Beauty range launched for menopausal women: Skin therapist says we should start using it at 35, when hormones start to fluctuate

• Jane Atherton, now 53, has developed new product
• She said it's first in skincare market specially for menopausal women
• Meets needs of their hormonally changing skin

By Lucy Waterlow for MailOnline

Published: 04:47 EST, 20 February 2014 | Updated: 06:56 EST, 20 February 2014

Research: Jane Atherton has been developing her beauty products for more than three years

Many women dread the menopause and fear it may leave them feeling old and past their prime.

It was a feeling skin therapist Jane Atherton, now 53, experienced when she started undergoing the change.

She said: 'Around two years ago I started having various unfamiliar physical and emotional symptoms. Hot flushes, sleepless nights and erratic periods were not things I was used to in my daily routine. At one stage it crossed my mind that I could be pregnant, and then my hypochondriac self, started to believe I might have some serious illness.

'So I went to see my doctor who very calmly informed me, that I was in fact going through the menopause. My first reaction was - thank the lord I'm not pregnant, my second was, what! No, wait, surely this can't be happening yet. I'm too young to be that old!'

Once she had gotten over the shock of being a 'certain age' Jane, from London, fully researched the topic so she would be fully aware of the changes her body was going through and how she could aid the transition through diet and exercise. She shared her findings in a book published in 2012 called The Menopause Secret.

During her research, one area where Jane found menopausal women were overlooked was in the skincare market. This concerned her as maintaining a youthful appearance and glowing skin can be key to helping a woman feel confident as she goes through the menopause.  

She told MailOnline: 'An issue that came to my attention during my menopause was the lack of specific skin care products to deal with my changing skin needs. There are many skin creams on the market but none specifically aimed at skin care concerns during menopause - they need to be rich in bio-hormones to replace lost oestrogen, which is the main cause of ageing during this time.

'Up to 30 per cent of collagen is lost in the first five years after menopause due to lack of oestrogen, resulting in wrinkles, dryness and pigmentation problems.

'We have a high concentration of oestrogen receptors in the face and this is where the symptoms of the menopause may be at their most visible. I was concerned the products out there were not addressing these needs.'

Using her background in cosmetics and expertise as a skin therapist, Jane decided to develop her own products specifically designed for hormonally changing skin.

Anti-ageing: Pause Hydra Creme costs £128 a bottle

After three years, she is now ready to launch the first product from her Phytomone skin and spa therapy range.

It's called Pause Hydra Creme and doesn't come cheap at £128 a bottle. However it offers some value for money as a multi-purpose product - it can be used as a moisturiser, serum, eye cream and neck cream.

The product is currently only available through the company's online store but Jane is in talks with several cosmetics companies in the hope of getting it into High Street shops soon.

The cream contains vitamins, minerals and essential oils to help rejuvenate skin and SPF filters to protect from ageing UVA/B rays.

Jane explains: 'We wanted to start with a good base, which meant choosing oils for their rich plant hormone content, such as flaxseed, soya, grape-seed and wheat-germ. We then added wild yam, sage, aloe vera and geranium essential oil, all very popular ingredients used to treat menopause symptoms and vitamins B, C and E for skin repair.

'We could have stopped here, and this would have been a very good moisturiser – but that is all it would have been, a moisturiser, the same as hundreds of different moisturisers out there now.
PHC is more than a moisturiser – it’s a treatment product. So, to this basic moisturiser, we added some very special actives, all specifically chosen and blended into the formulation very precisely to addresses the needs of hormonally changing skin.'

Beauty boost: Jane said the product meets the needs of women as their skin loses more collagen during the menopause

In clinical trials, Jane reports that 95 per cent of women noticed a significant reduction in lines and wrinkles in just four weeks using the cream.

And despite it being developed for menopausal women, she said women shouldn't wait for the onset of symptoms to use the product.

The average age women in the UK go through the menopause is 52 but some experience it much earlier.

As a result, Jane said women could benefit from using it in their thirties.

She explains: 'Many women don't realise that hormones can start to fluctuate as early as 35, though they would not necessarily connect this to menopause at this age.

'Up until this time your skin has a plentiful supply of collagen, which is why you don't see young people with wrinkles. After this age oestrogen starts to decline bringing with it the associated skin care concerns. So I would recommend women start using this cream from around this age.'

Pause Hydra Creme is currently available from http://phytomone.com for £128