The Menopause Market Is Overwhelming. Here’s How To Navigate It

In the past, the huge midlife transition into menopause—which is accompanied by massive fluctuations in hormones produced by the ovaries as they shrink, stop releasing eggs, and shift into low gear—was something women just “dealt” with, often in isolation. But recently, menopause has quite literally hit prime time. The Super Bowl aired its first menopause-focused commercial in 2023, “menopause influencers” abound on Instagram, women are comparing hormone therapy regimens with friends, and celebrities like Paltrow, Drew Barrymore, Michelle Obama, Naomi Watts, and Serena Williams talk openly about menopause. (All except Obama are attached to companies that sell menopause products.)

This surge in interest also arrives at a time when the market is ripe for innovation, thanks to years of neglect by the scientific research community and a seemingly endless list of symptoms that accompany this life stage. In addition to being affected by the spending gap on women’s health in general, menopause is difficult to study—there are no reliable animal research models (it doesn’t happen in, say, mice or rats the way it does in humans). And men don’t stop producing testosterone the same way women stop producing estrogen. So the changes in our ovaries—and the hormones that keep us healthy—produce quite the puzzle to solve.

Doctors also note that the generation of women now entering menopause seems more interested in health and longevity—and they’re being proactive about it. They know what they want, and they’re not afraid to ask for it. That means ravenously consuming information online, including through social media, about what’s happening to their bodies during this major transition, asking their doctors more questions, and seeking better solutions. And perhaps most important, they’re less embarrassed about it and less willing to suffer in silence, which explains how we went from zero menopause products to menopause hair-care treatments and a $20 black throw pillow that says in flame-colored capital letters i’m still hot. only now it comes in flashes.

Margaret Nachtigall, MD, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at New York University, says women in their 40s come into her office asking about menopause before their symptoms have even started. Ideally, the preparation would begin even younger—say, in your 30s, when you go for a Pap smear—with the doctor inquiring about any changes and outlining what might lie ahead, says Monica Christmas, MD, director of both the Menopause Program and the Center for Women’s Integrated Health at the University of Chicago, as well as associate medical director of the Menopause Society. It makes sense that scientists, biotech companies, menopause influencers, and innovators are trying to fill these gaps and meet those needs.

Enter the booming menopause market.

When Hormone Therapy Doesn’t Fit The Bill

Since the symptoms of menopause can be chalked up to declining hormone levels, they could—hypothetically—all be treated with a single medical solution, right? Not exactly.

There is no standard “menopause syndrome,” which makes it hard to find a one-size-fits-all treatment. Symptoms vary from woman to woman, as does their severity. And the range is dizzying: Besides the much-joked-about hot flashes, night sweats, and mood swings, there is also insomnia, depression, vaginal dryness, changes in sex drive, and joint pain. Estrogen receptors, it seems, are absolutely everywhere in the body.

What’s more, hormone therapy, the current gold standard for menopause care (its reputation took a major hit in 2002 after flawed findings from the Women’s Health Initiative suggested that therapy combining estrogen and progesterone could increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, and breast cancer), isn’t an option for everyone, says Dr. Nachtigall. Women with a family or personal history of conditions like breast cancer, blood clots, or high blood pressure are generally not great candidates for hormone therapy. When it is prescribed, it’s generally only to ease vasomotor symptoms (i.e., hot flashes and night sweats), which up to 80 percent of menopausal women experience. Also, some women simply want an alternative treatment.

Unfortunately, Dr. Christmas can’t count the number of times she and a patient have picked what they felt was the best option—say, a transdermal hormone patch—only to find that insurance didn’t cover it. “You’re back to square zero,” she says. The icing on the cake: Barely 7 percent of doctors report feeling sufficiently educated about menopause in general, which makes finding the right treatment tough.

A Perfect Storm For Products

Our relatively sorry state of meno care creates ideal conditions for other products and options to emerge.

To start, more doctor-approved treatments and science-backed solutions are slowly arriving on the scene. In 2023, the FDA approved a new type of nonhormonal drug to treat hot flashes. It works by blocking receptors in the brain that play a role in body-temperature regulation. Then there’s the boom in wearables—like a bracelet that monitors the wearer’s temperature and generates a cooling sensation on the inside of the wrist when it detects a hot flash. (The FDA hasn’t approved this for treating medical conditions, but it has been reviewed and cleared for general wellness purposes, like helping users manage temperature discomfort.)

A report from the Female Founders Fund, which invests exclusively in female-founded companies, estimates that the menopause market is a $600 billion opportunity. (In the past five years, venture capitalists have plowed more than $500 million globally into 142 menopause-related deals, according to data from PitchBook, which tracks start-ups.) Little wonder: Since most women enter menopause between 45 and 55, and perimenopause symptoms can begin a decade before, many women spend as much (or more!) of their lives in perimenopause and menopause as in any other stage.

They also may have more money to spend during that time. A report from McKinsey called women “the new face of wealth” and suggested that the share of household financial assets that women control (currently a third, or more than $10 trillion) will grow significantly. It probably doesn’t hurt that there are 34 recognized symptoms of menopause, which is a lot of potential territory for companies to grab.

“People have figured out that midlife women have money and there is an unmet need,” says Stephanie S. Faubion, MD, medical director of the Menopause Society, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health, and chair of the department of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.

Now that we’ve broken through the silence surrounding menopause, women are comfortable asking for what they need and voicing their opinions about products. Companies are seeing this attitude shift in real time. “They are absolute straight shooters,” says Hasti Nazem, co-CEO of Kindra, a five-year-old company offering menopause supplements, hygiene products, and vibrators. For example, customers, she says, will share that itchy genitals (a meno symptom) feel like a yeast infection and keep them up at night. Or they will complain, Nazem says, that a product that smells like lavender “is like a floral bouquet out of my vagina, which is not ideal when I’m at work.”

Holly Rilinger, the 50-year-old founder of the Lifted Method, says that when she first posted about offering a $99 virtual menopause strength-training boot camp in January of 2024, she received 3,000 replies. Her most recent cohort included women from 17 countries.

Is Any Of This The Real Deal?

While there’s been an explosion of new products in the menopause market, many of them may not be worth the money, with some appearing and disappearing faster than, well, a hot flash. Dr. Kurtzer says she feels that investigating each new item mentioned by a patient in 2025 just results in “a lot of time spent on things that are not ever going to be proven one way or the other.”

And the massive number of women seeking symptom relief has also allowed misinformation, from menopause influencers and online ads for unregulated products, to spread. (Videos with the #menopause hashtag have racked up more than a billion views on TikTok.) The consequences of using, say, a beauty product rebranded as a menopause product are minor—likely only your wallet will suffer—but some supplements for symptom relief may interact badly with meds you’re already taking, and those containing the herb black cohosh may even cause liver damage. Advice from some so-called “experts” online can also be misguided: Hormone therapy, for example, does not keep you in a premenopausal state. Menopause is as inevitable as aging.

But the market’s mere existence is still evidence of the seismic shift in our thinking. Women are finally able to say, “There are symptoms that can be managed, and I can be proactive about managing those symptoms,” says Dr. Christmas.

Which Products Might Actually Help (And Which Ones Are Pointless)

When any market experiences explosive growth, it makes sense that some of the offerings will be the real deal and others not so much. So how do you separate what’s worth it from what’s just menoprofiteering?

Start by applying the cardinal rule of evaluating any product: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” says Dr. Faubion. “Women really need to be savvy consumers and look at the data and understand: Is it that there’s no data, we just don’t know, and it’s probably not going to hurt you, or we have definite data that it doesn’t work and you shouldn’t be using it?”

Most of these menopause products are not actually harmful, but they’re potentially a waste of time and money. Take hair-care products. Dr. Faubion says these are nothing new, just “rebranded with ‘menopause’ on it and charging three times the price that they would charge a 20-year-old, because they know they can.” As for pricey menopause retreats? Dr. Faubion calls them “ridiculous.”

Chances are, if you can remove “menopause” from the description and you’re left with something recognizable (even something you already own), you probably don’t need it.

For starters, experts say supplements are likely not worth the money if you’re looking to target meno symptoms. “There’s not a supplement out there that’s been proven to work for hot flashes,” says Dr. Faubion, though she notes that the Menopause Society hasn’t evaluated any supplements for menopause-related sleep or mood problems. Dr. Christmas is also down on supplements but knows how tempting celebrity backers make them look on Instagram. Recently, the nonprofit Truth in Advertising sent letters to 100 menopause supplement companies about deceptive marketing practices. (FYI, you can find advice on supplements from ConsumerLab, an independent research company that tests and analyzes health and nutrition products.)

For products that tout their clinical research, Dr. Kurtzer suggests digging into what that really means—which is actually a lot easier than it sounds. Ideally, a study should have more than 100 participants, and there should be more than one study, because results don’t mean much if you can’t replicate them. She also advises checking to see whether the study is limited to a certain racial or ethnic group—another clue that it might not be robust.

Less medicinal products and services—like menopause-targeted workout classes—are harder to evaluate. Pvolve, a low-impact-fitness brand that boasts Jennifer Aniston as a partner, created a Moving With Menopause class series in 2022, designed to “combat menopause symptoms.” And independent gyms and fitness studios across the country are offering their own take with classes such as Pilates for Menopause. But it’s difficult to tease out whether symptoms like joint pain or weight gain are caused by menopause specifically or by the natural aging process. You lose muscle mass as you age, but the lack of estrogen during menopause can also cause weight to be redistributed around your midsection.

And while experts say there is no special exercise for menopause, weight training comes closest to a sure thing. In fact, Dr. Faubion calls it “essential” for menopausal women. Weight training helps maintain bone density and muscle mass, both of which can decrease during menopause if you don’t take action. (Declining estrogen levels are to blame for bone density loss; diminishing muscle mass is a consequence of aging, but menopause can accelerate it.) Weight training doesn’t have to mean lifting super heavy. It could mean doing bodyweight exercises, like planks and side planks in a yoga class, Dr. Faubion says.

Items claiming to help with sex-related menopause problems, which women are more likely to experience as they age, are also tricky to evaluate. Due to the decrease in estrogen (and in some cases testosterone), the vulva and vaginal tissues become thinner and finer, and the body’s natural lubrication system doesn’t work as well. As a result, friction during sex can cause painful little fissures and tears. Traditional topical estrogen and a hormone called DHEA (taken via vaginal inserts) can help in this scenario, but there has also been a flood of new meno-focused lubricants and moisturizers from start-ups, including celebrity brands. But you don’t need an age-specific product. Just stick to water- or silicone-based lubricants, which are less likely to cause further irritation. You also probably don’t need a vaginal rejuvenation device, like a vaginal steamer.

On the other hand, doctors do particularly like vaginal inserts with hyaluronic acid (yes, the same super-plumping, moisturizing ingredient found in a lot of facial skin-care products), with Dr. Nachtigall calling them “a great option.” The inserts from the brand Bonafide were as effective as topical estrogen, per a small double-blind study published in the Menopause Society’s journal. They’re Bonafide’s most popular product and have been so successful that the company recently debuted an extra-strength version, says Alyssa Dweck, MD, Bonafide’s chief medical officer and a practicing gynecologist in New York for nearly 30 years.

Dr. Dweck has always been “a big hormone [therapy] prescriber,” but she also believes “there is a place” for nonhormonal options. If you try the inserts, keep in mind that some patients have found that hyaluronic acid can cause a burning sensation during the first couple of uses. (Obviously, if it’s severe, remove it, Dr. Dweck says.)

Vibrators and “dilator kits” that can gently stretch vaginal tissue, making sex less painful, are also proliferating. There is, for example, the $395 Joylux red-light-therapy vibrator (“made with mid-life women in mind,” the description reads), which claims to strengthen your pelvic floor and promote blood flow.

Dr. Kurtzer says there may be some value to dilator kits, which can “prevent [vaginal tissue] from getting a little bit more rigid.” And there is data to support vibrator use for easing vaginal dryness, including one study in the International Urogynecology Journal that found that 5 to 10 minutes of vibrator use, two or three times per week for three months, provided “significant” improvement for women with vaginal atrophy. It also decreased rates of depression. But do you need a vibrator marketed specifically for menopause? Since sexual response is so complex and individual, the results of any one clinical study aren’t likely to apply to you (or the rest of the world). Bottom line: No need to shell out for a meno vibrator.

Finding The Right Future Formula

One big benefit of all this attention on menopause is that it’s created a community in which women can swap advice and be more prepared to handle the transition. But that doesn’t always mean buying the product your friend’s friend recommended after seeing it in an Insta ad. Before clicking “buy” on some buzzy new item, it’s best to talk to your doctor—in part because there may be a solution to your problem that has a proven track record. You can also try looking at the websites of the Menopause Society and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, both of which offer some guidelines.

When patients ask Dr. Kurtzer about a new product, she often suggests a treatment she is more confident will work. “I would say very few of our patients end up needing to utilize those new treatments at all,” she says. “But I see a lot of people who’ve tried things we don’t know a lot about and then come in, [having] been referred to us because whatever it is isn’t working.”

Still, doctors agree that all this attention on menopause is, in the end, a good thing for women seeking relief. More attention equals more research—which, hopefully, means more and better (medically approved) treatments. “All of these things are just really empowering,” says Dr. Christmas. “To know there are options, and that you don’t have to suffer, and it’s not something to be scared of.”

Courtney Rubin is a freelance writer and reporter who covers medicine, health, fitness, and wellness. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Rolling Stone, and other publications.