The 7 reasons booze is causing your hair loss – and could leave you bald
From dehydration to nutrient deficiencies and hormone imbalance - there's a lot of ways booze affects your hair
NEVER mind the sore head in the morning - your drinking could be making you bald.
We already know that alcohol can have some pretty nasty effects on the body, after all it is a toxin.
Those toxins can affect your liver, your heart, your skin and even your hair.
Yep, the more you drink the greater your chances of losing your locks.
It's important to remember to stick within the recommended 14 units of alcohol per week, so about six pints of beer or six medium glasses of wine - those are the NHS guidelines.
Anything more than that is considered drinking in excess and increases your risk of heart disease, stroke, liver disease and some types of cancer.
Here we reveal seven ways booze affects your hair... and could leave your head bald.
1. Dehydration = brittle hair
Alcohol causes dehydration - it's why you always need pints of water when you wake up the morning after.
"Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning it increases our need to urinate which dehydrates the body at a very quick rate," Dr Clare Morrison, from MedExpress, told The Sun Online.
"This is the reason why your hangovers can be particularly painful in the morning after a night of drinking, your body has a lack of nutrients and in need of proper hydration.
"Water makes up 55-75 per cent of human weight and its used to keep various bodily systems healthy.
"Water also plays a key role in the health of your hair follicles.
"A lack of hydration of the skin can cause a loss in the strength and elasticity which can lead to damage in the follicles swell as the hair shaft.
"It may also promote dry skin which then leads to itching and therefore an even more damaged scalp."
2. Booze is too acidic
"When you drink alcohol, this can shift the balance over to the acidic side," Clare said.
"And whilst a lot of the foods in our daily diets are weighted on the acidic side such as cheese and meats, we also need our vegetables which are alkaline based.
"When our body becomes too acidic it usually does all it can to reduce the acidity levels, and one of the ways it does this is by using protein stored in the body.
"The body can use a protein called keratin to reduce acidity, which is the key protein used to build hair follicles and make it stronger, thus more alcohol consumption means the body is using up the keratin, meaning it could cause your hair to feel damaged, brittle and to break, and even cause hair-loss."
3. Preservatives don't protect your hair
We all know preservatives aren't great for us - despite what the name suggests.
"Preservatives are everywhere, in food, body products and medications and even in alcohol," Clare said.
"Preservatives kill bacteria and essentially give foods and drink a longer shelf life.
"Digesting foods and liquids with preservatives in can lead to killing off the good bacteria and not having the right bacteria in your gut can cause a handful of health issues which can eventually lead to hair loss."
4. Booze = less nutrients
We all need nutrients for our body to run well, but when you drink too much you can cause a nutrient imbalance.
"Having a balanced diet and proper nutritional intake is important or your overall health and can reduce the risk of many health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease as well as providing you with the energy you need to perform in daily life," Clare said.
"Those who drink are at a higher risk of having mineral and vitamin deficiencies, this is usually due to a lack of nutritional intake which is most common in regular alcoholic drinkers, low nutritional levels can in fact lead to hair-loss, this is because zinc plays a key role in the process of keratinisation, the formation of the protein keratin which creates the hair follicle.
"Low levels of zinc can contribute to poor keratinisation levels, and the long-term cases of zinc deficiency can cause follicle hypoplasia, which is the underdevelopment of the follicle.
"If you find yourself with an inadequate nutritional diet you can take hair loss supplements however it’s better to get the nutrients from the foods."
5. The more you drink the worse you sleep
Sleep is important as it gives our body time to heal and repair any damage from the day.
If you're not getting enough sleep it can leave you with all kinds of problems.
"Stress has long been a reason many people suffering with hair loss or trichotillomania ( the hair pulling condition) and there are a number of reasons for this," Clare said.
"Stress can enhance neurogenic inflammation, as well as cytokine imbalance which can lead to further inflammation if it’s not treated.
"High levels of stress may also be linked to poor intake of oxygen, and this can reduce the oxygen available for your follicles, reducing the health of your hair.
"Studies have shown that alcohol consumption leads to poor quality of sleep, causing you to be overtired and irritable leaving you stressed, and wanting to itch, scratch or pull your hair again promoting hair loss."
6. Hormone imbalance
When you drink you can disrupt the natural levels of hormones in your body.
Alcohol can boost the production of the female sex hormone oestrogen in both women and men.
"Oestrogen is the female version of testosterone and is a hormone that helps the development of female sex characteristics," Clare explained.
"Studies have shown that alcohol consumption has been linked to increased levels of oestrogen, which means that increasing this female hormone within the body could contribute to hairless.
"It has been found that higher levels of oestrogen in the male body can cause follicles to become weak promoting hair loss, women tend to experience hair loss when their hormone level is higher than usual, this normally takes place throughout pregnancy."
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7. Booze boosts toxins
As the name suggests, toxins are bad for our health - including your scalp.
"Liver damage is one of the main health hazards of regular drinking, as the liver is responsible for removing toxins and purifying the blood," Clare said.
"But even short-term drinking can put a strain on the liver.
"Dehydration from drinking can make your liver work even harder, this is because with less water present, more toxins will be plaguing your body.
"For hair loss sufferers, alcohol can promote inflammation in the body, and inflammation of the hair follicle can lead to something called minaturizion which promotes hair thinning leading to loss of hair."
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