114 APRIL 2020 VOGUE.COM
If you don’t know
what menopause
looks and feels like,
you’re unlikely to
recognize it when
it comes for you
know what menopause looks and feels like, you’re unlikely
to recognize it when it comes for you. Millennials have
brought a welcomed new openness to formerly secretive,
female-centric topics such as periods, acne, and even
pregnancy—a term that was once censored on television.
So why is the M-word still spoken about in whispers?
As the author Darcey Steinke notes tartly in last year’s
refreshingly transgressive book Flash Count Diary, the
answer may be that “other female milestones are of more
general interest.” Steinke describes her menopause process
as a “rupture, a metamorphosis, an all-encompassing
and violent change... that is as much a spiritual challenge
as it is a physical one,” a description that resonates with me.
Aside from night sweats, says Taryn Smith, M.D., of the
Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Specialized Women’s Health,
perimenopause, menopause (when a woman has gone
12 straight months without a period), and postmenopausal
symptoms that assail your body when the
ovaries stop making the hormones needed
for fertility can include insomnia, fatigue,
mood swings, anxiety, weight gain,
plummeting sex drive, vaginal dryness,
and joint pain. I’ve had them all. In my
case, my skin also grew so alarmingly
parched that my usual go-to products
simply sat on its surface—unsurprising,
says Rosemarie Ingleton, M.D., assistant
clinical professor of dermatology
at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
“Estrogen plays a critical role in collagen and elastin
levels, so skin thickness and moisture retention can also
diminish as estrogen levels drop,” she says. I keep waiting
to discover the Glossier for “the ageless” demographic
to which I now belong—a diplomatic description that
makes me feel like a centuries-old Galapagos tortoise—but
it has yet to cross my Instagram feed.
“Where the hell are the product lines for us?” echoes
Rochelle Weitzner, commiserating with my cause and
noting the deluge of skin-care brands targeting hormonal
teenage acne, as well as prenatal and postpartum skin
conditions, and the comparative dearth of products that
target menopause. After experiencing her first hot flash,
Weitzner—the former CEO of the legacy Hungarian
skin-care brand Erno Laszlo—decided to be the change
for “the change.” Her cleverly named Pause Well-Aging
line, which launched last June, includes eight innovative
products that women didn’t know they were missing.
Among them is an instantly relieving Hot Flash Cooling
Mist with false daisy extract, a potent antioxidant with
anti-inflammatory abilities, and a phenomenal Collagen
Boosting Moisturizer that restores density and elasticity
to menopausal skin with firming peptides.
The green-leaning line Knours follows suit with its
Age-Defying set, which includes a bi-phase Double Duty
Mist to handle hormonal changes (shake to combine if
skin is dry, to deliver the nourishing jojoba oil at the top;
don’t shake if skin is extra sensitive, for aloe vera and
seven calming botanicals at the bottom). “I always have it
in my purse,” says Knours founder Julie Park. A former
distributor of top Korean beauty brands, Park started the
line when she, like Weitzner, couldn’t find anything for her
menopausal skin. The same experience compelled Lena
Korres to add the new two-piece Meno-Reverse line to her
namesake Greek beauty brand, using a patented white
pine-bark extract made from the longest-living tree species
in Europe, which helps to synthesize new proteins—
essential as collagen production declines by 30 percent
five years after menopause, with cell turnover slowing as
well. “Dead cells don’t shed off as quickly, creating
this impermeable layer,” she explains, “which is why the
products you’ve always used haven’t been working.”
When I indulge in these creams and serums, I feel seen
for the first time since entering menopause last year
at 52. Say what you will about Gwyneth Paltrow: Her 2018
call to action when she turned 46—that menopause
“needs rebranding”—is spot-on. And much like with her
pioneering exploration of wellness remedies, however
ill-conceived, popular culture may finally
be ready to listen. “The entertainment
industry is certainly becoming more age
inclusive,” observes celebrity makeup
artist Autumn Moultrie, whose clients
include Viola Davis, Alfre Woodard, and
Kerry Washington; more age-inclusive
story lines have materialized as a result.
In the past year, the subject of menopause
has been tackled in a straightforward,
relatable way in Fleabag and Better Things
(both, notably, created by women);
next year, Hulu’s highly anticipated Nine Perfect Strangers
stars Melissa McCarthy as a romance novelist who
weathers debilitating hot flashes. Meanwhile, celebrities
such as Penélope Cruz and Taraji P. Henson are using
their platforms to create a dialogue around menopause.
Henson recently shared that she began to get severe
mood swings before connecting the dots with her therapist
that they were tied to menopause.
“Everyone’s realizing that this is a final frontier in
women’s health,” says Jill Angelo, the CEO and founder
of Gennev. A former Silicon Valley executive, Angelo
launched the Seattle-based web platform four years ago
to provide a telemedicine portal to match women with
menopause practitioners nationwide for advice on sleep,
nutrition, and stress, as well as a community to share
these experiences. “The more people that play in the
space, the better,” she continues, noting that women over
50 probably have “the most spending power they’ve ever
had in their lives.” This means more disposable income to
indulge in these new products and services, including a
fresh crop of femtech devices, such as the vFit: Gentle
heat, low-level red light, and sonic technology rejuvenate
vaginal tissue—in effect, doing your Kegels for you!
As this new generation of brand founders have often
gone through menopause themselves, the products they’re
bringing into the fold include empathetic little touches.
Weitzner asks me to pick up my bottle of Pause’s Hot
Flash Cooling Mist. “Notice the large font?” she asks.
“That’s so if you put it on your bedside table——”
“You don’t need to fumble for your reading glasses,”
I interject, finishing her thought. @
