Whether you're browsing the shelves of Boots or scouring the pages of Cult Beauty, chances are, you'll see lots of products marketed at menopausal women.
From Pantene's 'Menopause Shampoo for Thinning Hair' to No7's 'Menopause Skincare Nourishing Overnight Cream', beauty brands have been quick to notice there's a growing demand for products created to meet the needs of menopausal women.
It's not just beauty, though. Primark has a range of nightwear specifically for menopausal people to help cool night sweats, while M&S has labelled a collection of its cooling bedding as meno-friendly.
Here at HELLO!, we're excited to see menopause – and the women going through it – being signposted by big retailers, and our excitement about the movement is echoed by Sam Simister, who co-founded GenM, a company created to raise awareness of the struggle we go through during menopause, encouraging companies to take positive action to make a real difference.
"When I first started experiencing perimenopause symptoms, I was woefully unprepared," Sam says of what inspired her to launch GenM. "I was 48 and at the height of my career, travelling the world for work. One morning I woke up with a chronic bout of anxiety and I couldn't leave for the airport, and that was just an unbelievable experience for me. At the same time, I started having debilitating hot sweats."
Despite not expecting to go through perimenopause for another decade, Sam says she was "one of the lucky ones," realising what was happening and getting through it with the help of her family and workplace, who were supportive. But Sam's experience made her realise that there was a serious lack of signposting from retailers about products that would help her during the period.
"The more I looked, the more I just couldn't find products to support me and I started to get frustrated," Sam says. Her frustration prompted Sam to team up with her co-founder, Heather Jackson, to launch GenM, with the view to bring responsible organisations together to help them understand the menopausal audience and do more to support them through the transition.
Sam wanted other women to be able to easily find products, be it on the supermarket shelves or when shopping online, that could help them, because when women thrive, society thrives, she says.
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As part of GenM's efforts, they launched the MTick, the world's first menopause-friendly symbol, to signpost products that have been rigorously tested and are genuinely helpful to those going through perimenopause.
"The MTick is the brainchild of Heather and myself, backed by research," Sam explains. Products awarded the MTick must meet GenM's criteria and provide the data to verify that it does what it claims. Brands are denied the tick if they don't meet the standard, and can reapply.
GenM's research showed there was a demand for the tick, with 80% of women saying they wanted to shop products labelled ‘menopause-friendly’, and 66% saying that a lack of clear signposting made it hard for them to find the products they need.
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The MTick also works towards ending the stigma of meno-washing; the idea that brands are claiming their products are menopause-friendly, just to rake in profits.
"I think meno-washing is rubbish, and all it does is detract from the goodness the product could give to the user," Sam says. "The only people that are going to lose out from claims of meno-washing is the very audience that the symbol is designed to support."
Sam adds that brands have an important role to play in helping women through perimenopause and beyond, with GenM's research showing that 49% of women decide not to take HRT, so need holistic solutions to help with their symptoms.
"Even though I'm on HRT, I still need the right shampoo and the right skin product, because my skin is drier than it used to be. It's all these little things that add up to how you feel as a woman in your midlife, it's important to find products designed for you, that work."
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The MTick can be seen on the shelves of Boots and Tesco, along with on products created by brands such as Espa, Tena and No7, with Sam explaining the visibility will help towards the destigmatising of menopause – as well as making life easier for women seeking to ease perimenopause symptoms.
"Imagine how many conversations will be started thanks to family members seeing the tick," Sam says. "If our symbol goes some way to normalising menopause and sparking a conversation I think that's got to be a good thing."