Question:
Know of a good website to order &learn a mixing (rice/water) recipe?
Answer:
Asian women are known for their delicate beauty and smooth, fair skin. This is probably why I’m What is rice powder? What is rice water?
Rice powder is simply uncooked rice that has been ground into a fine powder. Water or milk added to rice powder creates a paste, which can be used as a face mask.
Rice water is the nutrient-rich water that comes from soaking or washing uncooked rice. Rice water is cloudy in appearance.
How can rice powder lighten our skin?
There are plenty of anecdotes about how rice powder and more specifically, rice water, can keep our skin youthful and translucent looking. But why does rice powder work, exactly?
Rice contains a high concentration of PABA. PABA (para aminobenzoic acid) is a very good sunscreen. When taken internally, PABA also raises the Vitamin C levels in our bodies.
Rice also contains two other sun protecting agents – ferulic acid and allantoin.
Ferulic acid is an antioxidant. Incredibly, scientists have found that when ferulic acid is added to Vitamin C and E, its sun protection ability doubled. (Scroll down this page to read an extract of the study’s findings.)
Allantoin is a good anti-inflammatory agent. It soothes sunburns and also promotes the skin’s repair.
When applied as a paste on the skin, rice powder has been shown to inhibit tyrosinase.
Make your own skin lightening ‘rice water’ toner
Washing your face in rice water can give you fairer and more translucent skin. While results will not be dramatic, you should see your skin become lighter within a month. The best part of this is that it’s so easy to do.
(For the sake of not wasting food, I do encourage you to only do this if you plan on cooking the rice for your meals later!
You can add water to uncooked rice to make your very own 'rice water' cleanser and toner.
Step 1. Using a clean bowl, soak some uncooked brown rice, white rice or red rice in water. A handful of rice should be more than enough.
Step 2. Run your fingers through this, as if you’re cleaning the rice.
Step 3. The water should look pretty cloudy right now. Drain this water into another clean bowl.
Step 4. Splash the ‘rice water’ over your face repeatedly. For even better skin lightening, do not towel your face dry but leave it damp to air-dry on its own.
If you have more rice water left over, you can pat the remaining water on your face and neck or refrigerate the rest.
Make your own skin lightening rice mask
Rice paste can be applied as a mask
If you’re not planning to eat the rice made from your rice water, there is one thing you can do with all that uncooked rice you used… Make it into a mask!
Step 1. Grind a handful of uncooked rice into a fine powder. You can use a coffee grinder to do this.
Step 2. Add some milk to the rice powder – enough to make it into a paste.
Step 3. Apply this paste over your face and neck. Leave for 20-30 minutes.
Step 4. Wash the mask off with some warm water.
Do this consistently a few times each week and you should see your skin lighten after a month.
Rice paste will not only lead to fairer skin, but also a smoother complexion with fewer wrinkles.
Rice in cosmetics and home remedies
Would you be surprised to hear that the humble rice is used in many expensive cosmetics and skin creams? A few examples of these are Kose Moisture Skin Repair Cream, L’Occitane Purifying Rice Toner, Clarifying Rice Mask, Ultra Matte Face Fluid, and Elegant Minerals Rice Setting Powder.
Here are three of the most common uses for rice in skincare and cosmetics.
Used to absorb oil to achieve matte skin. If you have very oily skin, brushing rice powder lightly over your face will give you a very matte look. Because of this, it also makes an excellent base for make-up. Rice powder absorbs oil very well and keeps your make-up from fading throughout the day.
In wrinkle creams. Many anti-aging skin creams and wrinkle creams contain ceramides that were extracted from rice. The ceramides in rice closely mimic our skin’s, which can give it a more youthful appearance.
Mineral make-up. Rice powder is used in some loose or pressed powder compacts. It is especially found in mineral make-up. Rice powder does a good job of covering blemishes and flaws to give the skin a smooth finish, and yet it allows the skin to breathe and does not clog pores.
References and Further Reading
Study: Ferulic Acid Stabilizes a Solution of Vitamins C and E and Doubles its Photoprotection of Skin
