The Truth About Alcohol and Your Skin

While a night out with your friends and having a few drinks may be fun, it can wreak havoc on your skin. Waking up the next morning with skin that lacks its usual brightness in favor of a gray complexion and red cheeks isn’t a good look for anyone. To combat these side effects, get educated on what exactly is causing this to happen and find out which drinks are the best and which are the worst when it comes to your beautiful complexion. 

Why & How Alcohol Hurts Your Skin

It should come as no surprise that staying hydrated is just as important to your skin as it is to your body, both mentally and physically. When you don’t consume enough water, your skin can appear dull. Also, your wrinkles and pores can become more prominent, which none of us want! Alcohol is a diuretic so instead of providing you with the great skin benefits that water has, it can actually deplete your skin of water and the vital nutrients it needs to look its best. Have you ever noticed how your skin doesn’t look so great the morning after a night out that included a few drinks? Now you know why.

Alcoholic drinks actually dehydrate your body and rob you of the vitamin A and electrolytes you need, which can leave your skin looking dull, gray, and even puffy. You may have also noticed your skin looks rather red, especially in the cheek and nose area, after a night out. When you see this, what’s actually happening is the alcohol you’ve consumed is increasing your blood flow and causing the blood vessels closest to your outermost layer of skin to dilate. Sometimes the blood vessels can dilate so much that they actually burst, causing broken capillaries across your cheeks. If you have a pre-existing skin condition such as rosacea or psoriasis, drinking alcohol can exacerbate the problem.

The Best Drinks vs. the Worst Drinks

Just because alcohol can have a negative impact on your skin doesn’t mean you have to stop drinking it altogether. You just need to be careful about your consumption of it by considering how much you drink and what you drink.

So, what should you drink? Let’s take a look…

We’ve all heard of the benefits of red wine due to the amount of antioxidants it contains. However, if you suffer from rosacea, red wine is actually one of the worst alcoholic beverages you can drink. While any alcoholic beverages can cause a rosacea flare-up, red wine is much more likely to do so than white wine.

You may not know that beer also contains antioxidants, but since it also has less alcohol than straight liquor, you may opt for it instead. Drinks containing salt, such as mixed drinks and margaritas, can also dehydrate your skin as well as cause puffiness and bloating. Beer does contain salt, but not quite as high levels.

Wrapping-up…

Which is the best? Technically none of them are good for your skin but if you must choose, it looks like beer wins slightly due to the fact that there is less alcohol per unit of volume when compared to other drinks.

One thing to remember is to keep your body hydrated when you drink. Make sure you’re drinking water to prevent the alcohol from depleting the body of the hydration it needs. Try drinking a glass of water in between your alcoholic beverages to combat the negative impact it can have on your skin and potentially ease hangovers.