If you, like so many of us, like to partake of a tasty alcoholic beverage or two every now and then, you may have noticed some not so attractive side effects for your skin. These may include redness, dry, scaly skin, breakouts and inflammation. Not something you want to wake up to, after a night out.
But what is actually happening inside your body to cause these unfortunate symptoms?
And how can you minimise these effects?
Many people experience “alcohol flush reaction” after a few glasses of alcohol. Why does this occur?
After having a drink, the body begins to break down the alcohol content into other substances to make it easier to flush out of the body. One of these substances is acetaldehyde, which is very toxic to the body.
When drinking in moderation, the body can usually process these by-products relatively well. However, if a person is sensitive to alcohol or has a lot to drink, their body may not be able to manage all of those toxins, and acetaldehyde can begin to build up in the body.
The red facial flush happens because the blood vessels in the face dilate in response to these toxins. In some people, this can happen after very little alcohol. This dilation of blood vessels can after a time become permanent!
This red facial flush is, unfortunately, a genetic condition that cannot be quickly remedied, and is usually an indication that you need to slow down your drinking and rehydrate with water.
Alcohol is a known diuretic (meaning it makes you pee more) and actually prevents your body from extracting water from urine in the kidneys.
This means alcohol can dehydrate you, and your skin can become dull and rough, as the skin cells are not getting the water content they need to stay plump and healthy.
Dry skin is also an indication of an impaired acid mantle, which means it does a poor job of protecting us from the elements and dangerous bacteria and viruses
This dehydration can cause premature aging of the skin, like wrinkles. Dry skin is also a stepping stone to post-bingeing breakouts, which leads us to our next side effect.
By impairing your acid mantle with dehydration, your skin is open to bacterial infection. In addition, alcohol dilates the pores of your skin, leading to blackheads and whiteheads.
In the same way that alcohol causes redness, it also causes inflammation in the tissues of your skin, by bringing blood into these tissues.
Why is this a bad thing?
We all know the sun is the number-one ager for the skin, but most people don’t realize that the second major cause of skin aging is inflammation — any way we can avoid inflammation will be better for our skin.
If you enjoy a drink or two, chances are you are not going to give it up altogether. And we are not going to suggest this!
Here are our tips to reduce these negative impacts on your skin (and the rest of your body).
The silly season means a growing number of events piling up in your diary.
But you want to keep your healthy, glowing skin, so it’s time to get lockdown your skincare routine.
Putting in the groundwork ahead of time (not the night before, sorry) is guaranteed to save you a tonne of stress (and time!) in the weeks to come, and reward you with a fresh and blooming complexion that will be the envy wherever you go.
Short answer, yes. But how and why?
We are diving into a look at the various different factors that can affect your skin type and sometimes cause a complete 180 in how your skin behaves (bit rude, really.) And more importantly, how you can handle these skin changes.