This is a letter from one of our readers (we’ll call her Peggy) to her sales director when she decided to quit Mary Kay.

Peggy is just like many of this. She was a “don’t wear makeup” type of lady who got sucked into Mary Kay Cosmetics as a way to save money on weedding makeup, learn how to apply the products, and offer savings on products to family and friends.

Within one day of hearing about the idea, Peggy was being strong-armed into a conference call with teh sales director. The sales director talked her into an initial order of $600 (magic number!) plus samples, even though Peggy told her she never wanted to hold any classes.

The entire first month, Peggy had misgivings about her Mary Kay involvement. She says: “My whole little stint lasted less than a month before I made the decision to haul ass and count my blessings.”

Peggy found the Mary Kay Sucks blog after Googling “the cult of Mary Kay”, and the rest is history.

Here is her letter to her sales director. I hope this can help some others who are thinking about quitting Mary Kay.

I have been doing some prayerful thinking regarding my involvement with Mary Kay. I initially had some misgivings, but decided to give the Mary Kay consultant role a chance. I think that it has been God’s providence that events and circumstances have prevented me from attending any meetings and hosting my debut as planned. To be perfectly honest, if I had been given more information prior to making the decision to become a consultant, I know that I would have declined this opportunity. The lack of up-front information makes me feel more than a little misled. I hope that you will respect me and my reasons for going inactive, and not attempt to persuade me otherwise–that would only be a waste of your time and mine.

I already live a very full life, filled with my career obligations and duties (a job I find very fulfilling both professionally and financially), daily workout routines at the gym, planning the details of a large out-of-state wedding to a wonderful and supportive man, and staying in touch and visiting with friends and family who enrich my life…there is no room for Mary Kay and the level of commitment (both time and money) expected out of a consultant.

I like my job, the pay, the job security, and the benefits. While I am not complacent, I have specific career goals which in no way relate to the business, fashion, or cosmetics industries. MK just has nothing to offer me.

I enjoy having my nights and weekends to spend with my loved ones, and have recently learned that not only is my office over-saturated with MK consultants as it is, the products are readily available on ebay for less than any consultant’s wholesale cost.

I am not willing to harass my friends and family into purchasing products or taking samples/literature from me every time I am at a social gathering, home for a holiday, sending an email, or making a phone call. I do not want to ostracize myself from these individuals by causing them to question my motives as I have come to question your motives. These are sacrifices I am unwilling to make.

I am not interested in recruiting others into Mary Kay, and am not motivated by the prizes and incentives the company offers for high sales and recruitment.

I have also tried the products, and find them to be quite comparable to those of other national and international competitors, yet higher in price than many of those brands (even when purchased “wholesale”). I am sure that MK sells a quality product, but I have developed considerable misgivings in the outcomes boasted by the products when I encountered multiple obstacles in attempting to find the clinical research studies to support these claims. I would feel like I was misleading others if I attempted to persuade them to purchase a product I myself do not have confidence in.

Sidebar: L’Oreal is actually the world’s #1 cosmetics company. Both MK and Avon falsely claim to be the world’s #1 cosmetics company. This is only one of the multiple false claims and deceptive tactics I have come to associate with MK (casting further doubt on other MK claims), and I respect and value myself, my reputation, and my friends too much to associate myself with a company which engages in these practices.

I plan on liquidating my existing product at cost to anyone who will buy it, but realize I may need to utilize the buyback option for my remaining (unliquidated) product and hope that those products are not “discontinued” at that time so that I am at least able to recover 90% of what I paid for them.

I am aware that if I choose to utilize the buyback option, I will never be eligible to be a MK consultant again. I have no problem with this. I am also aware that I am choosing to take a loss financially on this experience (10% of product costs less free items, cost of all samples and class materials, cost of website, cost of propay, cost of business cards…), but am choosing to look at the POSITIVE aspect of this experience as an opportunity to learn more about myself, grow, learn valuable lessons about other people, and strengthen my ethical convictions while preserving my existing friendships and relationships with those I love and care about–something I believe to be invaluable. And, I know that my financial losses would have been far greater had I chosen to continue as an active consultant.

Please do not call me to try to change my mind or talk me out of this decision. It will not work, and will only succeed in leaving a bad taste in my mouth regarding MK in general and the practices of this company. You are not going to change my perspective; you are not going to change my mind. Again, it will be a waste of your time and mine to do so. When I am at work, my employer “owns” my time and personal calls are inappropriate and unprofessional. When I am at home, that time belongs to me–and I feel like I have now explained my perspective and decision in sufficient detail.

My apologies that I will not be earning you commissions or prizes based on having an active recruit or my purchasing more inventory/product, but I honestly cannot allow myself to feel guilty under the circumstances…and I must make the choices which I know are best for me. I have no reservations about this decision, and I can only feel relief. I wish you both only the best.