maintain 500 PV a month, recruit and maintain at least eight Marketing Partner or higher ranked affiliates (six must be Managing Marketing Builders (one recruited in the last 12 months) and one an Associate Executive Director or higher) and maintain a total monthly downline volume of 7000 GV and 800,000 DV
PV stands for “Personal Volume” and is sales volume generated by sales to retail customers and an affiliate’s own product orders.
GV stands for “Group Volume” and DV stands for “Downline Volume”.
Typically when we see GV and DV present in an MLM compensation plan GV is sales volume counted from a set number of unilevel team levels (possibly a generation in this instance).
Downline Volume is typically sales volume generated by the entire unilevel team.
Unfortunately the Monat Global compensation plan fails to define a definition for GV and DV.
I did try to suss out a definition from elsewhere but was unable to find any.
Retail Commissions
Monat Global affiliates are paid a 30% commission on products sold to retail customers.
The retail commission rate can be increased to 40% if the following sales volume criteria is met:
- generate 1000 PV a month = 33% retail commission rate
- generate 2000 PV a month = 35% retail commission rate
- generate 3500 PV a month = 40% retail commission rate
Preferred customer orders (retail customers on monthly autoship) generate a flat 15% retail commission.
Recruitment Commissions
Monat Global affiliates are paid a recruitment commission when they recruit a new affiliate who buys a “product pack”.
- recruit a Business Product Pack affiliate and earn a $100 commission
- recruit a Success Product Pack affiliate and earn a $120 commission
- recruit an Overachiever Product Pack affiliate and earn a $220 commission
Residual Commissions
Monat Global pay residual commissions via a unilevel compensation structure.
A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):
If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.
If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.
Monat Global cap payable unilevel levels at four, with commissions paid out as a percentage of sales volume generated across these four levels:
- Market Partners earn 7% on level 1 (personally recruited affiliates)
- Managing Market Partners earn 10% on level 1 and 3% on level 2
- Associate Market Builders earn 12% on level 1 and 5% on level 2
- Market Builders earn 12% on level 1, 6% on level 2 and 3% on level 3
- Managing Market Builders earn 12% on level 1, 7% on level 2 5% on level 3 and 3% on level 4
Group Volume Bonus
The Group Volume Bonus is an additional unilevel team volume payout for Managing Market Builder ranked affiliates.
The Group Volume Bonus pays an 2% on sales volume generated from level 5 of the unilevel team, up until a Managing Market Builder is found in each unilevel leg.
If no Managing Market Builder affiliate is found in a unilevel leg, the Group Volume Bonus is paid out the full depth of the leg.
Generation Bonus
Upon reaching the rank of Associate Market Mentor, the Group Volume Bonus is replaced with a Generation Bonus.
A generation in the Monat Global compensation plan is defined when a Managing Market Builder or higher ranked affiliate is found in a unilevel leg.
Once found, the Managing Market Builder affiliate caps off the first generation for that leg. The second generation begins immediately after.
If a second Managing Market Builder affiliate is found deeper in the leg, the second generation is capped off and the third begins.
If no other Managing Market Builder affiliates are found in the leg, the second generation runs the entire length of the leg.
Note that generations in each unilevel team leg are calculated independently of the other legs.
Using this definition of a generation, Monat Global pay affiliates a Generation Bonus on up to five generations per unilevel leg:
- Associate Market Mentors earn 4% on one generation
- Market Mentors earn 4% on the first generation and 3% on the second
- Managing Market Mentor affiliates earn 4% on the first and second generations and 3% on the third
- Associate Executive Directors earn 4% on the first to third generations and 3% on the fourth
- Executive Directors earn 4% on the first to fourth generations and 3% on the fifth
- Senior Executive Directors earn 4% on all five available generations
VIP Customer Acquisition Bonus
Monat Global refer to preferred customers as VIPs.
Monat Global VIP customers pay a one-time $19.99 fee and agree to place at least three autoship orders in exchange for a 15% discount.
The VIP Customer Acquisition Bonus rewards with a $60 bonus for every four VIPs they enroll during their “Smart Start” period (first three months).
After the initial three-month period four qualifying VIPs must be enrolled within one calendar month to qualify.
Smart Start Bonuses
Monat Global offer two Smart Start Bonuses:
- $150 per four VIP customers and recruitment of one affiliate who enrolls with a Product Pack
- $500 when the above criteria is met three times ($500 awarded each time)
A Monat Global affiliate’s Smart Start period is their first three months with the company.
The Smart Start Bonuses above are only valid during a Monat Global affiliate’s Smart Start period.
Smart Start Bonus Match
Each time a Monat Global affiliate qualifies for a $150 Smart Start Bonus, the affiliate who recruited them receives a $75 Smart Start Bonus Match (must be the same rank or higher than the Smart Start Bonus qualifying affiliate).
An additional $25 is paid out to the first Managing Market Builder or higher ranked upline affiliate.
Rank Achievement Bonus
Monat Global reward affiliates who qualify at the Managing Market Partner and higher ranks with a one-time Rank Achievement Bonus:
- Managing Market Partner – $100
- Associate Market Builder – $100
- Market Builder – $150
- Managing Market Builder – $500
- Associate Market Mentor – $500
- Market Mentor – $1000
- Managing Market Mentor – $2500
- Associate Executive Director – $5000
- Executive Director – $10,000
- Senior Executive Director – $20,000
When the Managing Market Builder Rank Achievement Bonus is paid out, a 100% match is paid to the first upline Managing Market Builder or higher ranked affiliate.
Note that if that affiliate is not qualified to earn commissions at the Managing Market Builder rank, the 100% match is forfeited.
Joining Monat Global
Monat Global affiliate membership is $99.
New affiliates can also sign up with an optional Product Pack (includes $99 affiliate fee):
- Business Product Pack – $299
- Success Product Pack – $399
- Overachiever Product Pack – $599
Each Product Pack comes with an assortment of Monat Global products.
Monat Global claims purchasing a Starter Pack saves an affiliate 45% off the retail price of bundled products.
Conclusion
From a practical standpoint selling hair care products through an MLM business model makes sense.
Hair care products are consumables and even I’ve been guilty of being incredibly fussy about what I put into my hair at times.
So the market is obviously there, but what about the viability of the products?
The first thing I noticed was Monat Global products are readily available for purchase on Amazon.
Note that they are slightly higher priced than retail though, but only by a few dollars.
Reviews, of which there are plenty, are mixed. General complaints appear to be the cost ($36.99 shipped through Prime) and some abnormal reactions.
There are also quite a few comments commenting on Monat Global’s MLM opportunity, which I’m taking with a grain of salt (a product review isn’t the place to complain about Monat Global the MLM company).
Out of curiosity I looked up Mags Kavanaugh and Vickie Harrington. Both are fairly active on social media.
As far as I can tell the content they are creating/sharing pertains to potential health risks of using Monat Global products.
Photographic evidence accompanies the claims and there seems to be enough of it from a number of people claiming to have used Monat Global products to suggest there’s something there.
Personally I can’t attest to the reliability or accuracy of the claims. What I can suggest however is as a customer you approach Monat Global’s products eyes open and be prepared for potential side-effects.
Like anything personal care related hair differs widely from person to person and what works for one individual might not for another.
Moving onto the compensation plan, Monat Global’s presentation of it is refreshingly straight-forward (2 pages!). Although definitions of some of the terms used wouldn’t hurt.
In particular I’m unclear as to the company’s definition of GV over DV (as noted in the compensation plan breakdown above).
I’m also not a fan of paying commissions on affiliate membership packages, which in this case are the
The other issue that stood out to me was a lack of required retail sales. Retail is encouraged through VIP Customer Acquisition and Smart Start bonuses, but beyond that there’s no retail requirements.
This could see an affiliate self-qualifying for commissions to meet a monthly PV quota, which is something to watch out for.
The good news is ascertaining whether this is happening is pretty straight forward. As a prospective Monat Global affiliate, you want to ask your potential upline how they’re meeting their PV requirement each month.
If it’s through their own purchase, ask them why they aren’t making the equivalent PV in retail sales. This is important because, as we’ve seen with Vemma and Herbalife, and MLM company without retail sales operates as a pyramid scheme.
One final note about Stuart MacMillan. I didn’t bring him up at the start of this review to in any way suggest that TelexFree and Monat Global are even remotely similar MLM companies.
What strikes me as odd is how quickly Monat Global snatched MacMillan up, and what someone who thought it was a good idea to try to help convicted Ponzi scammers is doing so high up the Monat Global executive chain.
To his credit MacMillan doesn’t appear to have carried his TelexFree baggage over to Monat Global, but the circumstances of his hiring would certainly be an interesting yarn to unravel.
All in all with Monat Global you’re looking at potentially questionable management (the Urdeneta family themselves seem above-board), hair products with luxury niche pricing and reported side-effects, the accuracy of which are now playing out in two separate court cases.
The Monat Global compensation plan meanwhile is solid, other than the potential for affiliates to meet monthly PV requirements via self-purchase at the expense of retail.
Until the defamation lawsuits are resolved either way, definitely try before you buy and proceed from there with caution.
Other than being able to get an equally good product at a much cheaper price from a firm that doesn’t have MLM commissions and admin to pay, but let’s not go there.
Having seen some of the photos, I would suggest you should try it on your pet rat before you try before you buy.
There’s more info at the mlmtruth blog covering Monat’s UK launch if anyone is particularly interested in whether it makes your hair fall out.
And only need to purchase one bottle at a time AND be able to take advantage of special offers available in retail stores weekly.
I was under the impression the Rejeveniqe formula in the shampoo is proprietary.
Mind you if that’s the ingredient causing people to lose hair and develop rashes than that obviously works against it.
My only question is then why aren’t the reported issues more widespread?
It cleans your hair and makes it smell nice. There are any number of shampoos that do the same thing in any supermarket or boutique which don’t have MLM commissions to price in.
Anyone can pick a random combination of herbs and trademark it but in itself that isn’t a competitive advantage over rival products.
There is no scientific evidence that it makes your hair grow or has any other benefit that other shampoos don’t have. If it did, Monat’s owners would employ a conventional sales team and keep all the money they currently spend on MLM commissions and admin for themselves.
Not enough suckers willing to actually put the stuff in their hair.
You don’t buy the stuff to put in your hair, you buy it to meet Personal Volume requirements, or because your spouse / child / friend persuaded you to buy some to “help with their business”.
Excellent comments.
Yet another example of “MLM business owners” overpaying for a product in order to shuffle around money in the Ponzi/Pyramid.
Indeed. Instead we have, in this order:
#1 Con man needs money
#2 Con man uses MLMing model (which should be illegal but somehow isn’t)
#3 Con man finds a product to use as a vehicle to defraud
When are MLM companies going to realize the suing people who complain about their products is a very good way to get complaints against their products talked about on websites like BuzzFeed?
buzzfeed.com/stephaniemcneal/monat?utm_term=.nvLmYqoNv#.qaOboY47N
On the 7th of this month when that article was published the “Monat-My Modern Nightmare” facebook group was said to have 12K members, today, six days later it has 16K members.
The power of publicity.
I’ve been reading all of these comments. So interesting how perspective is everything! If you haven’t tried something, you can’t knock it!
I have been a hairstylist for 17 years. A very well-to-do hairstylist. Never- and I mean never have I used products like this before.
The results are Bar none and the fact that they are naturally-based is very impressive. I have never been happier to recommend these to my friends, family and clients. Everyone that I know that uses it, (including myself and several family members) will not be switching to anything else.
Also, several times in the past 17 years behind the chair I have had clients have terrible reactions to certain products.
I had four different people over the years that got weird rashes down there back from using Pureology hair care. They all individually concluded that they must be allergic to something in the shampoo or conditioner and when it rinses out, it causes these little bumps down their back.
I also had a few people throughout the years allergic to certain products in the Goldwell line and a couple of others.
Ask any medical professional out there- there will always be someone allergic to some ingredient in some product. And when something is very naturally-based, people can discover unique allergies that they didn’t realize they had.
For instance, I have a friend that is allergic to coconut and therefore cannot use Monat because of the coconut oil.
The difference with companies that have opted for the MLM business model or direct sales is that these days it is all based around social media communication. Therefore, if a few people have had similar issues, they tend to find each other through social media outlets.
In no way am I discounting what has happened to some people. I have seen the photos. It is terrible. I also know how it feels and works on my hair. And the hair of so many others. There is not one product for everyone!
Onto the comments about The products being sold on Amazon: As I have told all of my clients over the years, never buy hair care products on Amazon!
They have been illegally distributed by a representative for the company, whether they sold off their lot to Amazon or had a bad batch or damaged batch and instead of throwing it away, decided to sell it on Amazon.
I have seen Aveda’s Blue shampoo on the shelf in Rite Aid in the Pasadena area of California. It wasn’t even the same shampoo inside the bottle! The bottle was clear so it was a dead giveaway to somebody that had worked in Aveda salon for years.
I have also seen it with doTERRA Essential Oils And Nioxin shampoo on Amazon. What is in the bottle is not what they claim to have in there! Never, never purchase hair products on Amazon!
That is also the reason that you’re going to see very conflicted reviews. There will be some people that possibly got a bottle from a consultant that was just trying to sell some of her extra retail inventory. But you never know if you’re going to be that consumer or the one that got the $36 bottle Containing Suave.
This article was well written and I felt was very non-biased. These comments however, are very opinionated and not coming from any personal experience or expertise.
I strongly urge each of you to do your own research and not just listen to what other people have to say. Including me!
Feel free to take my words as a grain of salt as well. We all should know our own information and not just rely on info that others are spewing on the Internet.
Sure you can. I haven’t tried shooting myself in the balls with a shotgun. Pretty sure it wont end well.
I’ve also never drank bleach. Yet here I am ready to “knock” that idea too.
With respect to Monat side-effects, you acknowledge there are issues. This isn’t something that should be swept under the rug.
The onus is on Monat Global to label their products to consumers can make informed decisions.
That’s assuming side-effects can be put down to allergies, of which there has been no official confirmation as far as I’m aware.
As for buying on Amazon, retail customers don’t care about “illegal distribution” (which isn’t a thing, because there’s no law prohibiting someone reselling Monat hair products they’ve bought).
Your only other excuse is counterfeit product, of which there is no evidence of. Sounds like you’re just throwing red herrings out there.
“In no way am I discounting what has happened to some people.” Yet here is a claim regarding other people’s experiences you simply cannot make with any accuracy.
Well 3 years later, someone recommended I try their shampoo. Glad I came here first. Then did an advanced google search and it was like a horror story of complaints.
But the worst one in my opinion is the company going after consumers who dare to complain. That’s just mafia capitalism.