Rice. Periodt.
Can we seriously start talking about when, where, and how rice became the center of attention for a beauty regimen? Folks are debating on the internet about a grain that adds pounds to the scale if you digest too much, can be the main or side dish to various delicious dishes and if you know how to add a pinch of cinnamon and such, can be the star of a mean pudding. Rice. Yes, we are here during this pandemic being entertained by debates over the grain called rice. Let’s get into it.
So this past weekend, even though we are supposed to be in the house away from people and doing weekend thangs, I was busy with my fiance and his mom, cleaning out the years of bills that old people like to keep, “just in case” in preparation for a move. Needless to say my scrolling thumb was busy and I missed out on a couple of debates, one being about eggs in potato salad – we’ll get into that another time. And the other, was about quote post, “rice water doesn’t go in your hair”. Well, well, well…where did this repeated phrase in an Instagram post come from? I don’t personally know Pam, however, I’ve seen her live a few times to hear her voice when saying this statement over and over again. You’d think she talked about someone’s mama when she voiced her opinion about using the grain water in your hair.
Now that it’s the next day and I have some time, I skimmed through the comments to see a few requests for sources to the claim. Did the internet close during this quarantine too? Come on people, you have time to research and see where she may have received her hypothesis from.
Many say that her opinion on the content was not true because they have long (debatable) hair from using rice water. The way my kinky textured hair is feeling this morning, I’m tempted to at least try it out but I just can’t see myself remembering to save rice water, just to use on my hair. What’s next spaghetti water? I tend to allow professionals to tell me what I need in my hair based on their expertise. I tried over the counter protein treatments and it just didn’t make a difference for my texture. Not saying that it wouldn’t for yours, just be mindful and do the research before spending your cash on over the counter products.
What is the benefit of using rice water?
According to Wiley Online Library, Japanese women with floor-length hair were said to attribute this from combing their hair with rice water rinse otherwise called, Yu‐Su‐Ru. Due to flaking residue left on the hair, Yu-Su-Ru was not used alone but in addition to the haircare process. Having never been to Japan, I would guess they don’t have Uncle Ben’s or Carolina rice sitting around to boil and use in their regimen. So the benefits from taking the grain from its original element and creating that starch water full of vitamins may be different from what you would get when getting your rice from Stop n Shop.
Do you use brown rice or white rice when making rice water? According to sources, white rice is less nutritional than brown rice because it’s stripped from the germ and bran. “The germ is the core of the grain, and is often rich in many different nutrients, such as fat, protein, carbohydrates, antioxidants, and many other different beneficial compounds, including most of the vitamins in rice.” Since white rice is stripped down, most of the vitamins and benefit of the grain is lost in the process. Which could conclude that you’re better off researching what vitamins you need for your beauty regimen and buy them separately instead of creating a mess in your kitchen and not achieving the results of someone you saw on Instagram with generations of genes that produce long and thick hair.
I know in my house, brown rice isn’t very common. It is on a rare occasion where we would make or order brown rice to go with our meal. We tend to buy and make Jasmine rice, the cooking time is quick and the flavor of the rice is better than regular parboiled rice. Needless to say, I don’t think I’ll be making any Jasmine rice water any time soon.
6 thoughts on “When did rice water become the highlight for natural hair care?”
i think you guys should try it. i am soaking my rice already to apply soon.
N.B it makes your hair dry, so make sure you keep your hair moisturized after use to avoid hair loss
I have tried using rice water and i saw that it originated from a village in china where the women have extremely long hair. It sure works because i have tried it twice and at the second time, i trimmed my hair cutting almost half of my hair length and in a month i have gotten back my former length and i think its even a length longer.
I love it. I even have a post about it. It helped tremendously with my postpartum hair loss.
My hair stylist tried it once on my hair, and it was just a strange situation. I didn’t care for it, and maybe my reaction was because it was not my usual hair treatment. But since then I haven’t tried it, and have not felt like giving it another chance. Who knows , but I have also read great things about it just as you stated in your post. Kudos for those who have given it a chance and it works. Maybe I am missing out.
I personally haven’t used rice water but I know several people who and they have said that it has been very beneficial to their hair. Maybe one day I will try myself.
I’m lowkey scared to try it out even though at the same time I’m curious. If that makes any sense. I’d like to know from people who claim it is so great to tell me their health and eating habits. This also makes a difference.