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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think booze wrecks your face

150 replies

Everythingnotsaved · 04/08/2020 18:42

I normally have a booze break of 6 months every year- during that time I regain my skin and my jawline which at 47 is no mean feat.

I’m on summer hols at the moment & have been drinking for 2 weeks and I look bloated, fat, jowley and awful. I feel so crap about myself & look 10 years older.

Aibu to think as you get older, even small amounts of booze have a huge effect?

OP posts:
AmICrazyorWhat2 · 04/08/2020 20:05

@Thefab3. Interesting observation on the marathon enthusiasts...my bil2, who looks older and more tired than the boozy ones, is a marathon runner! Perhaps he’s overdoing it.

Thefab3 · 04/08/2020 20:06

I spend loads of time in France and tbh I think French women do look great and love their style but a lot in their 30’s look very haggard.
It could be the weather but also where we stay men and women drink loads , not at all just the one glass with a meal.

Tunnocks34 · 04/08/2020 20:09

I agree. I don’t drink much (glass of wine every now and then) but on Friday. OH and I had three Mojitos each. I woke up midnight to be sick, had a head ache and my face was patchy and greasy.

popcornlover · 04/08/2020 20:14

I don’t notice a difference. Play hard, work hard, keep fit is my motto.

oakleaffy · 04/08/2020 20:14

Booze marks the face for sure.
In men and women. It gives a slack, puffy look, and glazed eyes .
Sobriety is better for the looks!

JingsMahBucket · 04/08/2020 20:26

@Abraid2
French women drink moderately. They make a glass last a meal.

Yes and their glasses/pours are about 125mL or 150mL on average. In the UK it's usually 180mL or 250mL which is how a lot of British people end up drinking a bottle of wine each when going out to restaurants or at home. If the restaurant's average pour is 250mL and you have 3 glasses of wine, that's a whole bottle right there. And that might be at lunchtime on the weekend or a weekday evening too. In France it doesn't necessarily work that way.

JingsMahBucket · 04/08/2020 20:28

@Thefab3

I spend loads of time in France and tbh I think French women do look great and love their style but a lot in their 30’s look very haggard. It could be the weather but also where we stay men and women drink loads , not at all just the one glass with a meal.
@Thefab3 yeah there are definitely some regions (and neighbourhoods within cities) of France where people drink a lot more and look rougher as a result. When you combine that with cigarettes it's dicey.
romaniac123 · 04/08/2020 20:33

I think it's a combination of factors but undoubtedly regularly consuming large volumes of alcohol can't be good for you. I think it depends what you do drink - probably wine is a better option than spirits. My MIL comes from a country where they drink one or two glasses with dinner and she looks pretty good for her age. In contrast my mum has had a "harder life" and is not much of a drinker and her skin looks pretty bad for her age.

Quite a few of my friends drink fairly large quantities of alcohol but they can afford nice moisturisers etc and they don't have any children and they look amazing for their age.

KaleJuicer · 04/08/2020 20:39

One query is I'm not sure why "wine would be a better option than spirits"? Alcohol is alcohol and if anything, wine has addiitives and suphates that, eg, a high end vodka doesn't have. Surely it's all down to the volume/units consumed per week or session? I know red wine does have positive anti-oxident qualities but the studies I've read relate to one or two glasses in moderation, not bottles.

gingganggooleywotsit · 04/08/2020 20:43

In your 40s it not only makes you look bad, it makes you feel like shit for several days afterwards! I get really down afterwards now, and used to be fine when I drunk. So unfair!

Dreamscomingtrue · 04/08/2020 20:45

I’ve drunk in moderation for 50 years, I’m 63 now and I’m often told how nice my skin is and that I look at least 10 years younger.(I drank shandy, snowball or port and lemon at Christmas as a teenager).

I also swim an hour a day, eat healthily, sleep well and use inexpensive moisturisers. I sunbathe but have always used suncream and have protected my face with a hat since my teens.

My Mum died at 63 but had great skin.

Even though she’d smoked all her adult life, so I think It must be mainly down to genetics.

I’d post a pic but would probably get accused of using a filter, when in fact I’ve just got an old crap Samsung phone.

Dreamscomingtrue · 04/08/2020 20:49

kalejuicer

I was thinking the same thing, wine is basically sugar, although red does have some anti oxide things qualities.

I think that it is more the quantity of how much you drink daily. Also other aspects of your lifestyle.
Smoking, nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress, sun damage etc.

Clumsyduck · 04/08/2020 20:53

Absolutely does if you drink to much.
Which I definitely was last year - bloated dehydrated face - not a good look !!
Best thing I did for my skin ( and waist and jawline ) was quit drinking

Northernsoullover · 04/08/2020 20:53

I quit drinking permanently over a year ago. It took years off me for sure. My eyes looked sunken and hooded which I thought was the inevitable ageing. Not drinking has actually reversed that. I'm sure its a temporary reprieve as I'm in my late 40s but even so, I'll take it. I also threw out all my green tinted concealers now that I no longer have post alcohol flush.

mawbroon · 04/08/2020 20:55

It's 15 years since I last had a drink. Obviously I have aged since then, I have grey hair and "laughter lines", but I look way healthier than I did in my 20s

Thefab3 · 04/08/2020 21:01

We’re always in the countryside in France and a really beautiful area but plenty of drinking and alcohol is so cheap there. I agree smoking is still a lot more common where we visit. There’s been a huge reduction in smoking especially in young people where we live but really notice it’s still common even in people in their 20’s and 30’s in the area we stay in France.

cardibach · 04/08/2020 21:01

@gingganggooleywotsit

In your 40s it not only makes you look bad, it makes you feel like shit for several days afterwards! I get really down afterwards now, and used to be fine when I drunk. So unfair!
I think by ‘you’ in that you simply mean yourself, as you have expressed in the second half. I know alcohol isn’t good for you, but I’m 55, drink too much (gin and wine mostly) and rarely get a hangover or feel tired/rough after drinking. If I stop drinking (which I do from time to time) I can do so easily, it I don’t sleep better, feel better or look better. So when you, and several other PPs, say ‘alcohol makes you ’ they actually mean to say ‘alcohol makes me ’. It isn’t possible to generalise.
CoffeeandPastries · 04/08/2020 21:03

I do notice it in my skin, yes. Normally DP and I have 3 days on, 4 days off, but recently that's gone out the window!

It's been a mixture of lockdown, good weather and then lots of SD get togethers.

I'm definitely looking puffy, baggy and my skin tone is just a bit grey.

Thefab3 · 04/08/2020 21:04

This is a really good thread. I’ve slipped into drinking a bit (very moderately as it massively affects my sleep) over the lockdown. Decided over two weeks ago it had to stop as even two glasses of wine would affect me for a couple of days, bad sleep etc.
Great to hear about the benefits to skin tone. I also find it makes me so lethargic and it’s cumulative.

Emmie12345 · 04/08/2020 21:07

I became teetotal for this reason - drinking wine regularly makes your look awful and fat-faced. I can always tell now if someone drinks regularly ...

Give it up and just have the odd glass of bubbly at a wedding for eg

BrightYellowDaffodil · 04/08/2020 21:10

I gave up drinking for a month for various reasons, including a stint in a completely dry country. Didn’t notice any difference in my sleeping or skin, and I’m in my 40s. Shan’t bother again!

formerbabe · 04/08/2020 21:12

I don't drink...I think I look younger than many people I know who do drink and are my age or younger.

Alcohol is poison as far as I'm concerned.

TornadoOfSouls · 04/08/2020 21:13

I haven’t had a drink for 14 years. I think all past bad behaviour hits your face in the early to mid 40s as I’m now seeing sun damage I didn’t know I had - but the main difference from giving up booze is that my body shape changed. I used to be very pear shaped, am now much less noticeably so, my skin is better all over, I have less cellulite and look fairly young for my age. It took a few years for my system to fully recover, but then I was a heavy drinker. Stopping for a few months might not be long enough to see differences.

MrsExpo · 04/08/2020 21:28

I agree OP. I’ve has far more wine than normal over recent weeks and am now not liking the way I look at all. Going to drop it for a few weeks to give myself a break.

Thecobwebsarewinning · 04/08/2020 21:28

I haven’t found that to be true. I used to drink very heavily every day of the week. Two years ago I cut right back to light drinking just 3 days a week. I had good skin before and I have good skin now. I think it’s more down to genes and a high SPF.

I look worse after a few months of lockdown - I haven’t drunk more during this time but I’ve eaten far too much sugar.