Hangover Skin 101: How To Help Your Skin Bounce Back The Day After Drinking

As New Year's Eve rolls around, so does the impending hangover the day after. While there are definitely better ways to spend the first day of the new year than hungover on the couch, sometimes it's simply inevitable.

In order to properly revive your skin, you should first know exactly how drinking affects your complexion. "Alcohol dehydrates the body, creates inflammation, lowers immunity, and interferes with nutrient absorption, all of which directly affect the health of your skin," organic esthetician Katie Sobelman tells mbg.

So, first and foremost, your goal should be to rehydrate the skin from the inside out and decrease inflammation. But that's not all: "If you happen to fall asleep with your makeup on, that increases your risk for breakouts and further disrupts skin health," Sobelman says.

Apart from prepping your cleansers and tonics to avoid sleeping in your makeup, you should also prep your body for alcohol intake. Do this by drinking loads of water, and consider adding electrolytes to your beverage the day before drinking, leading up to your big night out, and the morning after.

Skip the sports drinks loaded with sugar and opt for something more natural, like these Hydration Mixes from Cure—they have zero added sugars and contain oral rehydration salts, which, according to the World Health Organization, offer comparable hydration results to an IV drip.

As you probably already know, your skin can naturally grow puffy in the morning, and especially the day after drinking. The answer: facial icing. See, cooler temperatures dial down inflammation, which is often the culprit in swollen skin; it also constricts your blood vessels, which may ease the appearance of dark circles.

But taking a raw ice cube to your skin isn't the best idea, as it can result in increased sensitivity and make your skin angrier (it can even lead to broken capillaries for some). Instead, use an ice roller, ice globes, or dunk your face in a bowl of ice water for around 30 seconds.

Once you've hydrated in the morning, it's time to start your skin care routine. Sobelman recommends beginning the process with an enzyme cleanser or face mask to gently slough off dead skin cells.

"This will allow hydrating products to penetrate better without causing additional irritation since enzymes don't dive into the deeper layers of the skin," she explains. That said, fruit enzymes may provide a better form of exfoliation for the day after drinking compared to chemical exfoliants, like AHAs and BHAs, or physical scrubs.

Hungover skin desperately needs topical hydration, so opt for a hyaluronic acid serum. This is the key to replenishing moisture in the skin and getting your complexion back to a bouncy, dewy state.

For even better results, apply your HA serum to damp skin post-cleanse. Because hyaluronic acid is a humectant, it will pull water into the skin, simultaneously offering a plumping effect.

Next, call upon antioxidant serums, like those with vitamin C. Antioxidants protect the skin from free radicals that cause oxidative stress and lead to more inflammation—here's a list of our favorites if you're ready to shop.

If you have oily or acne-prone skin, finding a moisturizer that deeply hydrates without clogging pores isn't always easy, so here's our curated list of the best 13 options for oily skin, if you're in the market.