Rice Water

I noticed Rice Water challenges on YouTube and Pinterest. Supposedly, naturals were growing up to an inch of hair in a week because of this miraculous concoction. An inch in a week? Heck yeah I wanted to try it! So I did use it on and off all summer.

I used brown rice, because I figured it’s packed in the good nutrients that white rice does not have. It’s a whole grain, so in my logic, it would do a whole lot for my hair. It’s basically an at home protein treatment. I think that it’s doing wonders for my hair.

My Recipe: I added a cup of brown rice to two and a half cups of water. First I rinsed the rice, then I used a spoon to kind of chop up the rice up a bit. The water becomes a little cloudy, but then I leave it outside in the good ol’ Guam sunshine. I leave it out for a week or so, waiting for it to become syrupy and thick.

First mistake? Not believing other bloggers and vloggers when they said that it stank. It is smelly. Super stinky. Can’t stress how bad it smells. It could clear a room. My fiancé hates the way it smells. It lingers. So I wised up and bought some peppermint and tea tree oil for it. Better for everyone involved.

That’s the winning team.

It turns out Rice Water is an amazing detangler. Each time I use it, it makes the comb easier to get through my hair. I typically section my hair in half and pour the rice water onto it before attempting anything on wash day. I let it soak in for a bit and crunch it through. Then the wide tooth comb comes out and I comb carefully and slowly. It helps me to keep my shower drain free of my hair.

The next step is shampooing and conditioning. I use my favorite deep conditioner every time. Then I add the remaining rice water to my deep conditioner. I twist my hair and put a shower cap for 20 minutes. Once I wash that out, it’s smooth sailing from there. I let my hair dry out in an old T-shirt. I don’t have to worry about it tangling, which is nice. I moisturize and go about my day untilI can braid or twist my hair until the next wash day.

So while I can’t say that rice water has given me significant leaps of length in inches, it seems like I have retained a lot of hair. Part of being natural is seeing the second Afro that could be made out of all the little pieces of hair that end up on the floor after detangling or styling. The amount of hair I lose from manipulation is negligible after using rice water. I would say that rice water loosens up my curls just enough to make braiding a tad easier for my jazz hands. I’ve been getting better and better at braids, thanks to rice water.