WHY YOU SHOULD STOP THROWING AWAY RICE WATER

Think twice ,next time you make rice, and about to throw away the water! It turns out Rice water is one of the cheapest ways to pamper your skin and hair! While the world gushes over creams and potions sold in a bottle, Asia’s easiest and well-kept secret is literally all you need for a glowing skin and lustrous hair.

Rice water – which is nothing but water in which rice has been left to soak/boil for a while – contains benefits galore, and adding it to your personal care regime will only enhance your skin and hear health in the most natural and chemical-free way. Rice water has many healing and beautifying effects on the skin deriving from the many vitamins and antioxidants it contains:

HISTORY OF RICE WATER

The Chinese village of Huangluo, home to native Red Yao women, is in the Guinness Book of Records as the ‘world’s longest hair village’. The women here boast long, lustrous and healthy hair that is consistently maintained. The villagers believe that it is a symbol of luck, longevity and prosperity. So what is the secret to their fabulously-maintained hair? An ancient but extremely simple Chinese remedy – rice water! This magic potion, used as a natural shampoo and rinse for centuries now, clearly works wonders. In fact, women usually don’t start graying until they’re almost eighty years old! But China doesn’t hold monopoly over rice water. Around 1,200 years ago, women in Japan – especially those at the Imperial Court – used rice water to rinse their hair as well as wash their face. This solution was highly acclaimed and termed ‘Yu-Su-Ru’. Geishas especially used it, to keep their skin smooth, even-toned and supple. Even Korea (which has now seen a revival in traditional beauty techniques) and other South East Asian countries like Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia have a history of using rice water as a key beauty supplement. 

How do you make and store rice water at home?

There are two very simple ways to make rice water at home. 

1) In a large vessel, soak a cup of uncooked rice in double the amount of water, and leave for about half an hour. Strain the water into a bottle – this is rice water. 

2) In a cooker, boil rice in twice the amount of cooking water that you normally use for cooking. When it is half cooked, strain out the water into a bottle, and use as rice water. 

Storage: Rice water should be stored in a jar, vessel or bottle with a lid at room temperature in a dry place. It can be consumed immediately, or over 4-5 days. The older the solution, the more concentrated, so you may need to dilute it with water with each passing day. Rice water should be thrown away after 5 days, and fresh batch whipped up.

Tip: It is preferable to use organic rice, clean filtered water, and rinse the rice thoroughly before use to get rid of any topical pollutants and pesticides. White rice is preferred over brown or red rice – since the water from the former has more extensive benefits.

What does it contain, and how often can you use it?

Rice water has a multitude of components with nutritional value for the skin and hair. Around 16 percent of these are proteins, the building blocks essential to cell health. Triglycerides and lipids each make up 10 percent of the rice water composition, while starch (an extract still used in Japanese cosmetics), is present at 9 percent. Carbohydrates, inositol, phytic acid and inorganic substances are other components in rice water. This is what you get when you boil an average handful of white rice in two cups of hot water, and strain out the residue liquid.

✓ Rice water can be used twice a day everyday as a skin toner, once a day in a skin mask or as a facial rinse. It can also be used as a shampoo as often as you shampoo your hair, or as a final rinse. 

How to use on your skin:

✓ Wash your face as you normally do and pat dry your skin with a towel. Use a cotton pad soaked in rice water to completely saturate your skin, as you would do with any skin toner. Let your skin air dry and then apply your moisturiser. Repeat twice a week for best results.

It acts as an astringent on the skin, tightening poresIt nourishes and protects skin due to vitamin E it contains.It helps the production of collagen, preserving skin elasticity. It inositol content helps promote cell growth and regeneration. It acts as an antioxidant to protect against free radicals and aging. It protects the skin from UV-damageIt helps heal acne and cools redness. It helps treat eczema

SKIN BENEFITS OF RICE WATER

Over the years, various studies have been testimony to the fact that rice water, part of Asia’s culinary legacy, is also part of its beauty legacy. And for good reason. There are several benefits to using rice water for the skin. 

1) It soothes skin conditions in sensitive skins, including acne and pimples. In 2002, a study from the Department of Toxicology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium determined that patients with skin conditions like inflammation, rashes and dermatitis benefitted greatly from taking a bath in rice water twice a day. So people with sensitive skins, rejoice! It is the most natural astringent you can ever imagine, thanks to its high starch content, and is good for people suffering from chronic acne and pimples as well. 

2) It keeps your skin safe from the sun

Rice water is a natural sunscreen, protecting from the harmful effects of UV rays. In addition, rice water can be used to treat sunburns. Just apply it on sun-damaged skin, and it will help your skin recover faster. It also helps tighten open pores. A dermatological study on patients with atopic dermatitis claimed that taking a 15 minute bath with rice water twice a day could improve the condition significantly.

3) It is an anti-ageing solution

Skin texture is greatly improved, and elasticity is restored by using rice water, especially in the case of dry and dehydrated skin. Rice water is rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, flavanoids and phenolic compounds. In addition, it contains ferulic acid and allantoin, all of which are necessary for skin function. 

4) It improves the complexion 

One of the key functions of rice water is brighter skin and an even skin tone. If you dip a cotton ball in fermented rice water and massage it into your face, it really works wonders. You’ll find sunspots, pigmentation, hyperpigmentation and freckles lightening.

✓ Soak a cotton pad in rice water and apply it on your clean face like a toner. Applying this concoction on your face promotes cell growth and stimulates blood flow. This natural skin toner keeps you skin smooth and bright.

6) It protects against skin cancer

Not only does it promote cell growth and regeneration, keeping your skin supple and smooth, it also has antioxidants, which keep various skin cancers at bay and also act as an anti-ageing agent. 

7) It benefits the skin on your body, not just your face

You can use it as a bath soak – just add two cups of rice water into regular water that’s in your bath rub, and finish up with a few drops of lavender essential oil. Soak for about half an hour to reap the skin benefits of rice water all over the body, while the lavender lulls you into a comfortable sleep-like state.

8)For pores:

Washing your face with rice water will reduce the size of the pores.

HAIR BENEFITS OF RICE WATER 

How to use on hair.

✓ Wash your hair as you normally do and rinse them well. Work in some rice water in your hair, leave for a 2-3 minutes and rinse well with water. Repeat once or twice a week. If you need to use extra conditioner, use a leave-in one after you towel-dry your hair.

Rice water is an excellent hair conditioner. Studies have shown that it contains the carbohydrate inositol, which stays inside hair, even after rinsing, offering continuous beautifying and protective effects:

Increases hair elasticity,Reduces surface friction,Strengthens hair,Helps restore damage,Make hair shiny and manageable

1)For healthy and shiny hair:

After washing your hair with shampoo, apply some rice water to

your hair. Allow it to stay for a few minutes and then rinse it off.

The proteins in this rice water will strengthen your hair shaft and

leave it smooth and shiny.

2) Say goodbye to frizzy hair

In 2010, a study was published in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science, where researchers clearly stated that using rice water as a hair treatment offered several benefits including improved elasticity, texture and lesser friction and frizz. This is largely due to the presence of inositol, a carbohydrate. 

3) It is a chemical-free hair cleanser

Using it as a shampoo to wash out your hair may not be as convenient as a store bought shampoo, but it comes without chemicals and preservatives, and you don’t even need to follow it up with a conditioner. 3) It balances your scalp’s pH levels

Rice water keeps your hair’s natural oils intact and its pH levels are similar to that of the scalp! For added benefits, a few drops of your preferred essential oils can be added to rice water, and this mix can replace your regular shampoo.

OTHER USES OF RICE WATER

1) It is good for stomach-related ailments

Including rice water in your diet is beneficial in more ways than one. It can cure a number of ills such as stomach infections, gastric problems and nausea. It improves gut health drastically, which in turn reflects on the outside, giving you smooth and radiant skin. 

2) Rice water is good for babies

Rice water is also used extensively across Asian cultures for babies who are weaning off nursing, to settle their stomachs. 

3) It keeps the body healthy

Drinking up rice water is a natural cure for eczema, fever and other bacterial infections. It is full of energy, with a low-cal but high-carb way of providing your body with the boost it needs to get through the day effectively. 

4) For a probiotic face mask, take half a cup of curd and mix 2 tsp rice water into it. Let it sit for ten minutes. Then apply all over face and neck, and leave on for 10 minutes. Wipe with a wet washcloth and pat dry. This pack has anti-ageing and skin firming benefits.

5)Mix half a cup of rice water with half a mashed banana in a blender. Add a few drops of castor oil and apply all over face, including a very thin, careful layer under the eyes. Dip some cotton wool in a teaspoon of rice water and slowly remove the pack. Once every inch of the paste has come off, splash water on your face and pat dry. For tired and dull looking skin, this pack is ideal.

6)Here’s a real treat! This antioxidant scrub will have your skin glowing in no time. Add 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder to a tbsp of rice water and mix well. Scrub this into the skin in slow upward strokes. Then rise well and pat dry with a towel