For the first time in Australia's history, the Federal Government has launched a national awareness campaign dedicated entirely to perimenopause and menopause. (Finally!)
If you've seen the ads, you might still be wondering what it actually means, and whether it changes anything for you. Here's what we know, and where we think the conversation still has a gap.
What's actually happening
In May 2026, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing launched "Could This Be Perimenopause?", developed with agency Ogilvy. It's the first campaign of its kind ever run by an Australian government, and it's a big one: it will run across television, cinema, digital video, digital audio, social media, out of home and regional press through to December 2026.
The campaign primarily targets women aged 35 to 55, and centres on what the campaign's creators call the "inner voice" of perimenopause, the sleep disturbance, brain fog, sudden sweats, anxiety, and fatigue that so many women experience without a name for it.
As Ogilvy's Chief Strategy Officer Fran Clayton put it: "The silence around perimenopause and menopause has carried a real cost. We've had decades of confusion, misdiagnosis, and suffering that women simply didn't need to face alone." She added that the goal was to find women "in that 3am moment, wide awake, wondering if they're losing their mind, and say: we see you, this is a thing.
The numbers behind it
This isn't just a TV ad, it sits inside something much bigger. The campaign is part of the Australian Government's $792.9 million women's health package. Off the back of that broader investment:
- More than 800,000 women have accessed more than 3 million cheaper scripts for new treatments listed on the PBS. (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme)
- New PBS listings for menopausal hormone therapies have supported 430,000 women to save more than $70 million.
- Nearly 105,000 women have undergone a menopause health assessment since 1 July 2025, when it first became covered by Medicare.
Health Minister Mark Butler said: "Menopause should not come as a surprise, but for too long silence and stigma have left too many [women navigating it alone]."
Assistant Minister White added: "It is important that this campaign reflects the different experiences of perimenopause and menopause, because no two women experience it the same way."
What the campaign doesn't talk about
Brain fog, sleep, mood, hot flushes, this is genuinely important territory, and the fact that it's finally being said out loud, nationally, by a government, matters enormously. But there's a part of the perimenopause experience the campaign doesn't mention once: what's happening to your skin and your facial hair.
As oestrogen drops during the menopause transition, it declines faster than androgens, the hormones (including testosterone) that women naturally have in smaller amounts. That shift, sometimes called relative androgen excess, is what causes fine vellus hair, the "peach fuzz" most women already have, to become more visible on the face. Some women also notice coarser, darker terminal hair starting to appear, particularly along the jaw and upper lip. At the same time, slower skin cell turnover means dead skin builds up more easily, leaving skin looking duller and less even than it used to.
It's just as real, just as hormonal, and just as common as the symptoms the campaign covers. It just hasn't had its own "first ever" moment yet.
That's exactly the gap we've been trying to close, in our own small way, for the last few years. As an Australian brand built around dermaplaning, we hear from women navigating these exact changes every single day, the peach fuzz that's suddenly more visible, the dullness that wasn't there before, the quiet question of "is this just me?"
We don't have a government budget or a national TV campaign, but we do have a real voice, real customers, and a genuine stake in making sure this part of the conversation doesn't get left out either.
If you want the full picture, why this happens, what actually helps, and what doesn't, we've written a complete breakdown here:
It's just as real, just as hormonal, and just as common as the symptoms the campaign covers. It just hasn't had its own "first ever" moment yet.
That's exactly the gap we've been trying to close, in our own small way, for the last few years. As an Australian brand built around dermaplaning, we hear from women navigating these exact changes every single day, the peach fuzz that's suddenly more visible, the dullness that wasn't there before, the quiet question of "is this just me?" We don't have a government budget or a national TV campaign, but we do have a real voice, real customers, and a genuine stake in making sure this part of the conversation doesn't get left out either.
If you want the full picture, why this happens, what actually helps, and what doesn't, we've written a complete breakdown here: Perimenopause and Facial Hair: What's Really Happening to Your Skin (and What Actually Helps)
Where to go for the official information
If you want to read the government's own resources, fact sheets and support information, the official campaign hub is at health.gov.au/perimenopause, including a practical guide to understanding perimenopause and menopause, advice on keeping healthy, and information on managing and treating menopause-related symptoms.
If you're navigating this and need to talk to someone, the campaign encourages women to talk to their doctor for medical advice or to discuss treatment options.
Who is Make My Shave?
Make My Shave is an Australian-owned skincare brand on the Gold Coast, built around honest conversations about the parts of skincare nobody quite talks about. You can read more of our work, or get in touch, at makemyshave.com.au.
Make My Shave is not affiliated with the Australian Government's perimenopause campaign. This article reports publicly available information for context.
Useful sources: Campaign Brief, Australian Health Minister,