Rice Powder: an Asian skin whitening secret
Asian women are known for their delicate beauty and smooth, fair skin. This is probably why I’m always intrigued by any traditional skin lightening remedies from the Orient.
One of these remedies is rice powder and rice water.
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!
Here’s how:
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 |
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Study: Ferulic Acid Stabilizes a Solution of Vitamins C and E and Doubles its Photoprotection of Skin |
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Ferulic acid is a potent ubiquitous plant antioxidant. Its incorporation into a topical solution of 15% L-ascorbic acid and 1% tocopherol improved chemical stability of the vitamins (C+E) and doubled photoprotection to solar-simulated irradiation of skin from 4-fold to approximately 8-fold as measured by both erythema and sunburn cell formation. Inhibition of apoptosis was associated with reduced induction of caspase-3 and caspase-7. This antioxidant formulation efficiently reduced thymine dimer formation. This combination of pure natural low molecular weight antioxidants provides meaningful synergistic protection against oxidative stress in skin and should be useful for protection against photoaging and skin cancer. From the Journal of Investigative Dermatology (2005). |
Conclusion: Ferulic acid not only provides increased stability to a solution of vitamins C+E, but also adds a substantial synergistic photoprotection, essentially doubling its efficacy. |
PABA is not recommended for pregnant women, right? Is rice water safe to be used by pregnant women?
Anything that gets put into the skin goes into the blood system. Therefore if it is safe for you to eat rice then it is safe for you to put it on your skin
when you can eat rice why can’t you use it on your face?
Yes, I totally agree that rice powder works well.You’ll rather be suprised of its simple,cheap,yet effective way in clearing off pimples & minor zits effectivelt.I’m using Lancome & Clarins skincare,also Channel & La Praire,but will resolve to traditional rice powder whenever pimples or minor zits pop out of a sudden especially I’m in the midst of changing few skincare brand now.It helps in soothing and calming inflamme pimples very well.You can see your pimples swize reduce & dry up the next morning.It works better than clinelle pimples gelat times,though this is the best commercial I can find in the market so far.Whenever,I find my face is too stress due to heavy use of commercial skincare product,I’ll resort to just hydration serum & rice powder without whitening products /anti ageing cream before bed!
My aunt has been using Betnovate cream since before I was born, and I really want her to stop. But, every time she tries to stop her skin becomes really irritated and itchy and begins to swell, so she goes back to the Betnovate. I’ve been reading some articles and it says that people shouldn’t use this cream for more than 5 days, and she’s been using it for years! I really would appreciate some help in getting her to stop. Do you know of any thing she can do to stop using the cream and help to reduce all of the irritation on her skin? Thanks so much! an e-mail response would be welcome
Hi Ellah, coconut oil has worked really well for me whenever I get irritated skin. Maybe it can help your aunt as well?
yes i use rice powder…and my skin gets fairer….
did it whiten your skin?
should the rice powder be used all over the body or only as a paste for the face.n i am an african is it appropriate for my skin
It can be used on the body as well, but it might be awkward/messy to use the paste there. A toner might work better.
i have read that so many peopl use this and it works wonders on their skin! but i am black and i wanted to know if i would be able to use this also without it messing up my skin color (besides lightning it)
it works for the blackest of people, im chinese and my black friend tried this and now shes only dark brown ad turning fairer
yes its right i have been try and still doing this. i get to know form my grandmum
I am a person that eats rice everyday so I think I can apply these every day so i can lighten my skin quickly. just things i have around the house EVERYDAY.
Lol me too, i literally eat rice everyday
-has it lightend ur skin?
Kindly recommend me some whitening tips so i can apply before going to bed..my skin is sensitive and get tanned by the sunny environment…
My mum used to apply her home made rice powder on her face for over decades. Can it be used to remove or lighten pigments on the face?
Can we use this stuff on our arms and legs…so basically can we use this stuff on our body? xD
I was searching for some skincare products. I came across this rice powder issue. I always have rice at home and never really thought that this is a new, inexpensive skincare product. I am not sure but correct me. If you do not have rice at home perhaps the rice flour which is very,very cheap at Asian stores will be a great alternative. i will try to make it into a paste and will share what happens.
hi Maria, did you get any results with the rice flour, just purchased it today coz i cannot find rice powder
can i use rice flour instead of rice powder, i cant find rice powder here in JHB, S.A.
rice powder and rice flour, are the same love
LOOOL.
step one. put the rice in the blender
step two. grind
and VOILA you have rice powder/flour
THAANK YOUU
my skin is very dry. is it ok for me to use it ??? because i heard somewhere that it is for oily skin.
my skin dry is t ok to apply rice powder on my face suggest me
how long after its made is it safe for your skin? because this morning I noticed the odor wasn’t that nice . Is it still safe to use it ?
I Have Not got Rice Powder
-But i Have Plenty of rice
-Do I need to Get rice powder?
-how many times a week shall we do this?
-Shall we put it daily or at night?
-How long shall i keep on doing this for.
When i was little i saw my big brother putting rice wayer on his face and i thought it was so funny but now i realized the reason why his putting it on his face my mom told him that it is good for skin especially for pimples.I’ve been using a lot of products to make my face looks fresh but it just getting worst and worst so i research home remedy to make ur face look youthful naturally and i found about this rice water and i’ve been trying it now for two days and i can tell its working my pores aren’t as open as before and it makes my face tighter like u have a face lift.Its really amazing and i enjoyed a lot using it as a toner i can smell the aroma of brown basmati rice.I love it thank u so much for sharing this its a huge help for me!
can i use any kind of rice?? organic or not?? do they have the same effect?
it is safe to apply rice powder on my skin everyday???
i used rice powder combined with mineral water, and it really works for me…the scars on my face made by pimples got fade away…thanks to those who post this rice powder stuff….
Hello,
Does it matter if its fresh milk or tin milk? How many times a week would give optimum results? Is it suppose to be freshly made all the time?
its really work, i look more fair, bright and my skin so soft after use this rice powder mask and wash with rice watar…… 1 week once i do this not everyday……
Hi, everyone so how often do I put rice mask on my face plz help
can people who suffer eczema try this method?