Does Rice Water Improve Skin?

This is something people have been doing for years, it seems to help and it costs very little.

It is important to pick the right variety of rice as there is a significant difference in the nutrients available that are beneficial to skin.

The two that are useful are medium-grain or short-grain white rice - this has a soft and slightly sticky texture when cooked; or fermented rice. Medium and short-grain both contain vitamins, minerals, and amino acids and there are a few variables, like temperature, duration of cooking, freshness of rice etc that will affect how much of these remain in the water. It is important to prepare the rice correctly, whichever one is used:

Rinse the rice thoroughly in cold water, to clean it and remove unwanted starch, then let it soak for about half an hour - it is important to leave it long enough to release the compounds you want - (add two cups of water to every cup of rice.)

Bring the plain rice to the boil, simmer with the lid on until the water has reduced by about half. Cool and use.

For fermented rice, after soaking, cover the rice in a bowl at room temperature for 48 hours, this is when the compounds, especially the antioxidants, are pulled out of the rice, into the water. Then strain the water and take off enough to rinse your face. Put the remaining water in the fridge to use the following day. There is no point in making more than you will use over three days as it doesn’t contain a preservative, so it won’t be nice to use after 48 hours refrigerated. It is hard to know precisely how much of this gets into the skin, but it is a popular treatment and can work very well. It is particularly good at brightening and smoothing texture, and to soothe and improve skin hydration. It is unlikely to cause irritation (unless you have an allergy to rice proteins which is relatively rare - reactions can range in severity, from mild itching to hives. It has been used to help a variety of dry skin conditions, including dermatitis. As with most skincare products and procedures, the outcome does depend on individual skin condition and age.