Afterpause

There is a symptom of menopause that almost nobody is talking about. It is happening quietly, over months and years, and most women never connect it to their hormones until it becomes something they can no longer ignore. It is happening in your ears. Dr. Natalie Crossland, an audiologist and tinnitus specialist at New York Hearing Doctors, shares her expertise on hormones and hearing for women over 50. Because the connection between estrogen decline and your auditory system, your vestibular system, your balance, and your cognitive health is real, it is well-researched, and it is almost completely absent from the menopause conversation most women are having with their providers. Here is what stops most women in their tracks: the World Health Organization has formally identified untreated hearing loss as one of the most significant modifiable risk factors for dementia and Alzheimer's disease. One in five women will develop Alzheimer's by age 65. And if untreated hearing loss is associated with up to a five-fold increased risk of cognitive decline, the conversation about your ears is not just a quality-of-life conversation. It is a brain health conversation. In this episode: ✦ Why estrogen receptors exist throughout the auditory system — and what estrogen was actually doing for your hearing before menopause ✦ The 2023 systematic review showing hearing sensitivity in women declines more rapidly at the onset of menopause than in men of the same age ✦ The WHO evidence connecting untreated hearing loss to dementia — and whether treating hearing loss actually reduces that risk ✦ The vestibular system — what it is, how estrogen decline affects it, and why so many postmenopausal women experience dizziness, vertigo, and balance problems they have been attributing to anxiety or aging ✦ BPPV — benign paroxysmal positional vertigo — why it spikes at menopause and why it is connected to vitamin D deficiency and bone density in ways most women have never been told ✦ The fall risk connection — vestibular dysfunction as a direct contributor to falls, the leading cause of injury-related death in women over 65 ✦ Tinnitus — what it actually is, the full range of what women experience beyond ringing, how directly it is connected to estrogen decline, and whether it is treatable ✦ The emotional and psychological toll of tinnitus — sleep disruption, anxiety, depression, and social withdrawal — and how it compounds the mood changes already happening in menopause ✦ Itchy ears and excessive wax buildup — the menopause symptoms nobody is connecting to hormones and what is actually causing them ✦ The earliest signs of hearing loss postmenopausal women consistently miss — including the cocktail party effect and how the brain masks early loss in ways that create cognitive fatigue ✦ The hearing aid industry — the cash-pay model, the $3,000 to $7,000 price tag, OTC alternatives, scare tactics used by providers, and how to find an audiologist you can actually trust For every woman who has been turning up the TV, asking people to repeat themselves, lying awake with a ringing in her ears, or feeling off-balance in ways she has been attributing to stress or aging — this episode was made for you. Your ears and your brain are connected in ways your healthcare team is almost certainly not discussing with you. That changes today. Find Dr. Natalie Crossland: New York Hearing Doctors — newyorkhearingdoctors.com Stay connected with JFW: Book your 60-minute Menopause Care Consultation: https://www.jillfooswellness.com/meno... Follow on Instagram: @jillfooswellness Follow on Facebook: @jillfooswellness Follow on YouTube: @jillfooswellness Grab discounts on my favorite menopause wellness products: https://www.jillfooswellness.com/heal... Enjoy 20% savings and free shipping at Fullscript for your favorite supplements by leading brands: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/jil... Subscribe to the JFW newsletter at www.jillfooswellness.com and receive your FREE Guide on How To Create Your Menopause Health Equation Ebook. Schedule your free 15-minute consultation here: https://calendly.com/jillfooswellness... If you're a Chicago-area midlife woman, check out the Chicago Menopause Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to navigating menopause locally with experts: https://chicagomenopausecollective.org

Nobody built a skincare brand for the woman you are right now. Sally Mueller, co-founder and CEO of Womaness, decided to fix that. Part of Sally's path to building Womaness included a breast cancer diagnosis, a doctor's appointment that finally connected the dots on symptoms she had been ignoring for years, and a shopping cart full of products she refused to buy because of how they looked, smelled, and were formulated.
That frustration became Womaness, which launched with 13 products spanning skincare, body care, wellness, sexual health, and incontinence, and designed specifically for the skin, body, and life of a postmenopausal woman. And in this episode, Sally pulls back the curtain on everything, from the science, the formulation decisions, the ingredients that actually work, and the ones that are just marketing.
In this episode, we discuss:
What is actually wrong with most menopause and intimate health products that were available before Womaness, including the packaging problem, the tone problem, and why tone determines whether women actually use the product
The real science of what happens to skin during and after menopause, including the collagen loss of up to 30% in the first five years after the final period, the role of estrogen receptors throughout the skin, and what that means for barrier function, hydration, elasticity, and wound healing
How Womaness chooses ingredients, from identifying the specific skin change to researching clinical evidence to selecting peptides, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, and niacinamide and what each actually does for postmenopausal skin.
The honest clean beauty conversation: what is evidence-based and what is marketing, including whether organic skincare actually works
Formulating for sexual health, pH balance, vaginal microbiome, why most existing lubricants and moisturizers are formulated incorrectly for menopausal vaginal tissue, and how Womaness approaches intimate care differently.
The supplement line, including Pycnogenol and Bacognize, two ingredients most women have never heard of and what makes them relevant to postmenopausal health.
This is the episode for every woman who has stood in a skincare aisle not knowing what to trust, and every woman who deserves a brand built specifically for the postmenopausal skin she is actually in right now.
Find Sally Mueller and Womaness:
Website: www.womaness.com
Instagram: @womaness
Stay connected with JFW:
Book your 60-minute Menopause Care Consultation: https://www.jillfooswellness.com/menopause-care-consult-page
Follow on Instagram: @jillfooswellness
Follow on Facebook: @jillfooswellness
Follow on YouTube: @jillfooswellness
Grab discounts on my favorite menopause wellness products: https://www.jillfooswellness.com/health-products
Enjoy 20% savings and free shipping at Fullscript for your favorite supplements by leading brands: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/jillfooswellness/store-start
Subscribe to the JFW newsletter at www.jillfooswellness.com and receive your FREE Guide on How To Create Your Menopause Health Equation Ebook.
Schedule your free 15-minute consultation here: https://calendly.com/jillfooswellness/15-minute-zoom-consultations I
f you're a Chicago-area midlife woman, check out the Chicago Menopause Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to navigating menopause locally with experts: https://chicagomenopausecollective.org

Nobody prepared you for this part of midlife either. You survived menopause. You rebuilt yourself. And now, whether by choice or by circumstance, you are looking at the dating world for the first time in decades.
Today we are going there.
My guest is Alyssa Dineen, a New York City-based personal stylist and dating coach, founder of Style My Profile NYC, and author of The Art of Online Dating. Alyssa combines twenty years of styling expertise with her own personal experience re-entering the dating world after divorce at 41, and has spent the years since helping midlife women transform the way they show up, online and in person.
In this episode we cover the Date Vanilla mindset and why waiting for fireworks is keeping you from real love, what emotionally ready actually looks like before you touch an app, the profile mistakes that are keeping you invisible, which apps actually work for midlife women, green flags women over 50 consistently miss, how to handle ghosting, breadcrumbing, and app fatigue without losing your mind, how to dress for a first date when your body and your confidence have both changed, and what one year of dating with no results actually means, and what to do about it.
This is the conversation your divorced friends wished someone had given them before they downloaded Hinge.
Find Alyssa here:
Website: https://stylemyprofilenyc.com/

Stay connected with JFW:
Book your 60-minute Menopause Care Consultation:
https://www.jillfooswellness.com/menopause-care-consult-page
Follow on Instagram: @jillfooswellness
Follow on Facebook: @jillfooswellness
Follow on YouTube: @jillfooswellness
Grab discounts on my favorite menopause wellness products: https://www.jillfooswellness.com/health-products
Enjoy 20% savings and free shipping at Fullscript for your favorite supplements by leading brands:
https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/jillfooswellness/store-start
Subscribe to the JFW newsletter at www.jillfooswellness.com and receive your FREE Guide on How To Create Your Menopause Health Equation Ebook.
Schedule your free 15-minute consultation here:
https://calendly.com/jillfooswellness/15-minute-zoom-consultations
If you're a Chicago-area midlife woman, check out the Chicago Menopause Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to navigating menopause locally with experts:
https://chicagomenopausecollective.org

In this episode of Afterpause, we're cutting through the noise around plastic surgery, noninvasive aesthetics, and skincare for women over 50. Renowned NYC-based plastic surgeon Dr. Lara Devgan joins us to explain what actually works and how to create a thoughtful, long-term approach to looking refreshed without looking overdone.
In this episode, we cover:
What women over 50 are really looking for: Why the goal is often not to look younger, but to look rested, healthy, vibrant, and like yourself, and how menopause changes the skin, hair, face, and overall appearance.
Understanding the different types of facelifts: A clear explanation of full facelifts, deep-plane facelifts, vertical restore techniques, mid-facelifts, mini-facelifts, and neck lifts, and how a surgeon determines which approach may be appropriate for different stages of facial aging.
Suture suspension and thread lifting: What suture suspension actually is, how it differs from traditional threads, who may be a candidate, and why there is so much disagreement among surgeons about these procedures.
The aging neck: Why the neck can be one of the most frustrating areas for women in midlife and beyond, what happens to the platysma muscle as we age, and when Botox, a Nefertiti-style approach, or surgery may make sense.
Tired-looking eyes: Why the eyes can make you look older or more exhausted than you feel—and how to think about upper and lower blepharoplasty, under-eye puffiness, dark circles, hollowness, and the role (and limitations) of eye creams.
Hollowing, volume loss, and facial balance: How menopause-related changes in fat, bone, skin, and soft tissue affect the face, and why simply adding more filler isn't always the answer.
What noninvasive treatments can, and cannot, do: A realistic look at skincare, lasers, injectables, biostimulators, regenerative treatments, and other nonsurgical options for women who aren't ready for surgery or don't want it.
How to combine surgery, noninvasive treatments, and skincare: Why the best aesthetic plan isn't necessarily one procedure. Learn how women can think about their face and skin as a long-term investment, combining the right surgical procedures with nonsurgical treatments and a strong skincare routine over time.
Red flags when choosing a plastic surgeon: What women should look for when evaluating a doctor, how to think about credentials and experience, why seeing before-and-after photos matters, and warning signs that a surgeon may be selling a procedure rather than creating an individualized plan.
Skincare for mature and postmenopausal skin: The importance of protecting the skin barrier, using targeted active ingredients, and protecting against environmental damage—and how to approach vitamin C, retinoids, hyaluronic acid, sunscreen, and other popular anti-aging ingredients.
Whether you're considering a facelift, neck lift, eyelid surgery, injectables, lasers, regenerative treatments, or simply want a better skincare routine, this conversation offers a practical roadmap for navigating plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine after 50—to look like the best, most rested version of yourself.
Dr. Devgan trained as a classical artist before medicine — Yale, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Columbia and New York Presbyterian for residency and fellowship. She operates on the principle that beauty is in the details. Millimeter-level changes. Not transformation — enhancement. Her most fulfilled patients aren't the ones who look younger. They're the ones who look like themselves — well-rested, radiant, and congruent with how they feel inside.
Find Dr. Devgan:
https://laradevganmd.com/
Stay connected with JFW:
Book your 60-minute Menopause Care Consultation:
https://www.jillfooswellness.com/menopause-care-consult-page
Follow on Instagram: @jillfooswellness
Follow on Facebook: @jillfooswellness
Follow on YouTube: @jillfooswellness
Grab discounts on my favorite menopause wellness products: https://www.jillfooswellness.com/health-products
Enjoy 20% savings and free shipping at Fullscript for your favorite supplements by leading brands:
https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/jillfooswellness/store-start
Subscribe to the JFW newsletter at www.jillfooswellness.com and receive your FREE Guide on How To Create Your Menopause Health Equation Ebook.
Schedule your free 15-minute consultation here:
https://calendly.com/jillfooswellness/15-minute-zoom-consultations
If you're a Chicago-area midlife woman, check out the Chicago Menopause Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to navigating menopause locally with experts:
https://chicagomenopausecollective.org

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Over 50% of postmenopausal women experience significant hair loss. Most are dismissed. Most are spending money on products that don't work. And most have never had a proper hair loss workup from a provider who actually specializes in this. That changes today.
Dr. Omer Ibrahim is a board-certified dermatologist and one of the most clinically sophisticated hair loss specialists in the country. This is the most comprehensive hair loss conversation you will hear, full of evidence-based treatments, action steps to take, and myths busted. Dr. Ibrahim treats hair loss every single day and understands the postmenopausal picture specifically. He is here to give you the truth.
In this episode we cover:
— The biology of hair loss at menopause
— What is actually happening hormonally and why postmenopausal women are uniquely vulnerable
— The specific types of hair loss and how the diagnosis changes everything about treatment
— DHT and why estrogen loss amplifies its effect on your follicles
— The complete lab panel every woman with hair loss should be requesting
— When to get a scalp biopsy and what it tells you that labs cannot
— In-office treatments — PRP, exosomes, Alma TED, and low-level laser therapy — what the evidence actually shows and who is the ideal candidate
— Medications — oral minoxidil, finasteride, dutasteride, spironolactone, and how HRT intersects with hair loss treatment
— Topicals — Rogaine, compounded formulas 82M, 82F, and 82D, the iPSC exosome topical formula, and rosemary oil
— The social media overwhelm — scalp serums, caffeine shampoos, Nizoral, Kérastase, The Ordinary, Neutrogena, OneSkin OS-Hair, and the Hers minoxidil gummy — what works and what is wasting your money
— The pipeline — what lies ahead
— What to do this week if you have been losing hair for years and have no answers
I share my own 30-year hair loss journey, and the equation I have built that works.
If you have been told your hair loss is just aging and there is nothing to do, this episode will change everything for you.
Find Dr. Ibrahim:
IG: @chicagoskindoc

Stay connected with JFW:
Book your Menopause Care Consultation:
https://www.jillfooswellness.com/menopause-care-consult-page

Follow on Instagram: @jillfooswellness

Follow on Facebook: @jillfooswellness

Follow on YouTube: @jillfooswellness

Grab discounts on my favorite menopause wellness products: https://www.jillfooswellness.com/health-products
Enjoy 20% savings and free shipping at Fullscript for your favorite supplements by leading brands:
https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/jillfooswellness/store-start

Subscribe to the JFW newsletter at www.jillfooswellness.com and receive your FREE Guide on How To Create Your Menopause Health Equation Ebook.

Schedule your free 15-minute consultation here:
https://calendly.com/jillfooswellness/15-minute-zoom-consultations

If you're a Chicago-area midlife woman, check out the Chicago Menopause Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to navigating menopause locally with experts: https://chicagomenopausecollective.org