We tried out one of the latest hair treatment trends that involves rinsing your hair with rice water. It wasn’t like anything we’ve used before to make our hair and scalp healthier, but the effects were immediately noticeable: easier to comb, softer feeling hair, increased shine and reduced brittle look.
Although a lot of us are only hearing about and discovering the benefits of rice water on hair, it is very popular in Asian countries and has been used for centuries to promote hair growth, prevent breakage, increase volume and make hair smooth and shiny.
All you need is rice, water, a colander and a bowl. You begin by rinsing uncooked rice grains to remove any impurities and then soaking them in water so all the amino acids and vitamins which promote hair regeneration can be released. After this you strain the rice out and keep the water to massage into the scalp and wet the hair with.
There’s a lot of different ways you can use rice water, including as a pre-poo that goes on your hair and scalp before you cleanse and condition or in between shampooing and conditioning or after conditioning. So if you’re short on time you might do the pre-poo treatment like we did. Otherwise, you can indulge in a bath time pampering session and choose one of the other options.
Here’s the low down on how to make your rice water hair treatment and how we used it.
We poured 1 cup of rice into a bowl and then added 1.5 cups of water.
Impurities were removed by washing the rice and we then let it soak and sit for 2 hours in water.
After a good amount of time had passed, we strained the rice and kept the water over night in the fridge (optional, you can also do it until the water begins to look cloudy).
About 20 minutes before it was time to wash our hair, we wet it with the rice water and let it soak in. We washed it out when it was time to shampoo and then used the extra water to cleanse the hair with just before conditioning.
We were a bit sceptical about using rice water as a treatment on our hair but we were pleasantly surprised about the immediate benefits we noticed.
The good thing about using a hair treatment like rice water is that it does not cost a lot in time or money and it’s sustainable. The footprint on the environment is minimal and there doesn’t have to be any food wastage as you can use the rice to make a dish to eat for dinner.
Winning on all fronts.
