Reimagining intimate care: Inside Alubri’s approach to menopausal wellness

Alubri, a science-backed, medically-informed vaginal wellness brand, launched to market last week. The company aims to address key market gaps in vulvar wellness with its specialized products, designed for those experiencing perimenopause and menopause.

The company was co-founded by Dr. Nicole Kerner, an OB-GYN who observed “the gap in clinical efficacy and accessibility in real time.”

Personal Care Insights sits down with Kerner to discuss the critical gaps in vulvar wellness products, the industry’s approach to anti-aging from an aesthetic versus a functional perspective, and the shifting discourse around vulvar health.

Alubri’s four-product launch features a vaginal moisturizing gel, a vulva balm, an intimate serum, and a calming cream, and was designed with vulvar biology in mind. The products support the vaginal microbiome, while possessing hydrating, rejuvenating, and soothing qualities.

The line includes active ingredients, such as sodium hyaluronate, dragon fruit extract, allantoin, and Alubri’s proprietary Activated Oil Complex. The complex is said to help balance the vaginal microbiome. Healthy microbiomes reduce susceptibility to infection, mitigating potential intimate health complications. 

Care over anti-aging aesthetics

Alubri is designed for perimenopausal and menopausal care, targeting intimate wellness.

Kerner tells us that Alubri prioritizes functionality in age-related personal care, rather than the present market emphasis on aesthetics. “For decades, the beauty industry has approached aging as a cosmetic problem to be corrected, focusing primarily on aesthetic desires,” she says.

“We have chosen to address aging as a biological and emotional life stage. Where wrinkle serums target visible lines, Alubri has developed age-conscious, functional women’s intimate care solutions designed to support the physiological realities women experience from hormonal shifts, including intimate dryness and discomfort that impact overall well-being.”

Kerner explains that menopausal and perimenopausal people’s needs are often neglected by the industry and society at large.

“Menopause is an inevitable life change for every woman, and the lack of open conversation happening around it is the biggest form of neglect,” she says.

“When the industry fails to address the taboo aspects of menopause with clinical rigor and transparency, it reinforces the idea that aging women should prioritize appearance over well-being.”

The company is built on the tenet that people of every age deserve to feel cared for with efficacious products developed with their needs in mind.

“Menopausal women deserve real science, real solutions, and cultural relevance, not silence. Especially when it comes to their most intimate symptoms,” says Kerner.

Science-backed solutions

The company prides itself on its scientifically bolstered operations. Stating that intimate care requires the same scientific rigor and respect that general medicine does, the company has laid its foundations on the authority of experts who “approach intimate aging and wellness with the same clinical rigor that women's health has always deserved.”

“We deeply understand vaginal wellness, hormonal shifts, and the realities women face during midlife, so we took the time to perform clinical studies to prove out the efficacy that we believed necessary to truly support women,” says Kerner.

The effects of inadequate vaginal and vulvar care in menopausal people can have a cascading set of consequences.

“As we age, vulvar skin and vaginal tissue can become thinner, drier, less elastic, and more prone to irritation. These changes are not cosmetic, but when left unaddressed, they can lead to discomfort, painful intimacy, increased sensitivity, and disruption of the skin barrier,” Kerner explains.

The company has set out to alleviate symptoms by treating them at the causal level. 

“Rather than masking symptoms, the goal is to reinforce the tissue’s natural function and support overall vulvar and vaginal health.”

Lifting industry taboos

Alubri’s innovative formulations prioritize functionality over aesthetics.

As women have become more empowered, the stigma around normal bodily processes and the social erasure of older bodies has decreased. The conversation around vaginal wellness has shifted from one of shame and privacy to more open, public discourse, says Kerner.

“They understand that masking discomfort with fragrance is not a solution — they want to understand what is happening with their bodies and treat it,” she explains.

New generations and changing cultural tides are aiding the evolution of patient and consumer literacy in the intimate wellness space.

“Women are increasingly recognizing vaginal and intimate health as an essential part of their overall well-being — not something separate or taboo, but something that deserves the same attention as any other aspect of their health,” says Kerner.

Kerner tells us how the industry has been insufficient in meeting intimate wellness needs, especially as increasing patient and consumer literacy lead to more informed demands.

“For a long time, the industry simply was not keeping up with that shift — and honestly, that was a deep source of frustration for me as an OB-GYN,” she says.

“Watching my patients struggle to find affordable, trustworthy, and effective solutions with nowhere to turn is what drove me to act. I co-founded Alubri because every woman deserves access to science-backed intimate care that actually works, without costing a fortune. That mission is deeply personal to me, and it is the heart of everything we do.”