IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FREKKEL
Join Frekkel’s waitlist before January 31 to receive personalised guidance …
There comes a moment for many women when the skincare rules they’ve followed for decades quietly stop working. The cleanser that once felt comforting now leaves skin tight. A trusted moisturiser suddenly seems to sit on the surface. Breakouts appear alongside dryness. Sensitivity creeps in without warning, and despite doing “all the right things”, there’s a growing sense of confusion.
“Dryness was the first thing I noticed. My skin just doesn’t have that bounce anymore,” said one woman who took part in early research conversations for Frekkel. “It’s not the wrinkles, it’s the dullness and dryness. It just feels different. And no one had really explained why.”
Laura Dowling MPSI with founder and CEO of Frekkel, Marah Curtin.
She’s not alone. For women navigating perimenopause and menopause, skin changes are often one of the earliest, and most frustrating, signals that something deeper is shifting. Fluctuating hormones can affect collagen, elasticity, hydration and the skin barrier itself, leading to dryness, redness, pigmentation and sensitivity. Yet much of the skincare industry continues to offer generic advice, product-heavy routines and influencer-led recommendations that don’t reflect this reality.
The result is bathrooms full of half-used products, mounting frustration, and a creeping loss of confidence.
“If you asked me why I tried certain products, it’s probably because I read or heard someone saying it was good,” another participant shared. “It’s a bit haphazard, really.”
It’s this gap, between lived experience and trustworthy guidance, that led to the creation of Frekkel.
Frekkel isn’t a skincare brand in the traditional sense. It doesn’t exist to sell a miracle cream or promise transformation overnight. Instead, it was built as a response to a simple but profound insight: women don’t need more products, they need clarity.
“Skincare has become incredibly noisy,” says Frekkel founder Marah Curtin. “There’s an overwhelming amount of advice, much of it marketing-led rather than science-led. And for women in midlife, that noise increases just as their skin is changing the most.” Frekkel was created for women in their 40s and 50s, often juggling work, family and changing hormones, whose skin has started to behave differently without explanation.
Frekkel is an app designed to meet women where they are, bringing together dermatology, lived experience and intelligent insights to help them understand what’s happening beneath the surface of their skin, and how to care for it with confidence. The app offers personalised, brand-neutral guidance that adapts as skin changes, helping women make sense of the products they already own rather than encouraging constant consumption.
What sets Frekkel apart is its focus on transparency. Every recommendation comes with an explanation, the “why” behind the advice, removing the sense of guesswork that so often defines skincare decisions.
“I just want to know if there’s a more cost-effective way to get the same results,” one woman said during research interviews. That desire for understanding, not correction, is central to Frekkel’s philosophy. The platform speaks to women as peers, not problems to be fixed. It reflects a broader cultural shift away from anti-ageing narratives and towards empowerment, education and self-trust.
There’s also a strong sense of community at the heart of Frekkel. Through shared stories and anonymised insights, women begin to see that their experiences aren’t isolated or unusual, they’re part of a wider, often unspoken reality.
“No-one told me my skin could be dry and oily at the same time,” one participant laughed. “I thought I was doing something wrong.”
That phrase, “no-one told me”, has become something of a refrain. It captures both the frustration women feel and the quiet relief that comes from finally having language for what’s happening. Frekkel aims to change that silence. By translating dermatology into everyday language and grounding technology in empathy, it’s creating space for more honest conversations about skin, hormones and confidence in midlife.
The ambition is long-term. While Frekkel begins with women navigating perimenopause and menopause, the vision is to build a trusted skin intelligence platform that supports people across life stages, skin tones and experiences. A place where science is accessible, advice is unbiased, and understanding replaces overwhelm.
“Seeing everything in one place is really refreshing. It cuts through the noise. It’s calming.”
In an industry built on promises and perfection, that calm might just be the most radical offering of all.
Frekkel is currently welcoming women to join its waitlist at frekkel.com ahead of launch, inviting them to be part of a more honest, science-led approach to skin health. Women who join the waitlist before January 31 will be invited to early access – an opportunity to explore Frekkel as it takes shape, receive personalised guidance, and help shape what comes next.
