With around 400,000 women in the UK entering menopause each year, the beauty industry is waking up to a life stage that has long been underserved. But what does it mean when a shampoo, moisturiser or deodorant is menopause-certified?

Hot flushes are the symptom most people associate with menopause. Dry, itchy skin, thinning hair, changes in body odour and sore gums? Less likely to make the conversation. Yet these are among the changes that can accompany the hormonal shifts of perimenopause and menopause, and they are helping to reshape what we expect from our beauty and personal-care products.

The numbers make this a conversation the industry can no longer afford to sideline. In October 2025, the UK government stated, out of the 400,000 women entering menopause each year, approximately three-quarters experience symptoms, and one in four experience an impact severe enough to affect every area of life. Symptoms last an average of seven years, according to the same statement.

But the beauty industry isn’t one to shy away from addressing vital issues. One of the most visible developments is the MTick, a certification intended to help shoppers identify products that meet specific menopause-related needs.

What is the MTick, and what does it actually certify?

Created by menopause-focused organisation GenM in collaboration with Boots, the mark launched to GenM’s wider network of brand and retail partners in April 2023. It has since appeared across categories ranging from haircare and skincare to oral hygiene and intimate care. But what does the tick actually certify, you may be wondering?

The MTick is GenM’s certification for menopause-friendly products. Its premise is that menopause can manifest in dozens of ways, yet shoppers are often left to work out for themselves which everyday products might help. A recognisable mark is intended to make that search easier.

GenM says it recognises 48 signs of menopause, spanning the more familiar hot flushes and night sweats to less widely discussed changes such as dry eyes, altered skin texture, joint pain and hair thinning. The organisation’s certification is designed to identify products that support at least one of these needs.

To qualify, a product must meet at least one of three published criteria:

• Backed by claims: authorised medicinal, cosmetic or health claims supported by scientific evidence and relevant regulatory standards.
• Tried and tested: clinical or user trials involving menopausal women, with statistically significant results for a specific menopause-related sign.
• Features technology: functionality or materials independently tested to demonstrate their ability to support a menopause-related need.

GenM also assesses customer reviews, requiring products to have a Trustpilot rating of at least four stars. Its criteria were developed with Boots, including input from pharmacy and legal teams, before being piloted across 500 products in 1,000 stores.

The important caveats

The MTick is not a guarantee that every certified product has undergone a clinical trial involving menopausal women. A product may qualify through any one of the three routes, and the type of evidence supporting one item may differ from that supporting another.

There is also a distinction between a brand being part of GenM’s collective and an individual product carrying the MTick. Membership alone is not proof that an entire range is certified.

GenM identifies products that shoppers can explore, but do not consistently disclose which of the three certification routes each individual beauty product has met. So who, and what, can you trust?

Menopause-certified beauty and personal care to know

Skin

Dr Menopause

Dr Menopause starts from an honest admission: co-founder Vikki Lee points out that “menopausal” isn’t a skin or hair type, so the range targets the issues women most commonly report instead of promising a cure-all. A leading dermatologist helped hand-pick the ingredients, allergens were left out, and the brand has pledged to stay affordable, explain what each product is meant to do and keep its messaging free of hyped-up jargon.

Hydrate Me Day Moisturiser and Soothe Me Sleep Cream split the day and night shifts, Brighten Up Radiance Serum and Plump Up Firming Serum add radiance and firmness, and Refresh Me Cooling Mist offers a cooling spritz. There’s also a haircare range in the picture.

E45

E45 is the old reliable of the pharmacy shelf, and its origin story is pure pharmacy folklore: in 1952 a Boots chemist created the first tub of E45 Cream after a customer asked for a way to ease and protect their skin. More than seventy years on, its GenM listing stretches well beyond the classic Cream and Lotion.

Dryness and itching are two of the more familiar complaints around menopause, so the Itch Relief Gel and Itch Relief Cream are natural entries, along with an Emollient Bath Oil. Face and lip care comes in four products: Face Hydrating Serum, Face Daily Protect, CICA Soothe & Repair Cream and a Nourishing Balm.

Face Facts

Face Facts has put together a five-piece Menopause Skincare collection, and its GenM pledge names dry, dull-looking skin and hot flushes as the concerns it wants to help with. The range moves from an Overnight Gel Mask and Revitalising Facial Serum to a Firming Face, Neck & Décolletage Cream and Soothing Eye Contour Gel, with a Hydro-Mist for face and body to finish the routine. Creative director Holly Woyda says the brand’s focus is supporting women through menopause-related symptoms so they can carry on living full lives.

Hair

Charles Worthington MenoPlex

Menopause can change the condition of the scalp, and Charles Worthington’s MenoPlex range is aimed squarely at it. It was the first haircare brand to carry the MTick, and the range comes as a four-piece set: Volumising Shampoo and Repairing Conditioner for everyday washing, with a Healthy Scalp Serum and Replenishing Mask completing it. The brand says MenoPlex was developed and tested on perimenopausal and menopausal women, which is encouraging.

A specialist thickening polymer is used in the shampoo to add volume and visible density, while the serum is infused with clary sage extract, which is said to help boost vitamin D levels and improve skin barrier function. Both products are suitable for all hair types and safe on colour-treated hair, and all four are available at Boots.

Cloud Nine

Cloud Nine takes a different tack: a tool that adapts to your hair’s condition and makes no miracle-cure claims (nobody expects a hot tool to double as a treatment, after all). Menopause can change hair texture and sensitivity, and the brand’s variable temperature control lets you choose how much heat your hair meets. It also offers an online temperature calculator that suggests a setting based on details about your hair.

The New Original Iron and The New Wide Iron are the straighteners, joined on the GenM listing by the 2 in 1 Contouring Iron Pro and the Airshot Pro. Worth disclaiming that adjustable heat can help you style more kindly, but it won’t address hormonal thinning.

Nioxin

Nioxin is the specialist of the hair section, with scalp health and thinning hair at the centre of what it does. Its System Kits are numbered 1 to 4 according to two questions: whether your hair is natural or colour-treated, and whether the thinning is light or progressed. Kit 1 is for natural hair with light thinning and Kit 2 for natural hair with progressed thinning, while Kits 3 and 4 cover the same two stages for coloured hair. Each kit is a three-step routine that ends with a scalp treatment.

Nioxin notes that around 40% of women experience hair thinning after menopause, and says its products aim to improve scalp health and give hair a fuller, thicker appearance. Two leave-in treatments, Hair Fall Defence Serum and Night Density Rescue, sit alongside the kits. Because these products work on scalp health and the look of density, they sit apart from treatments for the underlying cause of hair loss, which varies from person to person.

Body and intimate care

Sanex

Sanex covers the everyday end of the bathroom shelf with a body wash and two antiperspirants, all labelled for menopause: Expert Skin Health+ Menopause Body Wash, plus Derma Care+ Menopause Antiperspirant Spray and 72h Roll-on.

Sanex cites MDPI in saying women lose about 30% of their collagen in the first five years of menopause, which it links to dry, itchy skin, and says the body wash is meant to work with the skin’s natural processes. Parent company Colgate-Palmolive calls its MTick-certified Sanex and Colgate products clinically proven for common skin and oral health concerns, but there are no trial results for individual products, so that remains the company’s own claim.

Sebamed Intimate Feminine Wash pH 6.8

Sebamed describes itself as a skincare specialist with pH 5.5 products, and appears in GenM’s directory through partner Pasante Healthcare, which lists one product: the Intimate Feminine Wash pH 6.8 in a 200ml bottle. Pasante’s case is that hormonal changes can bring dry, itchy skin and thinning hair, and that Sebamed’s gentle cleansers help women feel more comfortable. It’s a cleanser for external intimate care, so it isn’t a treatment for vaginal dryness, and a pharmacist or GP can point to options for that.

Dove

Dove has two products listed: Pro Age Body Wash for Ageing Skin (400ml) and Advanced Care Original Antiperspirant Deodorant Spray (200ml). Dove says the partnership is about showing which products help with common symptoms such as dry skin and excess sweating, and both are everyday body-care basics, not menopause-exclusive formulas. The brand has spent more than twenty years pushing for wider representation of women in beauty, and says the GenM partnership carries that into menopause.