The benefits of rice water are multiple, a Chinese ethnic group uses it in a very specific case.
Rice cooking water has multiple benefits. Do not throw it away after removing your rice from the pan: instead store it in a clean, closed container. Be careful though, rice water must be kept at room temperature for at least a day so that it can ferment and thus be more effective. Rich in starch, vitamin B and minerals, rice water is an ancestral beauty technique for washing hair.
It has historically been used as a natural ingredient by Yao women, an ethnic minority who resided in the village of Huangluo known as the “Long Hair Village”, in southwest China’s Guangxi province. Yao women, even older ones, have always sported long, silky and vibrant hair, sometimes reaching 2.1 meters thanks to this well-kept secret.
The starch present in rice water has the power to close the hair scales, strengthen the scalp by destroying dandruff and tame frizz. You can now replace your conditioner or detangler by adopting this natural beauty ritual:
After shampooing, pour the fermented rice water from roots to ends. Massage your scalp and hair then leave on for at least 5 minutes. Then rinse with plenty of water. Wring out then dry. The hair becomes smooth and shiny as if a cosmetic product had been used. Rinsing your hair with rice water once or twice a week is more than enough for the technique to bear fruit.
This 100% natural treatment will, moreover, prevent you from spending a fortune on multiple conventional hair products which, in the long run, produce the opposite effect on your hair, such as silicone, a real ecological disaster which, if used too much, makes your hair damaged and dry hair. What’s more, rice cooking water can be useful for protecting the skin from aging, containing “antioxidants naturally present in rice, particularly when it is whole, such as selenium, copper or even zinc “, according to dietitian Marie-Laure André interviewed by Doctissimo. Simply apply it to clean facial skin, morning and evening.