GLP-1 and menopause beauty boom outpaces clinical care, LucyRx warns
Key takeaways
- GLP-1 marketing has pushed clinical vocabulary into beauty products, which LucyRx warns have never been held to a clinical standard.
- Visible side effects like hair shedding share a cause with lean mass loss, which LucyRx says no topical addresses.
- Menopause has become a commercial category faster than diagnosis, and coverage has expanded.
Women are navigating a much more complex personal care, health, and wellness marketplace than they were a few years ago. GLP-1s, menopause care, supplements, telehealth, and digital wellness tools have created more pathways for consumers to take. However, the influx of options has not produced better care, according to LucyRx chief commercial officer Susan Thomas.
LucyRx is an independent pharmacy benefit manager that acts as an intermediary between health plan sponsors, pharmacies, and patients.
Thomas tells Personal Care Insights that personal care leaders can help women navigate the saturated industries with evidence, education, and a connection to care.
The beauty and wellness sectors are increasingly converging, resulting in typical cosmetics-related brands exploring other areas of women’s health. Thomas recommends that they focus on improving women’s care rather than “just improving the marketing.”
“As therapies become more complex, patients need more support, not less… Personal care companies do not need to become health care providers. They do need to be honest about where their role ends and help women get clinical support when they need it.”
Thomas details that beauty industry players should recognize that women’s health needs during midlife are not limited to appearance or wellness. She suggests clearly saying what a product is meant to do, what evidence supports the claim, and when to talk to a provider.
We discuss the intersection of women’s health, menopause, and the growing use of GLP-1 therapies, and the importance of ensuring access is grounded in appropriate care rather than consumer trends.
Borrowed clinical vocabulary
GLP-1s have changed the way the industry talks about beauty and wellness solutions, putting clinical and drug-supporting language into ingredient marketing.
Thomas says that the growth of GLP-1 awareness is largely positive, but that it also means consumers are applying clinical vocabulary to products that were “never held to a clinical standard.”
She explains that any wellness product claims have to match the evidence behind them.
Thomas says beauty brands should be explicit about what their products cannot do.
“For personal care and wellness brands, the key is clarity. Brands next to prescription therapies should be explicit about what their products can and cannot do.”
“They should avoid implying clinical benefits without evidence. A wellness product that supports a daily routine is not a prescription therapy and may not have been clinically evaluated and prescribed as part of a care plan. Brands should be careful not to blur that line or imply clinical outcomes they cannot support.”
Thomas also suggests personal care companies invest in clinical infrastructure, not just consumer education. “For GLP-1s in particular, access without support is incomplete.”
“The most helpful companies will be the ones that make it easier for women to navigate these decisions, not harder. That could mean credible clinician partnerships, pharmacist-informed education, referral resources, culturally competent support, and tools that help women prepare for provider visits.”
Mirror versus muscle
GLP-1 users are looking for beauty solutions from the side effects of rapid weight loss, which can include facial volume loss (Ozempic face), skin laxity, and hair shedding.
Thomas tells us that LucyRx hears concerns from patients about the visible cosmetic changes after GLP-1 use. However, she says that they are usually downstream of how fast the weight came off and how little protein and micronutrient intake came with it.
“They are not a direct effect of the drug. What the beauty coverage underweights is muscle.” 
Personal care companies do not need to become health care providers, says Thomas.
According to Thomas, across GLP-1 trials, roughly 25% to 40% of total weight lost is lean mass, and women in and past menopause start from a lower muscle and bone baseline, so the same percentage costs them more strength and function.
Hair shedding and lean mass loss share a cause. Both follow low protein and micronutrient intake during rapid weight loss. Consumers notice the first and buy products for it — the second goes unmeasured.
That gap matters for the brands moving into the category. Collagen serums and thickening shampoos do not impact lean mass. Thomas says that personal care brands should focus on what is really needed rather than creating solutions solely based on consumer interest and trends for successful marketing purposes, which might not understand the complete picture.
She explains that consumer interest can help surface unmet needs, but that it should not get ahead of evidence. “Patients need clinically grounded guidance when they weigh therapies, supplements, or wellness products.”
Selling into the gap
Women’s care has grown into one of personal care’s more assertive categories. A branch of this, menopause, has moved from a stigmatized health concern to a mainstream commercial category in beauty and supplements.
However, echoing a similar sentiment to the GLP-1 wellness solutions, Thomas tells us that menopausal care is mostly cemented in marketing. She says that product supply has expanded fast, but clinical capacity has not.
“Most of the new category is cash-pay supplements and topicals that sit outside the benefit, so it does not move the two things that actually gate access: a provider trained in menopause, and coverage for the therapies that require a prescription.”
According to Komodo Health, only 7% of women ages 45–51 received a documented perimenopause or menopause diagnosis between 2019 and 2023, from a cohort of nearly 29 million. 
LucyRx acts as an intermediary between plan sponsors, pharmacies, and patients.
Many women who have felt slighted by the medical route when searching for menopause solutions have turned to personal care offerings they can pick up off the shelf. Personal Care Insights sat down with Wicked Sensual Care to discuss how menopause is one of the fastest-growing forces in wellness, but that medical recognition of menopausal care still lags.
To target this growing market and address the need for more focused solutions, Wicked Sensual Care launched a collection of lubricants that are formulated specifically for people in perimenopause, menopause, and beyond.
The personal care industry has been catering to this gap between need and medical recognition. “There is a role for industry beyond selling into the gap, but it has to be rooted in evidence-based care,” says Thomas.
She recognizes the persistent lack of support, education, or care navigation that women experiencing menopause have had to manage. But she says that menopause should be treated as a health issue, not a symptom conversation or a wellness trend. “Normalizing the conversation is one step, but it’s not the solution.”
“That means education, transparency, referral pathways, and tools that help women ask better questions and connect back to clinical care.”
