Hacking Your Hangover: Part 2 – On The Day Itself

You’ve woken up after your night out and you’re feeling a bit rough. You feel dehydrated, your skin feels dry and you realise that you have to get up and look presentable for the rest of the day. Rather than panic or simply accept your temporarily more haggered look, I’ve put together 4 easy steps to help refresh your skin and put you back on the path to a refined gentleman.

Be Smart about Rehydration

Everyone knows that drinking water on a hangover is a great way to help your body recover. However, there are alternatives to water that can help restore vitamins, salts and minerals to your body thus decreasing recovery time. I’m not talking about sugary, uber caffeinated energy drinks but instead referring to drinks like coconut water, white tea, black coffee or homemade smoothies.

These should also help reduce junk food cravings which, although offering short term satisfaction, ultimately end up being bad for your body and your skin. A better solution is to go for naturally salty broths like Miso soup or chicken noodle soup, as these will satisfy some of your hunger without being awful for your personal health and skin.

Reinvigorate Your Skin

My morning face wash routine has been fairly standard over the past 5 years or so (though the products I’ve used haven’t changed all that much). However, recently is take the recommendation from Robin James from ManforHimself (go check out his YouTube channel, you won’t regret it) and upped my skin cleansing routine.

The main way I did this was by getting my hands on a scrubbing brush to apply and work in my face wash. There are a couple of options available to men here but I ended up with the Magnitone brush recently launched exclusively for men called “The Clean Sweep”. Having been using it for over 3 weeks now, I can say that it’s been used during one or two hangovers and instantly refreshed my skin.

The bristles and pulsing stimulates the skin whilst cleansing it, giving a natural glow that lasts throughout the day. I tend to use it in combination with either Penhalligon’s Bayolea facewash, a citrusy and natural wash that is very fresh and clean, or the Cornerstone Pumice exfoliating scrub. Definitely worth the investment and time.

Make Use of an Ice Mask

Puffy eyes and skin are often an indication of a night spent indulging so to help hide these tell-tale signs, I find it’s always useful to have an ice mask ready.

Simply applied in the morning and worn whilst getting ready, it helps reduce redness around the eyes and cheeks as well as reducing puffiness around the eye area. By the time you remove the mask you’re skin will feel more toned and less tired.

Alternatively, you can have a cold shower rather than a hot one which will have the same effect but is more easily fit into your morning routine. However, it does make for a more rude awakening.

Calm Your Mind

Hangovers are stressful, there’s no doubting that and this stress can often exacerbate how bad you feel as well as tire you out. It’s important to ensure that you’re in the right mindset to combat this stress.

An app that I’ve found has been great for a 10-minute mind booster has been “Headspace”. This micro-meditation smartphone application guides you through a short meditative series that can be done at a desk, in bed or even on the daily commute. I’ve already recommended it to friends and family with all of them now using it regularly to combat day-to-day stress.

A healthy mind makes for a healthy body so don’t forget to get out of your head for a few minutes…

Thanks for checking out the post and let me know what your secrets are for hacking a hangover and keeping yourself feeling fresh and stylish.

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