How to support beauty clients & staff through the menopause

October marks World Menopause Month, designed to encourage awareness of the signs and symptoms of the menopause.

Awareness has been shown to be particularly crucial, after a study published in journal, BMC Women’s Health, revealed that menopausal women are the fastest growing demographic in the workforce – and you will likely have menopausal women making up your client base, too.

Eight out of 10 women experiencing the menopause are currently in work. However, 90% of female employees say their workplaces offer no support to those suffering, according to the study. This echoes similar research, such as findings by women’s rights charity, Fawcett Society. Eight out of 10 women told the charity that their employer hasn’t shared information, trained staff or put in place a menopause absence policy.

What can you do in the nail space to support clients and employees?

The main symptoms of the menopause experienced by working women are hot flushes (73%), tiredness or drowsiness (63%), low mood (48%), struggling to concentrate (47%) and trouble with memory (43%).

Skincare and wellbeing specialist, Jennifer Young, is founder of the M+ (The Menopause Plus) platform. Best known for her cancer training for beauty pros and Beauty Despite Cancer skincare line, the M+ is designed to make the narrative around menopause more positive.

Jennifer Young

The website is packed with research and practical skincare and wellbeing solutions from leading experts, to create better understanding of the menopause and how to deal with it. Topics covered range from products to address changing skin, hot flushes and brittle nails to advice on anxiety, depression and differing relationship dynamics.

Jennifer has also launched a series of hormonal balancing treatments and skincare products to use within them. “Jennifer Young Training offers accredited qualifications for facial and body treatments, which use acupressure to harness the power of acupuncture – a practice that has been proven to help relieve the impact of menopause,” she reveals. “11 acupressure points linked to 11 symptom groups are covered. At the end of each treatment, an acupressure plaster is applied onto the point linked to the client’s greatest concern. Clients learn where this point is and receive information so that they can manually stimulate it at home.” Additionally, Jennifer Young Training offers a menopause coaching and mentoring qualification.

“M+ is about celebrating women and providing tools to embrace a new stage of life with the strength and power that we have been harnessing our whole lives.”

Tina Chander

Tina Chander, head of the employment law team at Wright Hassall, adds: “The menopause can be a very difficult time for women, especially if they are faced with the prospect of juggling work while experiencing symptoms. World Menopause Day should encourage employers to be mindful of those challenges, introducing policies and familiarising the entire workforce with the menopause and what it entails.

“Of the 10% of organisations that do offer support to menopausal women, 5% provide free advice, 3% have policies in place and 3% of line managers have been given training. This is a start, but more needs to be done to increase this figure, so that women’s wellness is adequately protected.

“It is in the best interests of employers to ensure menopausal women are supported, with steps taken to improve their comfortability where reasonably possible.”

Watch our World Menopause Day interview with Jennifer Young below, and read up on how to manage dry and brittle nails affected by menopause here.