"You're so drunk!" "Why is your face so red?" These are familiar words heard by those of us who turn red when we drink alcohol.
In this post, will run through:
What is Asian flush / Asian glow?
How to prevent Asian flush.
How can A-yo help with your Asian flush?
What is Asian flush / Asian glow?
"Asian flush" or "Asian glow" are popular terms associated with what happens to Asians (predominantly East Asians e.g. South Korean, Japanese and Chinese) who turn red after drinking alcohol (sometimes after just a sip). But what exactly is it?
To put it simply - it is the inability to metabolise alcohol efficiently. Studies have shown that approximately 30-40% of East Asians are deficient in an enzyme called aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2). Alcohol is metabolised by our liver into acetaldehyde, which is then metabolised by ALDH2. If acetaldehyde is not metabolised in an efficient manner, it can trigger certain unwanted symptoms, including facial flushing. In more extreme cases, people can also experience headaches, nausea or full body flushing.
So, what can you do? The best thing is to obviously avoid alcohol. However, we know that many social interactions can involve having a drink or two.
Pepcid: Pepcid and other similar medication is sometimes used by people to help with Asian flush. Pepcid is a histamine-2 blocker so it is reported that some people take this before they start drinking to slow the breakdown of alcohol to acetaldehyde. However, studies have shown that antihistamines can mask more severe symptoms and result in people drinking more than their bodies can take, so if you do use this - please be careful.
Alcohol patches: There are some brands out there that have created an alcohol patch which have vitamins and antioxidants aimed at reducing the effects of Asian flush.
Green based make-up: Remember art class in primary school? In colour theory, green is the opposite of red, so a green makeup product placed over any redness works to neutralise the colour. See below for how A-yo uses this in our CC cream.
Choice of drink: Have you ever noticed that some drinks make you go more red than others? We have tried and tested a variety of drinks and generally found that certain types of alcohol and cheaper brands tend to make us go more red than others. Our advice? When you find a drink that doesn't make you go as red... stick with it!
Don't drink alcohol: As mentioned above, this is an obvious option. There are plenty of healthy non-alcoholic beverages out there. If you get extreme symptoms, which go further than a bit of facial flushing (e.g. nausea, severe headaches) we will always recommend just not drinking if you can avoid it!
How can A-yo help with your Asian flush?
Our anti-redness CC cream has been specifically designed with green pigments to counteract redness associated with Asian flush. Our formula is light-weight, blends in seamlessly and works best on light to medium Asian skin tones. Try it out today!
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