Why Menopause Brand are Heating up Cosmetic shelves

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A parallel movement is emerging in the beauty and wellness industry, with cosmetic brands dedicated to addressing women’s cosmetic and physical needs. Spearheaded by influential figures like Naomi Watts, Drew Barrymore, and Cameron Diaz—themselves advocates for destigmatizing aging—these brands are propelling menopause into a burgeoning sector. With projections estimating a market value of $600 billion by 2025, their collective efforts are reshaping perceptions and redefining the business landscape around menopause. In the first part on the series on Menopausal Skincare Dr Renuka Thergaonkar talks on Menopausal Skin Changes.

Welcome to the “Beautility Era” of Cosmetics. Beautility is all about product efficacy and meaningful engagement which are not only inseparable from beauty but vital to it. Across generations globally, people are now looking for experiences and products that help them become better versions of themselves. Future-facing beauty brands are now embracing innovation as they seek to deliver meaningful beauty cosmetics, services and experiences to customers who need, demand and expect more than ever from the products.

Within the beauty industry, this development will see the concept of beauty as medicine take root. Research from Euromonitor is already illustrating this shift, revealing that 50% of global consumers now define beauty as ‘looking healthy’. As this relationship between self-care and healthcare evolves, the pursuit of beauty has become a wider function of taking care of oneself both mentally and physically. Embedding products with clear health benefits that resist one-dimensional categorizations : Driving fairness by balancing efficacy, ingredients and price. Menoupausal products for balancing the ageing skin needs, ingredients and price.

Menopause Menopause is the time in a woman’s life when her periods (menstruation) stop. Most often, it is a natural, normal body change that occurs between ages 45 to 55. A natural decline in reproductive hormones happens when a woman reaches her 40s or 50s. It’s slow and has Four stages:

Stages Of Men

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Menopause, which starts on average between the ages of 45 and 55 years, is associated with changing hormone levels.The hormones affected are Estrogen, Progestrone and FSH. 

Signs of low estrogen include Dry skin. falling estrogen levels. The impact of the low Estrogen state of menopause has implications on the structure and function of the skin, Estrogen receptors (ERs) are seen throughout the skin, with the highest density in the face.

Changes in skin structure in Menopause:

Epidermis and sebaceous glands: Low Hormonal Levels reduce transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and impact skin barrier function. In few, a reduction in sebum production and skin surface lipids is also observed. 

Collagen: A rapid decline in skin collagen is seen following menopause, with nearly a third lost in the first 5 years and a decline of 2.1% per year over the 15 years following menopause

Elastin: Elastin degeneration increases with menopause and manifests clinically as slack skin and increased wrinkling. 

Pigmentation: There is a clear association with melasma and estrogen, Up to 80% of women with extra facial melasma are postmenopausal. Acquired bilateral melanosis (ABM) of the neck has been described in Asian perimenopausal women. 

Flushing: happens due to vasodilation of the dermal and subcutaneous blood vessels, possibly due to a loss of peripheral vascular control associated with oestrogen deficiency.

By 2025, over one billion women, comprising approximately 12% of the global population, will have entered the menopausal or peri-menopausal phase. There are 47 million new entrants each year. Due to all the perceivable skin issues women in the menopausal age  need special treatment for managing the same. Hence the demand for special skin treatment during this phase is inevitable. 

Stages Of Men

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The global brands in the segment are Stripes, Pause Well ageing, Wile, Womaness etc.

Requirements of Menopausal Cosmetics are:

⦁ Targeted Products

⦁ Efficacy Oriented

⦁ Enhanced Texture

⦁ Simple and easy to use.

⦁ Better Moisturizing

⦁ Works on basal epidermal layers

Menopause has to be dealt with understanding, love and affection and that resonates same to the skin as well. Hence the menopausal range needs to be created with the vision of targeted efficacy.

Author : Dr. Renuka Thergoankar

Dr. Renuka Thergoankar has served the world of Cosmetics in India for over two decades. Firstly through teaching positions at LAD & Smt R P College, Nagpur, Nikalas Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Nagpur and KET’s V. G. Vaze College, Mumbai as Professor and Head of Department, Cosmetics and Perfumery along with product development, formulation and research and Consultation for several Small, Medium and Multinational brands. She has won and been on the jury of numerous national and international awards. She holds several patents and has several published papers in national and international journals. She is also on the panel of several Government committees like BIS, CMaP, Flavour & Fragrance Committee of India and is the former President of Indian Society of Cosmetic Chemists (ISCC) and a Life member of OTAI west zone. She is the founder and Director of R & D Global Consultants, a consultancy dedicated to Technical research and product development for brands from India and abroad. She has won many laurels for her innovative approach.

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