I Tried Washing My Hair In Rice Water And The Results Were Surprising
I’ve always been pretty lucky when it comes to my hair.
Despite subjecting it to years of at-home dye jobs and relentless heat styling with literally no protection, it’s always been relatively healthy. I get asked how I “get my hair that shiny” a lot and know people are pissed when I say, “idk it just does that”.
That said, in the past couple of years, I’ve developed some wispy, broken hair at my temples. I believe it’s a combination of new hair growth after coming off the pill (hey, hormones!) and tying my hair up for the gym or work with the old-school elastics I’ve used my entire life.
(I know I should make the move to silk scrunchies or bobble hair ties to protect my hair from breakage, but a packet of elastics tends to last me for about a year, given I wear the same one until it literally snaps or disappears into the ether – it’s just who I am as a person.)
So, my interest was piqued when I stumbled upon the rice water trend on TikTok – or, more specifically, #HairTok. People on the platform credited their glorious, shiny manes to this pantry staple – to the tune of more than 150 million views – but they’re not the first to harness its restorative powers.
Asian people have used rice water to wash and care for their hair for centuries. One study showed Japanese women of the Heian Period (794 to 1185 CE) used the water saved from washing rice on their floor-length hair, though the practice is believed to have been popularised by Yao women in China.
@rosmari21_#ricewaterforhairgrowth #ricewater #ricewaterhairchallenge #hairmask #yaowomen #healthyhair #hairgrowth #hairgrowthtips #hairgrowthjourney #fyp #diy♬ original sound – Rosmari 🦋🌹
They had me at “floor-length”, given I had received an ill-timed haircut that made me look more like Lord Farquaad than Regina King in the months before Sydney’s latest lockdown.
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As instructed by TikTok, I placed equal parts rinsed rice and water into a large jar and shook it up. The water looked a little cloudy, but I believe that’s what we want. Some sources say you should leave the rice to soak for 24 hours, but I wasn’t that organised, so hoped an overnight soak would do the job.
The next morning, I stepped into the shower with my little bowl of rice water. Some TikTokers shampoo their hair first, then apply the rice water before rinsing and conditioning. I had read that the rice water should be applied and allowed to set for a few minutes before being washed out with shampoo, so I took that route.
A word to the wise: pouring water that’s been sitting on your kitchen bench for hours in the middle of winter over your head is a helluva way to wake up. The bowl also wasn’t the most efficient vessel available to me, so I made a mental note to try a Pyrex jug – which I hoped would give me a little more control – when I’d stopped shivering.
(One TikToker used a clean squeezy sauce bottle to distribute her rice water, and I truly wish I’d thought of that. Others use the spray bottles you’ll find in the laundry aisle. Again, genius.)
@abbeyyungReply to @krissthis_27 How I’m using rice water! ##ricewaterhairchallenge ##ricewaterforhairgrowth ##learnontiktok ##tiktokpartner ##hairgrowth♬ Space Girl – Frances Forever
I rinsed, shampooed and conditioned my hair as normal after a few minutes, noticing how my hair felt unusually soft under the water. When my shower was all done, I towel-dried and combed my hair, leaving it to air dry.
I noticed later in the day that it looked shinier than usual and was unbelievably soft to touch. It also helped my wash last a day longer than usual, which is a big win, given I’ve washed it basically every second day for years.
It’s hard to know if my new rice water routine has had an impact on my hair growth, given I’ve only been doing it for a couple of weeks. The science says the hypothesis is legit – rice water contains about half the amino acids hair requires to grow – though there’s not yet a huge amount of evidence to prove it.
@saniyajewellThis stuff made my hair dry so i add the leave in conditioner now🥰 #ricewaterhairchallenge #ricewatertreatment #ricewaterforhair♬ original sound – xxtristanxo
Still, the simplicity of the process and immediate results I saw make a pretty compelling case for keeping it up – more so when you consider the amount of time, money and chemicals it takes to achieve a similar outcome at the hairdresser.
One thing I won’t be doing anymore is indiscriminately dumping a bowl of cold water over my head first thing in the morning – I’ll chalk that one up to a lesson learned.