Rice water has been all the rage in the beauty world for a while now. On every corner, someone tells you to use a rice water toner on your skin or a rice water conditioner on your hair for all the supposed beauty benefits.
But how do you actually make this wondrous liquid? This post will guide you through the steps of easily making your very own rice water rinse at home, how to store it and the best way to use it on your hair.
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What are the benefits of rice water for hair?
Before we go into the actual making of our rice water, let’s quickly recap why rice water is so good for your hair. What are the actual rice water benefits?
While so far there isn’t proper scientific evidence to prove these benefits yet, anecdotal evidence suggests the following:
Rice water
- strengthens the hair, preventing damage
- straightens and smoothens the cuticle, making hair shinier
- increases hair elasticity, reducing breakage
And do you know which hair types benefit the most from this? That’s right, all of those with a curl pattern!
You might have noticed that “hair growth” is not on the list of benefits. Of course, all the benefits mentioned help with having healthy hair and that again helps with hair growth.
But the use of rice water will not directly increase the speed of hair growth.
Yes, I know the Yao women get beautiful floor-length hair, but they also keep their hair wrapped up all the time. This protects the hair from surface friction and hair breakage.
How do you make rice water?
So now you need to know how to make your rice water rinse.
The super nice thing about the rice water treatment is that you can easily make your rinse at home. Simply follow the steps below and you’ll have it in no time!
Rice water recipe
- clean water (ideally distilled water, especially if your tap water is hard)
- 1/2 cup of white rice (uncooked)
Wash the rice thoroughly. Then, simply place it in a cup or a bowl or something like that.
Pour the distilled water over the rice until it is completely covered. Depending on the width of your container you might need several cups of water. And let this sit for about two days at room temperature.
Make sure to cover your container so nothing falls in during that time.
Why 2 days?
You might be wondering why you need to let your rice water soak for this long. The reason behind this is that you want to let the water ferment. And this is the time you need to wait for the fermentation process to start.
Don’t worry! This actually makes the tincture more effective as a beauty treatment because fermented water contains more antioxidants.
So there you go! Your rice water toner or conditioner is ready for use!
Rice water conditioner
So now it’s time to make good use of the starchy water.
Simply let the rice water rinse slowly run over your hair after washing it. You can even massage it into your scalp a little bit.
Alternatively, you can apply it with a spray bottle or even do the soaking method where you submerge your hair fully in the rice water.
Different ways work for different people!
For the best results, let the tincture soak in for as long as you would with a normal conditioner. but at least a few minutes.
Then, rinse it out thoroughly.
If you follow all the steps of the Curly Girl Method, you’ll want to do this before the other steps of your hair care routine.
Related: Homemade conditioner with MSM: It’s actually easy!
Can I leave rice water on my hair?
Some people have been asking if they can leave the rice water on the hair.
I personally do not recommend that for two reasons: One of them is that this is fermented water, after all. So you don’t want this to stay on your head forever until it starts to smell.
The second of the side effects is that rice water acts kind of like protein for hair which means that it can have a slightly drying effect.
You probably won’t get to protein overload with it, as it isn’t exactly a full-on protein treatment. But keep an eye out for suddenly very dry hair, especially if you have low porosity hair!
If you’re too worried about the amino acids messing with your curls, simply try the hair strand test first.
Either way, you will need to moisturize after using a rice water conditioner. So I would wash it out and moisturize well afterward.
You could simply use your favorite hair oil or apply a nice deep conditioner.
Enjoyed this?
Did this help you make your very own rice water and finally try the rice water method? I hope your hair feels and looks amazing and it helps with your hair health.
Make sure to pin this to your haircare board and share it with a friend!
*These links are so-called provision links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I can earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
