Do you have skin hangover? Here’s how to rescue your complexion from the effects of drinking

With festive season right around the corner, many of us will be knocking back more drinks than usual right now. But the very real effects of skin hangover may make you take pause and think about drinking a little more responsibly in the coming months, both for your complexion, and of course for your overall wellbeing.

Dry, breakout-prone, inflamed skin may be what stares back at you in the mirror after a big night, meaning your hangover doesn’t just extend to those lingering feelings of nausea and tiredness that invade your body (sorry). In fact, drinking is one of the worst things we can do for our skin, both in the short and long term. 

But there are ways to safeguard our faces both as we drink and the following day, when the hangover may hit. We spoke to skin experts to find out the best ways to keep things looking and feeling tip top

How does alcohol actually affect the skin to cause ‘skin hangover’?

Without putting a major Debbie downer on your night out,  alcohol can affect skin in a myriad of ways, and few of them are positive. 

The most obvious is dehydration, which impacts your entire body as well as your skin. “Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning it increases the production of urine, so when you pee the moisture out of your body you’re removing moisture from your skin, too,” says ‘Skin Nerd’ Jennifer Rock, dermal facialist and founder of newly refillable skincare brand Skingredients. “Dehydrated skin equals dull, unhealthy skin.”

When the body is dehydrated, “your skin and vital organs try to hold onto as much water as possible, leading to puffiness in the face,” adds Dr Kaywaan Khan, medical director at Hannah London.

Then there’s the inflammation factor. “Alcohol = inflammation and inflammation = skin’s enemy,” says Megan Felton, co-founder of skincare consultancy Lion/ne. “This is not just bad for those with inflammatory conditions, but can also lead to free radical damage that causes premature skin ageing.”

Other impacts include a disturbed night’s sleep (which is detrimental as sleep is so crucial to our skin health and appearance), breakouts, and ageing caused by premature wrinkles and lines. “Empty calories in certain drinks which can have sugar causes glycation, which is basically stiffening of collagen causing more wrinkles,” says Dr OBT, founder of Halcyon Aesthetics. 

So all in all the results are… well, not great.

Which drinks are the worst culprits for skin hangover? 

Experts agree that sugary drinks are the absolute worst for the dreaded skin hangover, as well as for your actual hangover! “Sugar causes insulin levels to spike which leads to widespread inflammation throughout the body. This leads to an overproduction of oils, which can end up causing a breakout,” says Rock. 

There’s also bad news for wine lovers. 

“I hate to break it to you, but red wine is one of the worst offenders because it’s a histamine releaser, which promotes redness and flushing,” explains Dr Khan. “This makes it the worst drink for the skin, particularly if you’re prone to redness, or suffer with rosacea.”