It’s said that everything is perfectly acceptable, but any excess is bad for you! This also applies to alcohol. For example, a glass of red wine drunk once in a while won’t cause any harm, yet it might deliver positive effects. This beverage contains antioxidants that effectively fight back free radicals responsible for accelerated aging. What’s the influence of alcohol on skin, hair and nails? How does alcohol contribute to skin dehydration, puffy eyes, premature wrinkles, skin problems, dilated capillaries as well as weakened hair and nails?
What alcohol really does to your skin, hair and nails?
Alcohol and skin dehydration
Organizm recognizes alcohol as a toxin. When in kidneys, they start neutralizing alcohol and this process requires great amounts of water. And this is why we visit a restroom more often after drinking a few glasses of wine. Each 250 milliliters of alcohol equals 500 milliliters of excreted urine, which rapidly leads to body dehydration, which considerably affects skin. The latter becomes matte, more sensitive and easily irritated. Moreover, it deals with the external factors (sun, wind, frost and sudden temperature fluctuations) definitely less effectively and has worse reaction to cosmetics (since it’s easy to irritate, the skin has problems with absorbing nutrients). Dehydrated skin becomes dull, therefore it resembles fatigued complexion.
Alcohol and puffy eyes
Alcohol consumed in excess slows down vasopressin secretion, which is an antidiuretic hormone. For that reason, kidneys work slower and eye skin might become swollen and darker.
Alcohol and premature wrinkles
People who regularly consume huge amounts of alcohol develop wrinkles definitely faster than the others. The cause of their appearance is skin dehydration and depriving the body of substances that are crucial for proper functioning of skin, and they are vitamin A and B-group vitamins as well as calcium, folic acid and zinc. This is why alcoholics look older than they really are – especially women whose skin is thinner.
Alcohol and skin problems
Alcohol shouldn’t be consumed by people suffering from acne rosacea and psoriasis because all types of beverages intensify the already existing inflammations and stimulate appearance of new ones.
Alcohol and dilated capillaries
Alcohol is responsible for dilating capillaries, therefore skin gets red after drinking an alcoholic beverage. If alcohol is consumed regularly, the delicate walls of capillaries stiffen and don’t return to their original shape. As a consequence, they create these blemishing spider veins that can be seen through skin. In other words, people who often drink much alcohol have widespread skin blemishes which take the form of nose and cheek redness.
Alcohol and weakened hair and nails
Thinned and dehydrated hair is yet another side effect of excessive alcohol consumption. This is the aftermath of body dehydration and depriving it from zinc. Hair of those who like hitting the bottle is weak and brittle. Also, the hair is affected by split ends and falls out excessively. The same adjectives, which are brittle and splitting, can be used to describe nails – again, zinc shortage is the cause.
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