If you consume alcohol with regularity and you notice that your hair is falling off in significant quantities, while becoming thinner, frailer, and duller, then you need to know that there is a connection between alcohol consumption and hair loss. Moderation is the key to everything, so while it is okay to have a glass of wine or beer now and then, constant alcohol consumption will affect both your skin and hair alike. If you want to know more about how can alcohol cause hair loss, take a look at the aspects mentioned below. These are facts discovered by doctors and researchers, so they are not just mere assumptions.

Alcohol leads to dehydration

In order to grow, hair needs water, just like any other cell in our body. In spite of the fact that alcohol is available as a liquid, drinking it does not mean that we are hydrating ourselves. On the contrary, alcohol leads to dehydration, which explains the hangover sensation after a night of heavy drinking. When our body is dehydrated, the result is a dry, brittle, and fragile hair. In other words, the hair will be dull, without the ability to reflect light and shine in a healthy manner, and will break easily when using a comb or hairbrush. Not to mention that dehydration leads to dandruff, as the skin on the scalp gets dry as well, together with skin dryness throughout the entire body.

It takes nutrients from your body, leaving behind just toxins

Alcohol has a lot of calories, quite a lot in fact, which makes the people that consume alcohol on an often basis to neglect a healthy diet. But, in spite of the fact that one can of beer has more than 300 calories alone, this doesn’t mean that we won’t feel hungry. On the contrary, alcohol consumption leads to unhealthy eating habits. When drinking alcohol, we feel the need to snack on junk foods, like chips, or to crave fatty and unhealthy food, like fast-food. All these foods do us no good because even if they do fill our stomach, they are poor in valuable nutrients. So, the lack of a healthy diet that is capable of providing our bodies the nutrients it needs is topped by the fact that alcohol produces toxins, intoxicating your organs, the liver being one of the most affected. Thus, in these conditions, hair cannot grow healthy and strong, so alcohol causes hair loss indeed.

It affects the levels of essential minerals for your hair

When you drink too much alcohol, the iron levels in your body are affected drastically. Iron is needed for the growth of our hair, which is constantly renewing itself, being in a continuous growth state. When there isn’t sufficient iron available, the growth rate of your hair will be diminished. In fact, in cases of alcohol abuse, hair stops growing but continues to fall, deprived of its needed nutrients and minerals. Thus, baldness appears in the near future, as the hair follicles stop producing new hair that is meant to replace the one that fell off. Just like in the case of iron, zinc starts to disappear in the case of alcohol consumption. Zinc is one of the most important elements for healthy hair growth, so low levels of zinc triggers a premature aging of the hair, which means that more will fall off.

Alcohol messes up your hormones

You probably didn’t know this part, but alcohol increases the levels of some hormones. We are talking here about estrogen, which is particularly high after a night in which alcohol was abused. The situation of chronic drinkers is even worse, as the levels of estrogen in their bodies are high on a constant basis. It is worth knowing that estrogen makes the hair to break at the root level, as it becomes much more fragile, which explains how can alcohol cause hair loss.

It negatively influences sleep quality

While it is true that small quantities of alcohol can make you sleepy, it doesn’t mean that you will enjoy a good and resting sleep. Alcohol consumption leads to a restless sleep, making you wake up rather often during the night, so you’ll end up waking tired in the morning. Sleep deprivation or low quality sleep affects the health of the hair, by increasing stress levels in the body. And we all know that stress causes hair loss.

So, next time you are going out for a drink with your friends or decide to relax while drinking something, think twice because now you know that alcohol causes hair loss. If you want to enjoy a healthy and beautiful hair, you need to considerably reduce alcohol consumption or remove it entirely out of your diet. What do you think about this matter? Do you think that there is a direct correlation between alcohol consumption and hair loss?