Ep 488: Pairing Tea, Essential Oils and Silk to Resolve Peri-Menopause & Menopause Symptoms With Sadya Barletta

What happens when three friends enter perimenopause and can’t find products they resonate with and take care of their symptoms?  They create their own brand!  Manpreet, Sadya and Eva of Menopriva are all about inspiring women to love their transition and what comes next.  By partnering with the top European essential oil formulator to teaming up with a tea company that’s been making teas since 1790 and sourcing handmade silk products from Poland the ladies of Menopriva have created a luxurious product line to support women through perimenopause and beyond. In this episode of The Health Fix Podcast Dr. Jannine Krause Interviews Sadya Barletta from Menopriva on her menopause journey and how Menopriva’s products benefit women in perimenopause and beyond. 

Resources From The Show: 

• menopriva.com
• office@menopriva.com for inquires
• Menopriva Instagram

Our Partners

Podcast Transcript

2:30  – Menopriva’s backstory

9:27 – Oldest tea maker in Germany is making Menopriva’s teas

10:56 – Sadya’s favorite tea

13:43 – The tea packaging

16:27 – Aromatherapy

22:58 – Hot flashes and sweating

26:54 – Vaginal dryness – Intimate care oil

34:22 – Sleeping on your bedding could be helping dry out your skin 

35:02 – Benefits of using a silk pillow

38:17 – Iron deficiency in women towards the end of perimenopause

40:41 – What is next for Menopriva?

42:16 – Where to find Sadya and Menopriva

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[Intro] Welcome to The Health Fix Podcast, where health junkies get their weekly

fix of tips, tools, and techniques to have limitless energy, sharp minds, and fit

physiques for life.

Hey health junkies! On this episode of The Health Fix Podcast, I’m interviewing

Sadya Barletta from Menopriva. Menopriva is a company with teas, essential oils,

and silk products created to support women in perimenopause and menopause. Menopriva

Menopriva was founded by three friends.

Sadya is one of them and they’re all about inspiring women to love their

transition and what comes next.

After noticing there weren’t many options that were, let’s say, identifiable,

more like sexy to us younger women to help support women in their

premenopause and menopause transition.

These three were like, we have to create something cool.

So they came up with some luxurious essential oil blends and teas that go together and cozy,

silk pillowcases, eye pillows, and hair ties. Why? Because our hair changes when we go through

perimenopause and beyond. Have to listen to the podcast to find out the exact details of why so.

So in this episode, I have a great time talking with Sadya all about menoprivant and how their

oils blend with the teas and how you can take them to work with you to help support you while

you’re going through this transition because sharia is a big proponent of keeping women in the

workplace and not letting all of these symptoms interfere with health but also with careers.

So let’s introduce you to Sadya Barletta. 

JANNINE: Sadya Barletta, welcome to the health fix podcast.

SADYA: Thank you so much, Janine. Thanks for having me.

Hey, it’s my pleasure when I was introduced to you and your co-founders from Helen Mary Finlay.

I was like, “Oh, I have to bring you on because anything for women in the Perry Menopause,

Menopause, and beyond transition, I’m all about promoting.”

So you’ve got a couple of you. You’ve got three of you.

Now, I would love to know the story of how you met your other two co-founders

and like how were you sitting at a coffee shop and going,

we need to help women.

Like how did this come about?

SADYA: Okay, so actually the other two co-founders,

Eva and Manpreet have been friends of mine

for many, many years.

We’ve known each other for about 20 years.

And we met over our husbands, our children and so on,

and we live in the same town.

So we’ve been friends for a long time

and we were talking about going into business together

for a while, but we really didn’t have like that idea, you know?

So it was during the pandemic when we were sitting together,

having tea in the evenings.

And I just asked the other two, I said, hey, you know, how are you guys doing?

How is everything?

And if I said, I don’t know, I’m having hard palpitations.

I think I need to go see a cardiologist.

And Montpreet was saying, Oh, you guys, in my mood has been up and down.

And, you know, and how are you doing, Shadi?

And I said, Oh, I’ve been, I’ve been dealing with vertigo attacks.

I have like, I have a lot of vertigo, unfortunately, you know, or, or just some balance issues.

And then we were laughing and we said, huh, maybe we’re just in menopause, you know,

not knowing that we actually were, right?

So at the time, I’m 51 now.

So this was in 2022.

I was about 48.

Manfred is a bit younger, if I was a little bit older.

And we really didn’t know much about menopause at all.

Just like we found out, many women don’t, unfortunately.

Many women don’t understand that there’s something called perimenopause that can start

five to 10 years before you actually have your last bleeding, right?

So there are a lot of symptoms that come with that, as you probably know.

Officially, I think they say 37, but we talked to a doctor, Dr. Sheila Deliz.

She’s very popular here in Germany.

And she’s been saying there are about 100 different issues that you might be facing,

like frozen shoulder arthritis, you know, of course the sleep problems, the typical, the hot flashes

and so on, hair loss, you know, everything gets dry, a thrum, atrophy, I think it’s called, you know,

when, you know, everything gets a little bit thinner and drier and so on. So the next day,

Eva went to a pharmacy, it’s, it’s, it’s kind of like a drugstore in Germany, but it’s all natural.

And she found a tea, like a menopausal tea.

And she brought it back and it was the ugliest tea you’ve ever seen.

It’s just packaged in this brown paper bag.

It looked like something that nobody wants to consume.

So we sat down and we said,

where are the nice products, attractive products?

Are there products like that for women in menopause,

for the modern woman, so to speak?

Because when you think or when we thought of menopause, it was always like, oh, that’s just

something for the old, right? Or the elderly, right? So we didn’t see ourselves as that. But if you

think about it, I mean, people that are on the media, for example, you know, JLo or you know,

Gweneth Paltrow or Serena Williams, you know, the advocates these days, right? They’re all beautiful,

vibrant, young women, energetic, full of life. And that’s how we see ourselves. So that’s really how

the idea started and we said, well, if there are no products that we can identify with,

maybe we should develop them. And that really was the beginning of the product.

Yeah. 

JANNINE: I love it. I love it. You know, because you’re right, you look at teas and yes, they

it’s depending on what brand or whatnot. I mean, you’re, it’s not marketed to, to women who are

thinking of themselves as vibrant sizing and kind of like the same, you know, concept is the

the skin care industry. You know, the boxes are beautiful. We’ve got lots of

golds and you know, differently luxurious looking colors. But yeah, the

whole natural side of things, we didn’t catch that. We went to crunchy

granola on that side and didn’t really.

SADYA: That’s exactly right. So we really started looking at the main symptoms

first, which of course are sleep problems, right? A lot of women have

sleeping issues, then also the the the the inner imbalance, right? A lot of us get anxious, we have

anxieties, we have some of us get panic attacks, you know, stuff like that. So it’s like an up and

down because of the hormone levels dropping, going up, going down the whole time. And the and the

third one are the hot flashes, the typical hot flashes, right? So that’s how we developed our

first line and it’s actually called cool sleep and calm. And if

you want to, I have some products here, I can I can just show

you if you want.

JANNINE: Yes, bring it over and we’ll kind of talk about folks who are

listening to audio, we’ll talk to you guys through it. And those

who are looking at it on YouTube, you can see it in person. And

so it’s a it’s a gray box on the top with some flowers. I love

it. Okay.

SADYA: So this is this is Rose and then we also have the different

Flowers are on here. So so you open it up and then it says, you know, for a good night’s sleep. JANNINE: Uh-huh and

For an inner calm. 

SADYA: I’m sorry. I’m sorry. This is for an inner calm

So sorry, okay. This is our sleep tea here. So this is good night’s sleep. There we go. It looks like some camomile

Yeah

SADYA: The camomile and

And this one um, yeah has marigold also and different things

And then here we have the cool and this is for an inner cool.

Oh, actually we’re staying cool. I’m so sorry. And this one has, for example, red clover,

which is a phyto hormone. So plant derived hormone. They all have some kind of a plant derived hormone.

So a phyto hormone in them as well, just to ease to, you know, to help with the symptoms of menopause.

But then they’re also very, very good tasting. They have rose buds in them, some of them.

and different wonderful ingredients. One has a centigrade tea, lemon grass, lemon balm,

which is I think Valerian in English. Lemon verbena, is that how you say it?

JANNINE: Lemon verbena. 

SADYA: Ladies’ mantle, metal, chamomile rose, mari rose, and so on.

Mary gold, like I said, and yeah, so many different things. And then we thought,

Okay, so the tea is a no-brainer. You know people like to drink tea, especially during menopause because

Many of us cannot drink that much coffee anymore. Right?

So also I love to drink coffee, but I only drink it in the mornings now and during the day

I drink the tea and it’s just it’s very soothing. You take some time for yourself

I think a tea you can never just go down, right? You always it’s always like a little celebration, right?

You make the tea, you boil it, you put it in there in a nice little cup, your favorite cup,

your favorite mug, and then you just enjoy it. And it’s like a little bit of a me time. So

that’s one thing. And then we also looked into aromatherapy. So by the way, these teas are made

by the oldest tea manufacturer in Germany. It’s a company that has been around since 1780,

and it’s now in almost the fifth generation that father is giving it to his son. So it’s the

great-great-grandfather that started the business. And we went to him and we asked him, we said,

you know, this is our idea. Could you make us like a nice composition for women in menopause?

Are you familiar with these herbs? And he said, yeah, I actually have recipes or

like recipes for them. And we said, do you already sell them to another company? And he said, no,

no, I made them from my wife when she was in menopause. And so I have her favorite

teas and know which ones helped her. So you can try them and we did and we absolutely love them.

We didn’t have to make many changes at all. And you know, so we, we, yeah, that’s, that’s the

story about the teas. And then if you want me to continue with the aroma therapy, I can tell you

a little bit about that. 

JANNINE: Yeah, let’s move into that in a second. I have tea questions. I have

tea questions. 

SADYA: Sure, sure. Absolutely. 

JANNINE: Because that is a fascinating story. So a tea company since the 1700,

I don’t think anybody can claim that.

So that’s pretty dang cool.

That is cool.

Which one’s your favorite one?

Like which one do you find helping you?

Like which one is, I guess I’m gonna do two things.

Yes, flavor and yeah, which one’s your favorite one?

SADYA: The Calm, first of all, I think tastes amazing,

but I use it every single day.

I drink at least one or two cups of this.

I personally, I love that one very much,

but this one I think is the best tasting.

This one, this is the cool.

It has the center green tea, the lemon bomb, the lemon grass, the verbena and the ladies

mantle.

So it’s very citrusy.

And this one tastes amazing as an iced tea also.

So I brew it at night in the summer.

And then I just fill it with ice with ice chips or, you know, ice cubes.

And then I put a little bit of lemon in there and maybe some sprigs of some herbs and sometimes

I put rosemary in there, sometimes mint or whatever.

And then I have a jug and I just basically drink that as an iced tea during the summer

and it is our cooling tea anyway.

So it cools you down as well.

And it’s really, it tastes amazing.

They all taste very good.

Unfortunately, I’m allergic to chamomile and this one has chamomile in it.

So I cannot really drink it that much.

I won’t die if I drink it, but I avoid it if I can.

You know, I have it every now and then, but the other two I drink on a regular basis.

Yeah.

JANNINE: I love it and have you experienced any hot flashes or night sweats and have you

noticed that the cool kind of calmed it down and what has been your experience

in that department? 

SADYA: I’m very fortunate I don’t have the sweats yet you know

because I think I’m still in my early menopause and I think the the sweats

start more towards the end but I have had lots of problems with with with

hormonal imbalance. So like anxieties, feeling restless, you know, just being very, very

nervous and so on. So that’s why I drink the calm tea during the day also. You know, I

always have it next to me when I work in my office. And yeah, that’s, that’s my go-to

tea. And honestly, I went on a train trip the other day. And I thought, you know, I’m

probably going to drink a tea and on the train. I can’t exactly ask them for just hot water

because in Germany they want to make money. So I took my own tea, I ordered a tea and I just

put the other tea bag in my purse and used my own tea because that’s really my favorite tea. It is.

So yeah. 

JANNINE: Oh, that’s… I mean, I can see being able to just have it stashed in your purse

and swap out something because of course I know if you’re going to buy tea you have to

ya knwo, pay it, but still, I like the ability

to be able to stash in your purse, take it on a trip,

because I think a lot of people don’t think about,

like, oh wait, yeah, I can take these on a trip with me.

I can use them whenever I want,

because they’re in a little box,

you can put them in, probably take them individually.

Are they in bags?

Do you have them bags, or how are they packaged?

SADYA: They are little sashays that are pyramid form.

They’re very nicely filled also,

So they’re very large as you can see.

JANNINE: Oh yeah.

SADYA: Pyramid.

JANNINE: Yep. 

SADYA:  You see. 

JANNINE: The little pyramid

sachete there guys and yes, it is filled.

SADYA: I don’t know if you can tell,

the herbs are very large.

So this is not some rest of another tea.

These are actually, you know,

as you can see very large pieces.

JANNINE: Yeah, they’re the cut and sifting pieces.

SADYA: I call it.

JANNINE: Yes, yes.

And the nice thing is you can brew this twice even

because it’s so large that you can,

or you can put this in like one liter,

maybe like one quart of water, one of these.

JANNINE: Very nice, very nice.

So yeah, I like to see how many times I can do it

before I run out of juice.

– Same here, especially the green tea,

you can always brew at least twice,

that’s absolutely no problem.

And I do the same.

And it’s just so potent and it still tastes amazing.

So yeah.

– Yeah, I’m really embracing the teas a lot.

And I think a lot of women are too,

because in addition to not having the tolerance for caffeine,

there’s also the alcohol issue,

where the wines aren’t so great anymore.

SADYA: And that’s a really, really big thing.

I know people don’t like to hear it.

I don’t drink alcohol anyway.

I just never developed a taste for it.

So I’m very, very grateful.

And people, I always have to justify

why I’m not drinking and I’m like, guys, you know, I mean, you know, you know, I just don’t like it.

So I’m very glad that I never developed the taste for it. But when I tell my friends,

of course, you don’t want to preach to them and like be like, you know, you can’t drink alcohol.

But I’ve been doing a lot of research and all research leads to really don’t do it, you know,

especially the hot flashes also the sleep issues. They’re all related to that or it doesn’t make

it better, let’s put it that way, right? So I think at a certain age, we need to just,

you know, make sure that we do the best that we can. So we grow old in a healthy way, right?

I mean, the goal is not just to be old, but to be healthy for a long time, right? So yeah.

JANNINE: Absolutely.

SADYA: Yeah. 

JANNINE: So tell us about the aromatherapy because this is something that I have had some of their

folks on, but not in comparison with like a T. So I’m imagining when I looked at meno

freeva, I was like, Oh, we can create a whole environment around the tea, the scrunchie,

the iPad, you know, so tell us kind of how you came up with the aromatherapy as I add

on to the T’s. 

SADYA: That’s the thing. So we thought, you know, what could help a woman when she’s

having a hot flash, right? So we said she has to have something at hand. It could be

a little fan, it could be like one of those, you know, manual fans also. So we were going

in that direction. We said, but we need something that’s, that’s actually going to help her and

not just mask the symptom, right? So we started doing some research and we found out that aroma

therapy might be the solution. And so aroma therapy is basically, as you know, it’s essential oils.

We only use the highest quality of essential oils. I’m not allowed to use the name. It’s a very

famous brand, the lady that makes these aroma oil or the sprays for us, she works with this

larger brand, but we’re not allowed to use the name because it’s trademarked, right? So, but what

I’m saying is I use these oils on a regular basis as well, or I’ve been using them for many, many

years, and I swear by them. So we found someone who is, who works with those, and I said, we won’t,

we want only those essential oils in there also. So they’re the purest that you can get

worldwide, basically. And so they are just phenomenal. I mean, they’re very pure. You have to be very

careful what you consume, right? And not every aroma or essential oil is a high grade. Like I

ordered some over Amazon once and I smelled them and I said, this is, you can just smell it. You

you know, if you’re sensitive to it,

you will know that it’s not pure, right?

So that was number one.

And so basically what happens is when you use aromatherapy,

I’m just gonna show you.

And I’m so sorry, I should have really had some like nicer

stuff out here, but I have it all in the back.

But here, this is the one I actually use.

This is on my desk, as you can see,

it’s also like a little use, right?

So I spray it.

JANNINE: Okay, she’s spraying it around her

and kind of wafting it towards her right now

so that she can get the whole effect.

And this one said comb, I saw as well.

SADYA: I’m sorry, are you still there?

Jannine? I’m already in La La Land.

No, seriously, this is really, really amazing.

It smells amazing.

It’s just an amazing smell.

This one, for example, has lavender,

mer, rosemary, citrus,

Vitivé and bergamot.

If you know those scents,

you can maybe imagine it’s a little bit musky.

It’s a very, very pleasant smell.

I actually use it in my car as well, you know,

just because it smells good and also it comes me down,

but I actually love, love, love the smell.

And you don’t get tired of it.

It’s not one of those pungent smells that you’re like,

“Oh, I can’t smell it anymore.”

The nice thing about aromatherapy is if it’s real,

if it’s pure, it’s also going to evaporate quite fast.

It’s not gonna linger around like some synthetic smells, right?

So even if you use it at night, we have the sleep spray, for example,

that again has lavender and some other calming things.

I’m just going to grab one here.

So this one has lavender, bergamot, clary sage,

vetivé, cedarwood and frankincense.

And you probably know frankincense is one of the best oils out there.

You know, it’s very healing also. It’s anti-inflammatory.

then the cedar wood or lavender of course has there lots of studies that show that it actually

calms you down. We use this one on our pillow for example as a pillow mist. 

JANNINE: Okay so she’s

holding up the sleep box. Okay. 

SADYA: And that is as you see that goes with our tea so it’s the same line

And so this one we recommend putting around your bedroom just before you go to sleep.

So you basically inhale the molecules and then they travel through your

olfactory nerves. Is that right? Is that how you said? And directly to the brain, right? And then

they impact the amygdala. 

JANNINE: Yeah, amygdala.  

SADYA: Is that how you say it? Yeah. Yeah. And which is the emotional

center of the brain, right? And then it gives the brain the signal calm down, relax, you know,

go to sleep. And that’s how it works. So it’s again, fantastic. Everyone knows lavender. So it

has a lot of lavender scent, but even better because again, it’s mixed with all these wonderful

different oils, like the clary sage has a really nice scent. And the VETV is one of my favorites.

It’s also sometimes in men’s cologne. So it’s again, a very, very pleasant smell.

and I’m the cedar wood of course and I’m a little bit of frankincense. Yeah.

JANNINE: That one sounds glorious too. I like both of those. Those sound amazing.

SADYA: It’s amazing. Yeah. And the cool. JANNNE: Yes. 

SADYA: So the cool is actually my favorite scent-wise.

This one has again a little bit of lavender just to calm you down because when you have a hot

flash, many women become very anxious. Ooh, there it is again. You know, I don’t want people to see

it, you know, so we want them also to just calm down, you know, get that, get that little

brain, like the signal going to the brain. Okay, nothing to worry about. And then it has

kopayiba, mint, wild orange, rosemary, and narrowly. So yeah, smells absolutely amazing.

And it just calms your nervous system, basically. And at the same time through the mint and so on,

it, it cools you. It’s very cooling. When you spray it, you actually immediately feel cool,

cool down. And we want these, the women to put these in their purse. And when they know the,

the, the, the hot flashes coming, pull it out, spray it around. No, I have my little, you know,

my little aid in my, in my pocket or in my purse. And that’s, that was the, that was the whole idea

about it. 

JANNINE: It makes sense. It makes sense. There’s so many women that, yeah, you get

anxious when you start to feel warm and you’re like, “Oh, I hate this feeling.” And then it turns

into anxiety, I feel like. It’s just like it’s the same thing, basically.

SADYA: That’s what we’ve been hearing also. Thankfully, none of us have hot flashes yet, I have to say.

So, but we have lots of friends that say they have to change their clothes like twice at night,

you know, and they’re drenched, you know, and they say exactly that. They’re panicking. And, you know,

just to go a little bit off on a tangent, this is actually an issue that many employers don’t

understand, you know, what we’re going through as females, right? So, you know, just imagine a

woman has to hold a presentation or something like that, all of a sudden she has a hot flash,

right? And she’s panicking, right? So we should all be aware of what’s going on in a female body

and treated like, hey, you know what?

It’s no big deal.

You’re not the only one.

We’re over one billion women around the world

going through menopause right now.

51% of the world’s population is female.

We’re not a niche, right?

We’re not like some aliens that, you know,

every woman’s gonna go through menopause eventually.

So we should neither be ashamed of it,

nor should we be anxious about it.

We should all know what’s going on in our bodies.

and know what we can do to help ourselves, right?

And encourage each other and learn from each other

and help each other.

So it becomes the most normal thing.

Hey, I have the cold.

Well, I do this and this for cold.

It should be like a normal topic, right?

I mean, we should not be embarrassed about it at all.

And the workforce is actually losing a lot of women

during menopause because they can’t sleep right anymore.

They have anxieties.

And they have these different issues also with their bladders and so on.

And there’s no one to talk to.

They’re embarrassed.

So they would rather quit or reduce their work hours because they don’t feel

comfortable anymore in their own skin, right?

JANNINE: That’s a huge, I mean, it’s a huge topic.

It is.

It’s really something that I see happening and having something like this,

being able to take the tea during the day, being able to, you know,

get the, the spray out really quick in the bathroom before your presentation,

You know, all of these things are incredibly helpful for tools, but yes, it is something

that we haven’t brought up on the podcast in terms of the interaction between menopause,

perimenopause symptoms, and work.

SADYA: That’s a huge issue.

We can do another podcast about that if you want.

We’re also looking into that.

And we actually, we were thinking, you know, how great it would be if the employers, if

the companies offer our teas in their coffee corners, right?

So you often have the option of getting a coffee,

or some tea with some synthetic ingredients in them.

But what about something like this?

Where the woman just can go and have a cup of her tea.

And that’s her tea also.

That would also show the women appreciation.

So it’s win-win, really.

JANNINE: I agree.

I agree.

Maybe we have some folks listening right now who

our HR department have a little say in some businesses.

This is definitely something that I do think

is really important to think about

because in the corporate world, these are issues.

I hear it all the time from a lot of women in my practice.

That yeah, there’s nothing for me at work

so I am bringing my concoctions and whatnot,

but still having it available and making it a little bit

more of a, “Oh, okay, this is a thing.

“We’ll take a break during,

“there’s regular breaks during presentations,

just for everybody to cool down doesn’t even have to be just her, you know, so much more

neurological soothing could happen in my opinion. 

SADYA: Definitely, definitely, definitely. Yes.

So that we, if you want to, I’ll continue because we have three more, uh, oil that we’re, that we,

you know, as we, as we, um, continue, we also became more and more aware that, hey, there are more

symptoms than just these three, right? Those are the main ones, I would say, but not only that. So

another really big issue is vaginal dryness, right? And let’s just openly talk about it. This will

happen. It’s not, it’s not an, oh, it could happen. It will eventually happen because our

our skin gets thinner, right? Yeah. So just as our regular, I mean, our skin all over the body

thin basically. So for some women, it’s extremely, extremely painful when when when the skin becomes

very dry and very thin intercourse becomes extremely painful as well. And some women think that they

have a fungal infection, but it could actually just be that it’s dry, right? So again, talk to our

aroma therapy specialist and we asked her if she could develop something for us and she says,

Yes, absolutely. And she came up with this. It’s called Intimplegia. This is written in German,

but it basically means intimate care oil. And this one has as main ingredients sandalwood,

which is a molecule that mimics the male paramone. So also it’s a live,

like an libido enhancer as well. So it balances the hormones and is often treated to treat the

mucous membranes. It’s also antiseptic and then it has calendula which is regenerating anti-inflammatory

soothing, antifungal and it supports the immune system. And then it has a very special oil in it.

It’s called the Damask Rose Oil.

It’s often called the Queen of Oils.

It comes from the Damasl Rose.

And for one drop, you need something like

a thousand kilos of this rose.

I mean, for one liter, I’m sorry,

about a thousand liters of these rose petals.

And this one is also anti-inflammatory cooling, soothing

and is very good for more mature skin.

And it also plumps the skin so it nourishes the skin.

And then as a carrier oil, we use hemp seed oil.

So yeah, it’s an essential fatty acid,

rich in antioxidants also.

And it prevents dryness, combats, sensitive skin,

has omega-3 and 6,

and is very good for the elasticity of the skin.

And it revitalizes the skin as well.

And also the whole thing quickly absorbs.

So it’s not like you’re gonna put it on

and it’s gonna stay damp all the time.

You know what, it really quickly absorbs, it’s fantastic.

And yeah, so we use it only externally.

So in the vulva area, right?

So, and that’s very important to remember.

And then also it has a little bit of olive oil

as a carrier oil.

So these are the main ingredients in this one.

And it comes in a little dropper form.

So you can, you basically, you need very little of it, you know,

maybe one or two drops and then you wash your hands and you apply it where you

need it. And, um, and people always add,

women ask us, they say, you know, why do I need that?

And I say, well, do you use anything on your skin, you know, after you take a

shower or before you go outside or, you know, so we use stuff on our skin because

everything dries out, right?

So why not take care of your whole body, right?

And especially if you have problems, you know,

you should probably think about that.

So yeah, that’s how we develop this one.

And then we have another one.

This is my favorite.

This is our feel and it’s a spa massage oil.

JANNINE: Mm, okay.

If you put spa with anything, I’m in.

SADYA: That’s right.

And basically it’s for you and the partner

and you can give each other a massage.

And it also, again, it has some sandalwood in it,

which is like I’ve explained before, it has the pheromones.

So it has a little bit of a,

of a, it’s almost like an aphrodisiac.

So when you smell it, it puts you in the right mood

and it’s extremely soothing as well.

It has yang, yang, yang,

the rose that I was talking about, the damask rose.

And then let’s see.

Yeah, there you go.

and some different seed oils, vitamin E,

so it’s extremely soothing.

JANNINE: Nice.

SADYA: It smells amazing as well.

Yeah, so 

JANNINE: Nice.

SADYA: Yeah.

JANNINE: All right, so I mean, one of the things

that a lot of people don’t think about,

like you said, we put lotion on our face, right?

And we moisturize our face.

Maybe we moisturize our regular skin,

but our vaginal skin and vulva skin is very similar, right?

And often, I believe if it’s dry down there,

that’s a really big indication of what’s happening

the whole internally too.

And so these are things for folks to be thinking about.

SADYA: Absolutely.

And you know, there are things that we can do, of course.

And so gynecologists can probably help you with that.

There are also some stronger things like with estradiol,

for example, that you can put around there

prevent the skin from getting too thin. So if you really have problems, you should look

at all the options. But this is one of the options. This is the natural option, of course,

because many women or some women are, yeah, they don’t like to take hormone replacement therapy

or want to wait for a while at least, right? So this would be a very nice alternative for the

the beginning, right? Or also to soothe. And this one actually, I use after I take a shower

as well on my damp skin, because I have very dry skin. And I’ve found that if I use this

right on my damp skin after I take a shower, it absorb it. It just it my skin is like, it

feels like a baby skin. It really does. It’s it’s smooth and supple and it just feels amazing.

And I like the scent also, you know. 

JANNINE: The scent always helps the aromatherapy is always key.

Now, Sadya, did you notice that your skin started to get drier over time or have you always had drier skin?

SADYA: I’ve always tended to have drier skin than my friends, for example.

But now, of course, it’s crazy.

I mean, I cannot go without moisturizing at all anymore, you know?

And I tend to use a lot of oils on my skin now as well.

In addition to, you know, sometimes I use like I use a moisturizer during the day

and then I use an oil in the evening.

I just like the way it feels and I feel like it makes a difference.

JANNINE: I think so.

I think so.

And I think that’s something important to think about that.

Like you said, your skin was dry in the, you know, always.

And I think a lot of women usually have some sort of routine of working on that

when they have dry skin, but then when they go into perimenopause and it gets

even drier, they’re like, Oh my gosh, what do I do now?

Like how do I tackle this?

SADYA: And not just the skin.

Of course, the hair also gets extremely dry, right?

That’s why we developed our, we didn’t develop it,

but we thought about selling it to our customers

is the silk products.

JANNINE: Yeah.

Yeah.

SADYA: Because with a lot of,

a lot of women don’t realize that when you,

okay, so first of all, what do you sleep on?

What’s your bedding made out of?

JANNINE: Most bedding’s cotton, right?

SADYA: Exactly, exactly.

What do you use to dry yourself off when after you take a shower?

JANNINE: Cotton towel.

There you go.

Exactly.

Because it’s a fantastic, um, it absorbs moisture.

It’s fantastic for that.

Right.

So it dries your skin very nicely when you want it to dry, but when you sleep eight

hours a day and your side sleeper, let’s say, and your face touches, um, the,

the pillow, for example, you’re sleeping on cotton for eight hours a day.

So what happens a lot of times, especially with me, people with dryer skin, I wake

and I have these ugly sleep wrinkles. Right? So, um, so I thought about a remedy and I was in the

States visiting some family and I saw this silk pillow and this was a few years ago. So I bought

one and I’m a huge fan of it. So when we started this line, I said, girls, we need also need to

sell silk pillows because this is this is a game changer for me. So then we found this amazing

company in Poland. So they’re all produced in in Europe. Of course, the silk comes from Asia

because that’s where, you know, silk comes from, but they’re, they’re, they’re sewn in, in Poland from a

company that is run by women also. And so because silk is a natural product, it has proteins in it.

So amino acids and it correlates with the skin and it, it actually helps the skin produce more

collagen. And this is, this is an amazing fact that we learned also. I didn’t know why it worked,

but when I looked into it, I found all this out. And same thing with these scrunchies. I just

This is just, I’m sorry.

I mean, this is not like the best looking scrunchy

I’ve watched it a million times.

This is just the one I always use, okay?

I actually use this stuff, right?

So when I pull my hair up or whatever,

I use the silk scrunchy also because it doesn’t break.

It prevents the hair from breaking.

Same thing when you rub your head on the pillow at night,

you know, the hairs tends to break easier

because it’s drier, it becomes more brittle.

And this prevents that from happening.

And then same thing with the beautiful eye masks that we sell.

You know, they’re out of 22, momme silk.

It’s a very high grade silk.

They’re different grades and they’re mulberry silk.

That’s a special silk from the mulberry caterpillars.

And yeah, so they’re just beautiful

and we don’t have any zippers or anything on there.

So there’s no metal, you know,

’cause I know some people are sensitive to metal.

They don’t want it around their heads, you know.

And so we have like a hotel closing.

And yeah, so that’s why we have the silk products

’cause some women are like,

why do you sell silk products?

I’m like, yeah, but that’s why.

(laughs)

So just naturally helping without using chemicals

because if you have brittle hair,

people tend to use special conditioners and this and that.

And again, they have fragrances and, you know,

and silicones and blah, blah, blah.

So we said, you know, the most natural way possible,

just offer it as an option to our fellow ladies.

And that’s the stuff we use, you know?

JANNINE: Yeah, I never thought about the pillow.

I never did.

And really, I mean, so many women talk about their hair

breaking, but also being dry, but also loss of hair.

SADYA: Oh, that’s a big issue for me at the moment.

I have to say, I had probably three times as much hair

when I was younger.

And that, of course, you know,

you have to do different things about,

I found rosemary oil.

I put like a drop or two in my shampoo.

My favorite company, I’m not gonna name the name,

but I put a couple of drops in my shampoo

and I just rub it in because it invigorates your scalp.

And then I really massage it in

and I’ve found that that helps a lot.

And also definitely get your iron levels checked

because many, many women have an iron deficiency,

especially towards the end of perimenopause,

because we tend to bleed a lot more, right?

And very heavily, that’s an issue I have, for example.

That’s one of the biggest issues.

And sometimes I walk around like a zombie

and you know, I had my ferritain levels check,

they were at six, which is extremely low, yeah.

So that’s definitely that could be related

to hair loss as well.

JANNINE: Oh man, yes, yes, definitely that iron nutrient.

So important.

Oh my goodness.

The silk is blowing in my mind.

And the scrunchies, all of us kind of grew up

in the era where the scrunchies were a thing.

SADYA: These were in the 80s, right?

Like we all have these.

Yeah, they come in three different sizes.

They come in small, meat, this is medium,

and then there’s a larger one.

And yeah, we have them in three different colors.

And those are amazing, they really are.

And they’re very lightweight,

and you can wash them.

same thing with the silk pillow, people think, Oh, I need to take special care. No, you just throw it in the wash and you know, you can use any detergent in the beginning. I was very cautious and I put in a net and now I just put it in with other stuff and it’s totally fine.

Yeah, it’s adorable.

JANNINE: Good deal. Good deal. Yeah. Because I think that that’s definitely something my my brain would think like, Oh, hand washing. I already do. 

SADYA: Oh no, oh no!

No hand-washing, don’t worry.

We want to make your life easier, not more difficult.

But you have to pay attention that you get a good quality

silk, right?

And that the stitching is well done also.

And that’s what our ladies in Poland do an extremely good job

on.

I’ve had mine for about two and a half years now,

and I wash it every week.

And it’s still the same.

Nothing came apart.

It’s just really in great condition.

Yeah.

JANNINE: Nice.

Nice.

Yeah, I would have not thought about the silk for that.

And now that I’m like, okay, okay, I see where you’re going with this.

I like it.

I like it.

So, you know, obviously you guys have like quite the extensive thought process in here.

What’s next?

What are you brainstorming right now?

What kind of things are you thinking about?

How can we survey the audience here to see who’s like, oh yeah, that would be a really

good idea.

What are you guys thinking about next?

SADYA: Well, that’s a really good point.

We’ve talked about different things.

You know, maybe like a little supplement or something like that, something that is easily

digestible.

I know there are amazing companies out there already.

I have to say, I also, I’m a big fan of a German brand.

It’s a company that I use myself.

So at the moment, I think also a hair product, we thought like a hair oil because that’s

very big in India also.

And my co-founder, Manpreet, is from India.

And she has the most amazing hair.

It’s shiny and it’s just absolutely beautiful.

So she’s like an expert on that.

So they use a lot of Ayurvedic medicine, of course, right?

And that might be something that we will look at in the future.

Yeah, some nice oil for the hair.

JANNINE: I would be wholeheartedly into that.

I love how my hair is when I’ve got a little oil in it.

It definitely makes it just so much more radiant, maybe, is the word.

I’m not sure.

I really like it.

SADYA: It nourishes it. It really does. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. 

JANNINE: Well,

my goodness, Sadya, we went through all kinds of things. I

think folks have a really good idea of how they can, you know,

use your systems just, you know, with the tea plus the, the

sprays, you know, I think it works really well together and

then sleep mind-grown on the fact that that silk, you got me

on that one. So– 

SADYA: Yeah. 

JANNINE: So tell us how folks can find you where

they can interact with you guys and just ask questions if they need to or any of those

different things.

SADYA: Definitely.

So we are on all the social media channels, primarily on Instagram and of course, meta,

you know, Facebook, whatever.

So you can find us under Menopriva.

So it’s M E N O P R I V A. So Menopriva on on Instagram or on Facebook also.

we have a website, menopriva.com. You can see all our products. We do ship worldwide, even if it

doesn’t say that we do. Right now, it says it’s primarily Europe. We also, you can just switch the

flag on top. It’s in German, but you can also see it in English, anything you want, and then just

shoot us an email. You know, it’s office@menopriva.com. If you have any questions or if you would like

like to order something, shoot us an email

and we’ll answer it and get it out to you.

And yeah, we’d love to hear from you if you have questions

because our mission is for women, from women.

So we want to support women.

We learn from you, you learn from us.

Let’s grow together.

Let’s go through this special phase in our lives

and come out strong and let’s be the pioneers.

So the next generation doesn’t have to go through

the things we went through.

It’s gonna be like, oh yeah, of course, it’s just nanopaws. It’s nothing special. You know, it’s just like going through puberty

I mean, we weren’t embarrassed about that, right? So why should we why should we feel bad about it now?

And there’s lots of good stuff out there, you know, make yourself– familiarize yourselves with it and do the research because it’s really really

important and there’s a lot of good stuff and I’m sure you also have a ton of information and and I’m sure if if you know

If I was in the States, I would come see you, Jannine.

Let’s put it that way.

JANNINE: Ah, thank you, Sadya.

I appreciate it.

I appreciate it.

And yeah, I love the teas.

I can’t wait to get my hands on some of those, some of the sprays, get my silk

pillow.

I’ll be all dialed in looking forward to it.

SADYA: Fantastic.

Well, thanks so much for coming on.

I appreciate it.

Look forward to chatting more in the future.

SADYA: Thank you very much for having me all the best to you and your listeners.

JANNINE: Thank you.

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