Menopause is a booming business. As social media personalities sell “solutions” for hormonal health, experts warn that the line between empowerment and exploitation is blurring — leaving many women vulnerable to misinformation and false hope.
Menopause is having a moment — on talk shows, on TikTok, in glossy beauty campaigns. After decades of silence, women are finally talking about hot flashes, mood swings, and brain fog in public. Yet alongside this long-overdue openness has come an equally loud chorus of voices offering to fix it. Self-styled menopause experts, supplement companies, and lifestyle influencers are transforming hormonal change into a commercial opportunity, turning symptoms into sales pitches.
The market has never been more crowded. The global menopause-related products and services industry was worth $18 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $27 billion by 2030. For consumers, this explosion of content feels both empowering and exhausting — a mix of genuine education and subtle manipulation that leaves many women wondering who to trust. Some consequences of using a beauty product rebranded as a menopause product are minor; likely only your wallet will suffer, but some can be far more dangerous. Women’s Health notes that between January 2020 and December 2023, “hundreds of new products mentioned menopause on the label,” with 86 percent marked for the beauty and personal care sector.
Breaking the silence
Actress Naomi Watts remembers the confusion vividly. In her mid-thirties, while trying to have children, she started experiencing symptoms that no one had prepared her for. That experience led her to become an advocate for menopause awareness and the launch of Stripes Beauty, a skincare line designed for people experiencing menopause and perimenopause.
“We just need to set ourselves up better … there are so many connections to other things for the rest of your life. So you’ve got to take care of yourself,” she told Good Housekeeping. Halle Berry said she spent nearly a decade in perimenopause before realizing it, explaining to Glamour, “When I realized I was in perimenopause and could put a name to it, I started investigating and doing my own research and reconnaissance. I realized, Oh, this is what’s been happening to me for a decade. It was so enlightening.” And 2 Broke Girls actor Beth Behrs, diagnosed at 38, said she was dismissed by doctors as too young for perimenopause.
These stories broke a cultural taboo, but they also spotlighted a gap. When women with access, fame, and resources describe being dismissed by their doctors, what happens to everyone else? The lack of credible information has created a space where influencers can thrive — selling connection, identity, and often, untested treatments.
The Business of menopause
What began as advocacy has evolved into an industry. Urologist Kelly Casperson, who has hundreds of thousands of followers, frequently posts videos about hormone therapy. She has claimed that testosterone works better than placebo for mood, and not just libido. The statement referenced a 2003 trial — but its lead author, Professor Susan Davis, countered that, noting the researchers were never able to replicate these findings. Casperson replied, “You can’t say there is no evidence. You published some of the evidence.” Their exchange captured a wider conflict between medical rigor and influencer sound bites.
In the U.K., physician and influencer Louise Newson has more than 640,000 Instagram followers to whom she frequently peddles menopause products. She has promoted hormone doses higher than standard guidelines, arguing that absorption rates vary. But at Sydney’s 2025 “So Hot Right Now” menopause conference, fellow doctors raised concerns that her messaging could normalize risky self-medication. Psychiatrist Jayashri Kulkarni told The Guardian that “the menopause wars are alive and well.”
Compounded hormones — custom-mixed formulas sold as “bioidentical” — pose another risk. They’re marketed as safer and more natural than regulated hormone therapy, yet lack the quality control and clinical testing of FDA-approved options. Professor Susan Davis called the marketing around these compounds “frankly reprehensible, misleading women,” warning that some have been linked to endometrial cancer. The Menopause Society echoes this concern: “Custom-compounded hormones are not safer or more effective than approved bioidentical hormones,” the organization says. “They may not even contain the prescribed amounts of hormones.”
Even regulators are stepping in. In 2024, the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority banned two menopause supplement ads from companies KeyForHer and Rejuvit Labs, ruling that they made unauthorized medical claims. “Many women experiencing the menopause may be vulnerable to the claims made in ads for those products,” the ASA stated, adding that it was “our job to ensure advertisers are not exploiting the concerns or fears people might have.”
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has also taken action. In one high-profile case, the makers of Amberen settled charges for falsely claiming their supplement could relieve nearly every menopause symptom and cause weight loss. Truth in Advertising, a U.S. nonprofit watchdog, recently filed complaints with the FTC and FDA against dozens of menopause supplement brands for misleading health claims.
Between empowerment and exploitation
The emotional landscape of menopause — confusion, fatigue, isolation — makes women easy targets for marketers promising solutions. Women are desperate for answers, and the gap in medical care is being filled by bold personalities and products. And the boldest voices often rise fastest on social media. Hashtags like #menopauserelief and #perimenopause have generated billions of views on TikTok, fueling both community and commerce.
This overlap of empowerment and exploitation is what makes menopause marketing uniquely tricky. The influencers often begin with empathy — “You’re not crazy, it’s your hormones” — and end with a call to action: a supplement link, an affiliate code, a subscription to a “hormone reset” program. The advice is sometimes benign, but it can also delay proper treatment or push women toward unsafe interventions. Experts warn that many online “hormone panels” and optimization services are unnecessary, noting that hormone testing rarely changes treatment plans and can be easily misinterpreted.
Financially, the costs add up. From luxury retreats promising hormonal balance to recurring lab tests and compounded prescriptions, women can spend thousands chasing relief. Emotionally, the toll is harder to quantify, especially when trust in the medical system has already eroded.
Experts say the way forward requires nuance, not fear. Dr. Stephanie Faubion of the Mayo Clinic and the Menopause Society calls for clearer communication and more physician training. “People have figured out that midlife women have money and there is an unmet need,” she told Women’s Health. “But we also need to make sure women are getting information that’s evidence-based, not emotionally charged or commercially motivated.”
Some influencers are using their platforms responsibly. Board-certified physician Dr. Amy Shah, whose upcoming book Hormone Havoc aims to make medical information more accessible, often reminds followers to bring online advice to their doctors. Halle Berry has taken a similar approach, partnering with doctors to build educational resources rather than sell products.
“Women need more support, we need more therapies, and we need to be studied,” Berry said. “More doctors need to understand it. I realized the menopausal body is only a chapter in medical school for doctors. I mean, how can they help us when they know nothing about it? It’s not been made important, and it’s just time for that to change. It really has become my life’s mission.”
Still, the line between advocacy and opportunism remains thin. In a market projected to grow faster than nearly any other segment of women’s health, women are both the consumers and the commodity. “Every woman is going to get to this point,” Watts told People. Why are we not getting better care?”
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