Naomi Watts’ Experience With Early Menopause and How It Inspired Her Stripes Beauty Line (EXCLUSIVE)
“We are aging, and it is a privilege to age”—Naomi Watts
When Naomi Watts first started experiencing menopause symptoms at just 36 years old, it was jarring, to say the least. Pairing that with simultaneously trying to start a family, as Watts was, is even more daunting. The award-winning actress and activist, 56, has spent 20 years learning and educating herself on menopause, an experience that every woman goes through, yet few seem to talk about. Now, she’s made it her mission to help create more open and honest conversations about menopause, and part of how she’s doing that is through her skincare line, Stripes Beauty, specifically designed for the menopausal woman. First for Women sat down with Watts to discuss all about her beauty line, as well as her personal experience going through early menopause at such a young age.
Naomi Watts’ journey with early menopause
No one expects to start experiencing symptoms of menopause in their 30s. When Watts was told she was going into early menopause at just 36, especially when she was also struggling with infertility issues while trying to start a family, she says it was very shocking news.
“I really didn’t know much about menopause other than the fact that my mom had said she had gone into it early, but she was 45 and I didn’t know any details about it,” Watts told First. “I didn’t know that there were a multitude of symptoms and how long they went on for or any of that. So I felt quite spun out by that and lonely and scared. I sort of denied that it was happening and focused on my fertility.”
She was able to get pregnant, but says that right after she had her second child and stopped breastfeeding, at around 42, her menopause symptoms came in full swing. “When I went into the hardcore symptoms, I felt really scared again and not very equipped at who to talk to. I tried to talk to girlfriends and the conversations felt very closed,” she tells us. “I wished I had more information. Even the internet was not that active at that stage.”
Symptoms of early menopause
For Watts, she was already experiencing symptoms like night sweats, hot flashes, migraines and irregular periods before she went into what she called her “hardcore” symptoms. But she didn’t realize they were all indicators that she was going to experience even more. Some of her later symptoms included difficulty sleeping and dry skin. Other common symptoms of early menopause are vaginal dryness, changes in libido, joint pains and more.
Thankfully, Watts had a trusted professional she could go to for treatment. “I did have a doctor that I trusted, and he did offer HRT (hormone replacement therapy) as a solution for me. He felt it was safe based on my medical history,” Watts says. “I was like, anything to stop this disruptive sleep—that was the main thing.”
About Naomi Watts’ menopause skincare line, Stripes
Another later symptom that Watts experienced throughout her menopause journey was changes to her skin, as many women do. For her, it was dry skin, which is very common for women dealing with hormonal fluctuations.
“I was like, there should be a manual, there should be a book, that says, ‘This is not just all doom and gloom. It’s not the end.’—why isn’t there such a thing? …But I didn’t have the courage to start speaking that loudly back then in my [early] 40s. Later on in my late 40s is when I started thinking about the skin stuff,” Watts told us. Hence, her skincare line, Stripes, came into the picture.
Watts started cold-pitching the idea of the brand during the pandemic. “I said, ‘Look, this woman is in need. She’s not being seen within the market, and I knew that all of these places were the pin points and needed hydration but on top of that,” she says, “we needed to create a community, a movement per se, and we also needed to create education—and the three things have to live at once.”
What makes Stripes different from other beauty lines
Stripes is designed for mature women, filling a hole in the market that has been lacking for decades. The brand comprises 14 products, focusing on your skin from “scalp to vag,” as Watts explained. And what we love even more is that the brand is not trying to sell you on false promises or claims that just aren’t possible. Instead, Stripes is pro-aging and celebrates aging, making the brand stand out in a highly saturated skincare market.
“I think we’re really saying, ‘We see you, we hear you and we are you. We’re not overselling or overpromising ridiculous ideas. You can’t reverse time. We are aging and it is a privilege to age,” says Watts. “So with pro-aging, yes, if we hydrate, we can remove the appearance of fine lines, we can make sure your skin is plumped and smooth, but we can’t make you look like a 25-year-old anymore—nor are we going to go down that road of overpromising.”
She continued, “I think Stripes is really different because it’s addressing all of those points, from scalp to vag, and I knew I wanted to take the cherry picking out of, you know, a woman goes here for vitamins, here for skincare, here for vaginal health. We wanted to make it like a one-stop shop.”
Watts also gives credit to having a “compassionate partner” (she’s married to Billy Crudup), “who was like, ‘This isn’t icky, this is science.’ [Menopause] is going to happen to every woman if they’re lucky enough.”
The best Stripes products to try
If you ask Watts, picking her favorite product from her line is like asking her to pick a favorite child. However, there were a few best-sellers she mentioned that we’re fully on-board with.
Stripes Vag of Honor
As mentioned previously, vaginal dryness is a common symptom women experience throughout menopause, including Watts. Stripes launched an intimate hydrating treatment named “Vag of Honor” to help relieve dryness that is dermatologist-approved, fragrance-free, hormone-free and hypoallergenic.
“Vag of Honor is an everyday product, twice a day if you want,” says Watts. She mentioned how prescription vaginal estrogen cream can be a safe and helpful treatment as well, just “it can be messy, and is a preventative thing that is great for UTIs and dryness and other things. But Vag of Honor is really great if you don’t want to be wearing it [estrogen cream] during the day and [feel] messy.
She goes on to say, “And it’s also great for a woman—and this was true for me as well—before you feel confident enough to pause and reach for the lube.” Stripes also has an “intimacy play oil,” designed to be a lubricant for the bedroom.
Stripes The Crown Pleaser Ectoine Densifying Hair Mask
Another menopause symptom Watts struggled with was hair loss and hair thinning. “I’ve certainly wrecked my hair, and many women have by this point if they’ve colored it and used heat and products, and me excessively so because of being on camera,” she says.
To help combat thinning hair, Stripes created a densifying hair mask that Watts says people swear by. “It’s good for all hair types. It’s densifying and creates volume and unbelievable shine,” she tells us. It’s made with a conditioning amino acid blend to moisturize, three plant extracts to boost hair density and nourish hair follicles, and ectoine, squalane and hemi-squalane to add moisture and treat the scalp.
Other tricks Watts uses to keep her hair healthy: She started to lower the temperature on her heat styling and started coloring her hair less.
Bonus: Stripes Beauty x The Spa by Equinox Hotels
If you’re looking to treat yourself to a spa service and live in New York (or are taking a trip to the Big Apple), consider trying the new menopausal skin spa treatment at Equinox Hotels in collaboration with Stripes Beauty. Named “Pause + Renew,” the 2.5 hour circut includes a 45-minute lymphatic massage using Icoone Roboderm technology (which uses handpieces made of micro-stimulators that massage and treat the skin with 21,600 micro-stimulations per minute) and Stripes Beauty Squalane Hydrating Vitamin C Body Oil, a 90-minute Dr. Devgan Dermal Renewal Facial and scalp massage using Stripes Beauty Ectoin Thickening Scalp Serum, and a CoQ10 booster shot which is supposed to help boost energy and reduce hot flashes.
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