I tried rice water and was shocked at the results…

I had really high hopes for this. My hair naturally grows slower than average- I get about 1 cm a month. My strands are incredibly fine and high porosity. All together a recipe for bald-headedness. Luckily for me, I’ve had long hair most of my life. I wear a lot of mini braids as protective styles in order to keep my hair long and healthy. Fighting splits ends is an actual daily battle.

With all that in mind, I thought…rice water…sounds like the perfect solution for someone like me. My porous hair craves protein and I could use a boost in growth. I started my personal challenge with so much hope… I planned to do a rice water rinse every day for 7 days. I took starting photos in my length check shirt in the hopes I’d see a massive growth spurt.

Day 0, I made my first batch of rice water. In a small mason jar, I rinsed some rice (note, I eat low carb so the rice was really old). I filled the jar with water and set it in the fridge over night. Day 1, I poured the water over my head and sat outside for it to dry out- without rinsing the rinse water. To prep for the next day, I added more filtered water to the same rice and popped the jar back in the fridge. Day 2, I repeated the same steps- poured just the water over my head and let it sit and air dry.

For Day 3, I threw out the original rice and made a new batch. This time, I left the jar at room temperature instead of putting it in the fridge. The cold batches didn’t smell fermented so I wasn’t sure I was getting all of the intended benefits. I can’t remember exactly what happened, but I think I already failed at the “rice water every day” thing and I skipped day 3. Day 4, comes around, this batch of rice water is very potent. I poured it over my head then washed (maybe cowashed it out). Then I realised…my hair was hella HARD and BRITTLE. Yes…it happened to me, a protein loving, high porosity, teeny tiny fine stranded natural. The rice water had my hair feeling like straw! I was shocked. At this point I quit.

I measured my hair on day 7 and realised I had no discernible growth to record. I won’t be posting pictures for that reason. I still think there’s a place for rice water in hair regimens. So many women have had great success using it. I think I did too much in too short of a time frame AND I didn’t rinse it out. I wouldn’t say I had “protein overload,” but my hair was not happy, so I quit.

So here I am, a quitter after 4ish days of a 7 day personal rice water challenge with no results. Take from that what you will.