Medically reviewed by Minimalist Health Specialist - Written by Rupali Goswami (Beauty Expert) on 16th Mar 2021
7 Benefits of Rice Water For Skin
People have been taking proper care of their skin forever but do you think skincare products were always available? Of course not! In ancient times, people used to work with whatever was available; be it skincare, haircare, food, or any other things related to their lifestyle.
You may ask what the good thing about that is? The good thing about that is they used to get all their ingredients in a new form. They used to prepare their face masks by making a paste out of fresh plant leaves, fruits, and milk. Olive oil was used as a popular exfoliator and a moisturizer. Some popular ingredients used in the anti-aging department were yogurt, milk, honey, berries, etc.
One such famous ancient ingredient is rice water. The history of rice water goes back to ancient China, where women have been using this magic ingredient in their beauty routine as a skin toner and rinse out their hair. Isn't it great? You can not only eat it but also use it to promote healthy skin and hair.
Let's move to the part where we tell you what rice water is, how it can benefit your skin, how to use it for your skin, and a lot more about it.
What is rice water?
Rice water is known to be a staple ingredient in the beauty routine of many people. In today's scenario, rice water has been incorporated in many skincare and haircare brands. The use of rice water has come into the limelight in the recent past, as so many brands are coming out with different products containing this magical ingredient.
The starch that comes out of draining or boiling rice is exactly how rice water is obtained, and it looks like runny white water. It might look simple but has some amazing properties. Rice water contains an insane amount of powerful minerals and vitamins such as antioxidants, amino acids, vitamin B, vitamin C, and vitamin E.
Rice can not only satisfy your stomach but can also help your skin in several ways when used in the form of a cleanser, toner, and sheet masks. These can help minimize and tighten pores, treat and control breakouts and acne scars, and achieve a radiant glow and soft skin.
Along with this, rice water also helps strengthen the hair by providing all the essential proteins to make them stronger, shinier, and softer.
Benefits of rice water
There are several reasons why rice water was considered popular in ancient times and is still in high demand. Using rice water will surely change your skin, and you will be thinking, why did you wait this long to include such a multi-faceted ingredient in your skincare routine.
Let's discuss some of those benefits, shall we?
1.Works as a skin brightener:
Rice is a popular food in many places but is used as an ingredient in several products, mostly in Asian countries like Korea, China, and Japan. You must have seen how their skin glows and shines; that's because most of the products contain rice water. That is the secret to their perfect-looking skin.
Rice water contains helpful chemicals that can treat hyperpigmentation, sun spots, and age spots. Although research does not support it, people have claimed to see changes after just a few uses and experienced more smooth and clear skin.
2. Helps in the minimization of pores:
Pores can be tricky to deal with because you can never get rid of them, and enlarged pores contribute to more problematic skin causing acne breakouts, oily skin, and rise to more and more bacterias. Rice water works great as a skin toner and astringent as vitamins like B, C, and E can help with the pores' depreciation and tightening. Rice water is more on the gentler side, helps remove excess sebum, makes the skin less oily, and leaves a mattifying effect.
3. Has anti-aging benefits:
There is aging, and there is premature aging. Both can affect your confidence, and while it is impossible to stop aging signs, there are always ways to reduce and slow them down. While there are so many causes that can lead to aging, you must take care of your skin in any way possible.
Rice water contains high amounts of antioxidants that can help stop certain compounds that cause damage to the collagen and elastin in the skin. One study concluded that such activity of antioxidants could supplement the antioxidant capacity in the skin.
4. Help ease the sun damage:
Harmful rays of the sun can ruin our skin from within and can affect the deeper layers as you have never imagined. Be it sunspots, sunburns, hyperpigmentation, fine lines, or wrinkles. The sun contributes to a lot of damage that your skin has to suffer.
Rice water can help ease the damage caused by the sun and help your skin recover faster. The cooling properties of rice water can be used to treat inflammation, redness, and itching.
5. Calms irritated skin:
Some skin conditions can cause an uncontrollable irritation and itching in the skin that can further cause redness and rashes. Rice water can help calm irritated skin because of its cooling and healing properties. Bathing in rice water has been proved to be very effective when it comes to soothing irritated skin. A study demonstrates that using rice starch for bathing can help heal the skin by twenty percent.
6. Helps protect skin barrier:
Your skin protects your entire body from different factors like pollution, sun damage, skincare products, and other environmental aggressors. The skin barrier is the topmost layer that protects the deeper layers of the skin from almost everything. When the natural barrier is disrupted, our skin becomes dry and unguarded, making several skin conditions attack the skin.
A study showed that rice water could help improve the functioning of the natural barrier of the skin. The same study also showed an improvement in patients suffering from a skin condition called atopic dermatitis.
7. Packed with minerals and vitamins:
While we fill our stomachs with whatever food we want, we often forget to give our skin the necessary nutrition to maintain a proper state. Some minerals, vitamins, and acids are essential to maintain healthy and beautiful skin. Rice water is packed with many minerals, vitamins, acids, antioxidants, and a lot more to ensure your skin is getting the fuel needed for a smooth texture, glow, and even skin tone.
Preparation of rice water
It is as simple as it can get. Preparing rice water is hassle-free and doesn't take much time to get to the final point. The point of preparing rice water at home is that you will be getting a pure form of this ingredient without going through much trouble. Next time you boil the rice, save that water and give your skin & hair a wonderful bath with rice water. Here we are explaining two ways to prepare rice water:
1. Boiling Method:
Next time you boil the rice, save that water and give your skin & hair a good bath with it. As you can tell by the name, this method requires you to bring the rice water to boil. It is exactly like how you would cook them for eating purposes.
After the rice is boiled for several minutes, remove the rice from the water and transfer the leftover starchy water to some other utensils, let it cool completely, and there you go, you have your rice water packed with nutrients. It is said that rice water should always be diluted with milk because it is highly concentrated on its own.
2. Fermenting Method:
This method might take some time to reach the end but can give you some amazing benefits. Rice water is believed to have added benefits when made using this method. Fermentation occurs when, through a chemical procedure, one compound changes to another. In this method, you need to clean the rice properly by rinsing them thoroughly a few times to make them dirt-free.
Place the rice into a bowl filled with water and let it soak overnight or for a day or two. Separate the water from the rice, and there, you have your rice water.
Ways to use rice water
The versatility of rice water is impressive as it works for both skin and hair. There are several ways of how rice water can be used:
- It can be used to rinse your hair. You need to run it through your hair and leave it on for about 10-15 minutes.
- It works as a natural sunscreen. Sunscreen consisting of rice water is said to have improved benefits against the harmful rays of the sun.
- It is a great exfoliator. Rice water can help exfoliate the skin to remove any dead cell particles and promotes brighter skin.
- Rice water works great as a cleanser or toner. It has the same properties as a toner, which helps remove all the dirt and impurities from within the skin and help tighten your pores.
Conclusion
What could be better than an all-natural ingredient that can benefit you in so many ways? Products containing rice water can make a huge difference in how your skin and hair look and feels.
Using rice water originated a long time back, and since then, it has always been a star ingredient that can solve most of your problems. It is safe to use for anybody and everybody and can be used daily. Rice water has numerous benefits and can be used as or in different products.
