It’s the same story time and time again. You meet up with your pals for dinner and an innocent round of drinks, and before you know it, all of you are four cocktails deep. And the worse part is — okay, probably not worse than the hangover you’re going to get the morning after — you have to get up early and face your boss in a meeting at nine the next morning. So what’s a hungover girl to do?
While we can’t help you in the “how to make you feel less nauseous” department (sorry hon, you have to figure that one out yourself), we can help you in the “how to make yourself look good despite feeling like you have a thousand hammers banging in your head” department.
Here’s a rundown of the things you need to do from the moment you get home in the middle of the night to your routine the next morning.
Remove Makeup + Cleanse Face + Shower
It’s two in the morning and you’re finally home. We know the only thing you want to do now is to hit the sack without removing your makeup or taking a shower, but you have to resist this urge. You’re already going to be looking pretty rough the next morning, you don’t have to make it worse by leaving your makeup during what’s left of the night.
Therefore, the very first thing you should do when you’re home is to immediately remove all your makeup and giving your face a good proper cleanse. Opt for the double-cleanse method to ensure your face is completely free of makeup. You can either use micellar water or a cream cleanser as your first cleanse. This step will take off most of your makeup, so make sure your makeup remover or cleanser is a hardy one.
Follow this up with a second cleanse using a cleansing balm, which will get rid of any leftover impurities on your skin. Remember, you’re not only removing your makeup here but also all the dirt, grime and bacteria that has collected on your skin throughout the day. Thus, really give your skin a good cleanse so you’ll be left with a clean canvas.
Next up, take a shower. There’s no better way to wake yourself up and feel as refreshed as possible than giving yourself a warm shower. Make sure the water is not too hot as this can make the already dilated vessels in your skin more prominent, which will exacerbate your skin’s puffiness and redness.
Drink Lots of Water
After taking care of your skin, it’s time to help your body repair itself after a long night of downing one shot after the other by drinking lots of water. And we mean a ton, more water than you ever thought you needed. Hydrating yourself after a night of drinking is extremely important as the large amount of alcohol you’ve ingested can dehydrate your body as well as your skin. Thus, drinking water will help your body cleanse itself and prevent your skin from drying out too much.
If chugging down plain, unflavoured water sounds unappealing, you can choose to drink coconut water instead. The electrolytes present in coconut water will aid in retaining water as well as maintaining the level of moisture in your skin.
Sleep with an Overnight Hydrating Mask
Now that you’ve hydrated yourself from the inside out, it’s time to do the same from the outside in by putting on a hydrating face mask just before you go to sleep. Look for ones with emollient ingredients such as shea butter, mango seed butter, olive extract, hyaluronic acid, and aloe vera. These ingredients will provide your skin with a high level of moisture, allowing your skin to drink up the hydration overnight.
Other ingredients to look out for are those that will help to calm your skin, especially since your hangover will most likely lead to redness. Ingredients such as vitamin B and chamomile will help to tame the redness so that by the time you wake up the next morning, your skin will be soft and dewy, even if you feel like you’re about to crash right back into your bed.
Give Yourself a Facial Massage
Waking up to a swollen face the next morning is normal when you’re hungover. To reduce the swelling, give yourself a lymphatic drainage massage to rejuvenate your skin. Beginning at the base of the sides of your neck, gently massage this area in a circular motion. Work your way up towards your jaw, along the sides of your face and around your eye area. This serves to encourage the nutrients to enter the tissue.
If you are prone to breakouts, however, do this facial massage in the opposite way by starting from your eyes and working your way downwards. This will draw the impurities away instead of causing them to enter into the deeper layers of your skin, therefore preventing breakouts and clogged pores.
In the second part of this article, we’ll be covering the skincare products you should reach for in the morning as well as makeup tips and tricks to hide your hangover.