Do You Really Need Menopause-Specific Skincare?
By Cheryl Wischhover
Capitalism has come for menopause. Actress Naomi Watts has a beauty brand called Stripes focused on it. There is Pause Well-aging and Womaness. Drugstore brand No.7 sells menopause-focused products. Luxury brand Dr. Barbara Sturm bundles up several existing products and sells it as a $700 menopause set. Serena Williams invested in Judy Greer’s menopause supplement brand, Wile.
The social media surrounding it all has a girlboss vibe (Golden Girl-boss?) that makes me uncomfortable. I heard someone on a podcast use the term “menoposse.” “Hot girl” jokes about hot flashes abound. Please, no.
There is a real need for more awareness about what to expect during perimenopause and beyond, because it’s still a black hole. Parents can go online and find a lot of support for that journey. But once your reproductive life is over? There is still such a knowledge gap and lack of support for people who experience menopause. According to a recent story on The Cut about the celebrity monetization of menopause, “Unlike their parents, the Gen-Xer or elder millennial on your screen and in your life has zero interest in suffering silently through this often annoying and sometimes debilitating transition.”
In a wrinkle for this nascent market, What Not To Wear alum Stacy London just announced via Instagram that she was shutting down her two-year-old beauty brand State of Menopause in favor of a bigger project to bring awareness to menopause and its many effects. She says she will support all the other brands in the space who are selling products.
It all begs the question: Do we actually need special skincare products for perimenopause and beyond? (Vaginal dryness products and supplements are a subject for another day.)
Your skin does change as a direct result of the hormonal chaos of menopause, says Dr. Carmen Castilla, a New York City-based dermatologist. In perimenopause, estrogen starts to fluctuate. “The fluctuations can cause issues with acne, drier skin, and thinner skin, because estrogen is very important for women in terms of their collagen production,” she says. A study showed that in the first five years of menopause, women lose about 30% of their collagen, says Dr. Castilla. Hyaluronic acid works in tandem with collagen to support the skin matrix and it also decreases, affecting skin hydration and firmness. The result is dry, droopy skin that can be more prone to abrasions.
So yes, skincare can definitely help with some of these issues. First, a good moisturizer is essential, and Dr. Castilla says looking for something with ceramides in it can be helpful. Hyaluronic acid serums, one of the hottest products of the past decade, can maybe help. Based on molecular size, some hyaluronic acid may not penetrate and even if it does, it may not get down to the deeper levels of skin. But many form a gel-like layer on the skin and attract moisture that way, per Dr. Castilla. She also suggests adding a vitamin C serum and a retinol, but be aware that while retinol can increase collagen production, it dries out skin even more. Finally, use daily sunscreen.
But these specific menopause skincare lines don’t seem to provide anything that you can’t find in a good cream from Sephora.
“When I first saw [these brands] I was like, ‘Wow, that's some good marketing,’ because we historically haven't talked about skin and menopause,” says Dr. Castilla. “But from what I've seen, I don't think that they're anything super special.”
They all offer a hydration line and you’ll see ceramides, vitamin C, niacinamide, and hyaluronic included on the labels, which are additives you can find in any number of regular skincare brands. Some include cooling sprays for use with hot flashes, but Dr. Castilla is skeptical of their utility. “If you spray it on your face, it could make you feel a little bit better, but I don't think it's going to take away the whole hot flash,” she laughs.
To me, the category appears to be a new way to push anti-aging skincare without saying the word “anti-aging.” It’s a marketable way to target women over 45, since they are the ones going through menopause and likely googling everything they can about it, not to mention noticing changes when they look in the mirror.
Maybe one of these brands can build a Glossier-like community, which would be a good thing for people experiencing menopause. It’s still a taboo subject, and celebrities willing to help normalize vaginal dryness and brain fog may go a long way towards making regular people feel better about their symptoms.
Where the ick factor comes in for me is selling stuff around it. Clearly the investors behind these brands like the potential for an evergreen customer base, because there will always be a cohort of people going through menopause. But I can grudgingly see a few positives. Go on Reddit, TikTok, Instagram, or a Facebook skincare group and you’ll be confronted with confusing, and often conflicting, information. Finding products – and even knowing what might be most beneficial if you’ve never really embarked on a skincare routine – can be intimidating. What these menopause brands offer to someone who may want to perk up their menopausal skin is one-stop shopping and an assurance that you’ll likely get products formulated with older skin in mind.
I just wish the medical community and workplaces and society would give women the support they need during menopause, but for now I guess neck creams are a start.