Your Skin Didn't Betray You. It Just Changed. Here's What to Do About It.
By Bridget van Herk, Formulating Chemist & Founder of Bridget Black
I want to talk about something that doesn't get nearly enough airtime in the beauty industry.
Menopause.
Not in a clinical, detached, here-are-some-statistics way. But honestly. Woman to woman. Chemist to customer. Because if you're in your 40s or 50s and your skin suddenly feels like it belongs to someone else — drier than it's ever been, thinner, more sensitive, breaking out like you're seventeen again, or just dull in a way that no amount of moisturiser seems to fix — I want you to know something important.
Your skin didn't betray you. It changed. And there's a very good reason why.
What's actually happening to your skin
During perimenopause and menopause, oestrogen levels decline — and oestrogen, it turns out, does an extraordinary amount of work for your skin. It stimulates collagen production, maintains skin thickness, supports the moisture barrier, and helps regulate oil production. When it drops, you feel it everywhere.
Collagen production slows significantly — research suggests we lose up to 30% of our skin's collagen in the first five years of menopause. The moisture barrier weakens, meaning skin loses water faster and becomes more reactive to products it once tolerated perfectly. Oil glands become less active, leading to that persistent dryness and tight feeling. And cell turnover slows, which is why skin can look flat, grey and tired even after a full night's sleep.
It's a lot of change happening at once. And the skincare industry, frankly, hasn't always done a great job of addressing it honestly.
What your skin actually needs now
This is where I want to get practical, because understanding what's happening is only useful if you know what to do about it.
Hydration has to come first. And I mean real, deep hydration — not just surface moisturising. Look for hyaluronic acid, which holds up to 1,000 times its weight in water and works at multiple levels of the skin. Apply it to slightly damp skin for best results, then seal it in with a richer moisturiser than you were probably using in your 30s.
Your moisture barrier needs rebuilding. Ceramides are your new best friend. They're the building blocks of a healthy skin barrier — and during menopause, your skin is producing fewer of them. Incorporating a ceramide-rich treatment like a sleep mask or night crème into your routine makes a visible difference within weeks.
Gentle exfoliation is more important than ever. Slower cell turnover means dead skin cells accumulate on the surface, making skin look dull and preventing your other products from absorbing properly. But this is not the time for harsh scrubs. AHAs — alpha hydroxy acids like lactic acid — are ideal for menopausal skin. They exfoliate gently, support cell renewal and also help with moisture retention. Once or twice a week is all you need.
Niacinamide belongs in your routine. If there's one ingredient I would put in the hands of every woman going through menopause, it's niacinamide. It strengthens the barrier, reduces redness and sensitivity, visibly improves skin tone, and helps with the hormonal breakouts that — yes — menopause can cause too. It's one of the most well-researched ingredients in skincare and it works.
Protect what you have. Antioxidants — Vitamin C, Vitamin E, green tea — defend against the environmental damage that accelerates the visible signs of skin ageing. Use them morning and night.
A word about what NOT to do
Please don't go out and buy twelve new products all at once. Menopausal skin is more reactive, and overwhelming it with new actives is a recipe for irritation and inflammation. Introduce one new product at a time, give it four to six weeks to work, and pay attention to how your skin responds.
And please, please stop using products that strip your skin. Foaming cleansers that leave your skin feeling "squeaky clean" are removing your natural oils along with everything else. Choose a gentle, cream-based cleanser that respects your moisture barrier rather than dismantling it.
You are not starting from scratch. You are starting from experience.
The women I most love hearing from are the ones who tell me they'd given up on their skin. That they'd accepted dryness and dullness as just part of getting older. And then they tried BB — and something shifted.
Your skin is not beyond help. It is not too late. It just needs a different kind of attention than it did ten years ago. And when you give it that? The results genuinely surprise people.
I formulated the Bridget Black range for women like you — women who are informed, who care about what they put on their skin, and who deserve products that actually work. Not miracle promises. Real results, backed by real science, made by someone who understands exactly what your skin is going through.
Because I'm going through it too.
Bridget x