Contents:
- What Is Hair of the Dog, Anyway?
- How Hangovers Actually Work
- Does Hair of the Dog Actually Reduce Hangover Symptoms?
- Common Mistakes to Avoid
- What Actually Works: Evidence-Based Hangover Relief
- Rehydration Is Non-Negotiable
- Restore Electrolytes
- Eat Properly
- Rest and Sleep
- The Exception: Why Some People Still Swear by Hair of the Dog
- Preventing Hangovers Is Easier Than Treating Them
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Does having a pint in the morning cure a hangover?
- Why do some people feel better after a drink when hungover?
- Is there any scientific evidence hair of the dog works?
- What’s the fastest way to recover from a hangover?
- Can I prevent hangovers completely?
- Moving Forward: Better Choices Tomorrow
You’ve had a rough night. Your head throbs, your mouth feels like sandpaper, and someone’s suggesting you take a drink to feel better. The “hair of the dog” remedy has been passed around for centuries, but does hair of the dog work? The honest answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no.
This phrase—using alcohol to treat a hangover—persists in pub culture and late-night conversations across the UK and beyond. But before you reach for a morning pint, it’s worth understanding what actually happens in your body when you’re hungover and whether this folk remedy holds any real merit.
What Is Hair of the Dog, Anyway?
The term “hair of the dog” comes from an old belief that applying hair from a dog that bit you would cure the bite. By extension, the phrase applied to alcohol means consuming more alcohol to treat hangover symptoms. The full old saying was “a hair of the dog that bit you.”
In practice, this typically means having a beer, glass of wine, or spirit the morning after heavy drinking. Proponents claim it eases nausea, headaches, and fatigue. But what does the science actually say?
How Hangovers Actually Work
To understand whether hair of the dog works, you need to know what causes hangovers in the first place. Hangovers result from several factors working together:
- Dehydration: Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning it increases urination and fluid loss. This dehydration contributes to headaches and dry mouth.
- Congeners: These are byproducts of alcohol fermentation—compounds like acetaldehyde that accumulate in your system. Darker drinks like whisky and red wine contain more congeners than clear spirits.
- Blood sugar drops: Alcohol interferes with your liver’s glucose production, leading to fatigue and shakiness.
- Sleep disruption: While alcohol might make you drowsy, it prevents deep, restorative sleep.
- Stomach irritation: Alcohol increases stomach acid production, causing nausea and discomfort.
A typical hangover involves multiple symptoms because multiple systems in your body are affected. This is important because hair of the dog doesn’t address any of these root causes.
Does Hair of the Dog Actually Reduce Hangover Symptoms?
Here’s what actually happens when you drink more alcohol while hungover: You experience temporary relief. That’s not a cure—it’s a delay.
Drinking more alcohol does provide short-term symptom relief, primarily because alcohol is a depressant that numbs physical sensation. It temporarily suppresses the unpleasant feelings associated with dehydration and low blood sugar. You might feel slightly better for 30 minutes to an hour. But this relief is illusory.
Research consistently shows that hair of the dog doesn’t eliminate hangover symptoms. In fact, a study published in medical literature found that while alcohol consumption might provide perceived relief, it doesn’t actually reduce the severity of future hangovers. What you’re experiencing is the pharmacological effect of alcohol itself—a temporary masking of symptoms.
More importantly, consuming more alcohol when you’re already dehydrated and your liver is already processing toxins makes recovery harder, not easier. You’re essentially pressing pause on your body’s natural recovery process while adding more damage to repair.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
People often make several errors when dealing with hangovers:
- Confusing symptom relief with actual recovery: Yes, a drink might make you feel better momentarily. That doesn’t mean your body is healing. It’s not.
- Neglecting hydration while drinking more: If you do try hair of the dog, you’re less likely to drink water, which is the actual treatment your body needs.
- Delaying food intake: A drink on an empty stomach accelerates symptom relief (which feels good) but worsens your hangover trajectory.
- Ignoring the compound effect: Adding more alcohol, congeners, and stomach irritation to yesterday’s damage creates a worse hangover the next day.
What Actually Works: Evidence-Based Hangover Relief
According to Sarah Mitchell, a registered trichologist and wellness consultant at London’s Kensington Health Institute, “The body’s recovery systems work best when you remove obstacles and provide what it needs—hydration, rest, and nutrients. Adding more alcohol is like trying to clean a wound with more dirt.”
Effective hangover treatments address the actual problems:
Rehydration Is Non-Negotiable
This is the single most important factor. Aim to drink roughly 500ml of water for every standard drink you consumed. If you drank six pints, that’s approximately 3 litres of water over the following day. Water rehydrates your cells, helps your liver process remaining alcohol, and relieves many common hangover symptoms.
Restore Electrolytes
Water alone isn’t enough. Your body lost sodium, potassium, and magnesium through increased urination. Electrolyte drinks (not sports drinks loaded with sugar—look for ones with under 5g sugar per serving, around £2-4 for a bottle), coconut water, or even a pinch of salt in your water helps your cells retain fluid.
Eat Properly
Toast with honey, eggs, or a simple pasta dish replenish blood sugar and provide carbohydrates your liver needs. Avoid greasy food, which increases nausea for many people. Timing matters: eating something within an hour of waking helps stabilise blood sugar faster.
Rest and Sleep
Let your body recover. Deep sleep is when your liver processes toxins most efficiently and your immune system repairs damage. Aim for 8-10 hours if possible.
The Exception: Why Some People Still Swear by Hair of the Dog
A handful of research suggests a tiny benefit in very specific circumstances. People with alcohol dependency sometimes experience genuine physical withdrawal symptoms (tremors, anxiety, elevated heart rate) the morning after heavy drinking. A small amount of alcohol can temporarily ease these withdrawal effects. This is emphatically not a treatment—it’s a dependency symptom. If this applies to you, speak with a GP about proper support.
For ordinary social drinkers, the perceived benefit is psychological or the temporary numbing effect mentioned earlier. Neither constitutes a cure.
Preventing Hangovers Is Easier Than Treating Them
Here’s what actually prevents hangovers: drinking less, spacing drinks over time, alternating alcoholic drinks with water, eating before and during drinking, and avoiding drinks high in congeners.
- Drink 250ml of water for every drink consumed, not the next morning—during the night.
- Eat protein-rich food before drinking. This slows alcohol absorption.
- Stick with lighter-coloured drinks: vodka, gin, and white wine cause fewer hangovers than whisky, dark rum, or red wine.
- Set a cut-off time. Most hangovers come from drinking within 2-3 hours of bed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does having a pint in the morning cure a hangover?
No. It provides temporary symptom relief by numbing physical sensation, but it doesn’t cure anything. You’re delaying recovery and making the next hangover worse.
Why do some people feel better after a drink when hungover?
Alcohol is a depressant and painkiller. It suppresses physical sensations temporarily. This is symptom masking, not recovery.
Is there any scientific evidence hair of the dog works?
No peer-reviewed research supports hair of the dog as an effective hangover treatment. Studies show perceived improvements but no reduction in actual hangover severity or duration.
What’s the fastest way to recover from a hangover?
Hydration (water and electrolytes), rest, food, and time. Recovery typically takes 24 hours for moderate hangovers, longer for severe ones. There’s no shortcut.
Can I prevent hangovers completely?
Drinking less or not at all prevents hangovers entirely. If you do drink, pacing, eating, and hydrating during (not after) the night significantly reduce hangover severity.
Moving Forward: Better Choices Tomorrow
The hair of the dog myth persists because it offers a comfortable belief—that we can undo last night’s choices with one more drink. Reality is less forgiving. Your body needs hydration, rest, and time to repair the damage alcohol causes. Adding more alcohol only extends the problem.
Next time you’re tempted by a morning drink, reach for water and a proper breakfast instead. Your afternoon self will thank you. And if you’re planning another night out, remember: prevention beats treatment. Drink mindfully, stay hydrated during the night, and you’ll wake up feeling like yourself.
The science is clear. Hair of the dog doesn’t work. But proper recovery strategies do.
