Tournée Minerale: what a month without alcohol does for your skin

It's Tournée Minerale: in February, we'll put aside alcoholic drinks and reflect on the effect they have on our body. Poor sleep, weight gain, but also weakened skin. What can a month without alcohol mean for your skin?

What effect do alcoholic drinks have on your skin?

1) Confusion: your skin functions don't know it for a while

Alcohol can confuse you sometimes, but did you know that your skin no longer knows how to behave when you drink alcohol either? You lose a lot of moisture, your skin discolours, your pH level increases, while your skin barrier weakens.

2) Vulnerability: your skin loses its antioxidants

So alcohol confuses your skin functions, but your skin also becomes more vulnerable. After all, your skin has a very extensive network of antioxidants, which neutralize harmful substances. But alcohol attacks these antioxidants. This makes you extra sensitive to sunlight, among other things. Have you ever had a glass of wine under the sun while on vacation? Then you can be more affected by the sun until the day after: it forms free radicals in the skin that can cause damage.

Did you know that

red wine contains antioxidants and therefore supplements them instead of attacking them. However, we don't think it's the ideal way to boost your antioxidants. Below you can read what effects alcohol still has on the skin, and you'll probably understand why we wouldn't recommend red wine for your skin either.

3) Dehydration: your skin also dries out

This one is obvious: just like on other organs, alcohol has a drying effect on your skin. Alcohol is a diuretic, which loses fluid at a rapid rate. In other words, it draws all the moisture out of your skin. How does that manifest itself? Rough, dull skin that seems to have lost all its suppleness and glow. Moreover, due to the lack of flexible cells, you can get wrinkles more quickly.

4) Fluid retention: you get puffy bags around your eyes

Just because you generally lose so much fluid, your body wants to compensate for this. Your vital organs will convulsively try to retain all the fluid they can hold. This leads to fluid accumulation, usually in the face. Ever had tiny eyes after dinner or a party? Then, in addition to the hangover, this may also be due to the fluid around the eyes that causes swelling.

5) Aging: your collagen is affected

Alcoholic drinks deplete your body's vitamin A levels and cause saccharification due to the many sugars. This disrupts the renewal of skin cells: The decrease in vitamin A affects the collagen in your skin, and the sugars in alcohol also settle on the collagen, causing it to harden and no longer recover.

And collagen is something you don't want to miss: the structural protein produces new skin cells so that your skin stays firm, young and healthy. Without these cells, wrinkles or sagging become visible.

6) Saccharification: you become more sensitive to acne

To quickly come back to saccharification: the amount of sugars in alcohol can also worsen acne symptoms. By itself, alcohol will not immediately cause severe acne outbreaks. But if you are prone to acne, it can have a domino effect. Your blood sugar levels drop, your hormones react causing your skin to become impure, you get extra sugar and pimples can occur.

7) Discoloration: your veins dilate and give a blush

Finally, alcohol can cause inflammation in the skin tissue. This leads to the familiar flushing cheeks when drinking. At first, the redness disappears, but with frequent drinking, it can also become permanent.

In addition, alcohol also causes your blood vessels to widen. This way, more blood can flow through it. The more blood, the redder, and the more visible. Here, too, the veins widen and appear to jump more and more when consumed excessively, and that the discoloration can therefore become permanent.

Refreshing routine for your skin after drinking alcohol

• Hydrate. Of course, but we can't say it enough. Help your body retain moisture by bringing in moisture itself. From drinking water to a moisturizer or moisturizer, your skin will thank you.
• Cleanse your skin. It has little to do with alcohol itself, but always remove your makeup after a night out and wash your face properly. If you don't do this, it can further fuel the negative effects of alcohol on your skin.
• Smear sunscreen. Do you remember that the sun makes your skin more vulnerable? So some extra protection doesn't hurt.
• Eat eggs, blueberries, tangerines, apricots, passion fruit. All foods that contain vitamin A and/or antioxidants can give your skin a boost to renew cells and become supple and strong again.

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