Rice Water Rinse: Did It Work?

Using rice water for stronger, healthier and, most importantly: longer hair. It’s a DIY beauty method I’d come across every now and then, but two months ago I decided to go ahead and give it a try myself. I recorded a video where I made the fermented rice water and tried it for the first time. It left my hair feeling really nice, it was shiny and soft so I decided to keep using it for a little longer. If you haven’t seen that video, I suggest watching it first for a bit of context. I also explain where the method comes from and how to make the rice water in that video.

In short, you add a tablespoon of rice (any rice should work) to a cup of water in a container with a closed lid, and leave it for a day or two. The rice water will ferment, after which you strain out the rice and the water is ready for use.

It’s been two months now since I started using fermented rice water on my hair, so I thought I’d check in and let you know how it’s going. Did it work?

In the beginning, I used the rice water twice a week, with every wash. After I while I started to worry that it might be making my hair brittle, which is something that can happen if you use too much protein on your hair. I switched to using it every other wash, or about once a week. I used rice water that was fermented for anywhere between half a day to two days. Whenever I’d use it, my hair would come out extra shiny and soft and feel absolutely amazing. However, I can’t say I’ve noticed any change in the growth of my hair at all. I don’t believe my hair got significantly longer, and I did actually end up cutting it about a week ago. My ends had gotten to that scraggly stage where you know your hair has gotten longer than it can handle, and it just no longer looks good.

I do have lots of baby hairs, but I always have those and there aren’t noticeably more of them than usual. Well everyone, it seems the queen of underwhelming results is back.

However, I do think I might get better results still, if I use the rice water differently. Until now I’ve been using it as a sort of hair mask. I’d dip my ends into it, pour the rest over my roots and length, and clip my hair up while I shaved etc. in the shower. Then I’d let my hair down again and rinse out the rice water. After doing a bit more research, I found out that quite many people actually use the rice water as their final rinse and don’t rinse it out afterwards. I can see how leaving it in would strengthen its effects, and it’s what I want to start doing now.

I’ll admit, the results I’ve gotten so far haven’t outweighed the trouble of making the fermented rice water, so I’ve been slacking a bit over the past few weeks. Now that I know the real magic (hopefully) happens when you leave it in, I’m more than happy to give it another go. I’ll make sure to update you again in a few weeks, with before and after pictures.