Knowing what to use on your hair and body is very important. It is always appreciated that you do good research on what you are going to use on your hair whether it be an over-the-counter product or a very appealing and helpful home remedy. Rice water is well-known for its ability to provide healthy and shiny hair or people say so.
But should you just go ahead and use it without taking your hair into consideration? The answer is no; it is always better to be careful than being sorry.
As to whether rice water is for low or high porosity hair
You can use it on both high and low porosity hair, just use it in ways that suit the hair and don’t go overboard with it because using something more won’t give you better results. Instead it might backfire and in this case in the form of protein overload.
Rice water and low porosity hair
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Low porosity hair due to their close together individual cuticles find it harder to absorb products into the hair. It is only required that you wash the hair with rice water but if you prefer to follow it up with a shampoo you can go ahead and use it, but it is not necessary to do so. And about how often you should use it, well the answer to that lies in your head, your hair. It depends from person to person and hair to hair, so tread the waters carefully. So try to rinse your hair once every month or two months. Remember rice water rinse is basically just like a protein treatment and your low porosity hair is protein sensitive, so be careful and use it in moderate amounts. Using it once a week will just give way to product build-up and stiff and dry hair which you definitely don’t want.
Rice water and high porosity hair
As you know high porosity hairs find it difficult to retain moisture and stay hydrated due to the far apart cuticles. It is recommended that in high porosity hair, at first, you rinse the hair with rice water and then use shampoo, followed by a leave-in conditioner. Again it may depend on person to person but still, you are recommended to follow rice water rinse only once a week. High porosity hair wouldn’t mind the protein level in rice water, though you should not overdo it. They need the pores to be filled so that the hair can grow stronger and healthier. The protein molecules in rice water are too big to enter and the starch and amino acids in them fill the coat and fortify the hair shaft. This will help the high porosity to be fixed temporarily and for that short term, the moisture and products can be retained helping the hair growth. The protective layer formed by the starch and amino acid will also provide damage protection.
In both these cases, it is highly recommended that you only leave in the rice water after you have tested it on your hair in small amounts and observed the reactions
How to make rice water?
Now, since we have covered whether to use rice water on your hair or not, we should know how to make the central figure of this article, rice water. If you already know skip ahead, if you don’t read this section.
Soaking
In this method for making rice water, soak the rice. So take rice in a bowl and rinse to get rid of the unwanted impurities. Strain the rice and put it in a container, fill the container with water six times the amount of rice. Leave it alone for about 30 minutes. Afterward, strain the rice and store the water.
Fermentation
In the above method we let the rice and water leave for 30 minutes and now increase the time to 24 hours and place it in a dry and dark place. After the 24 hours are over, strain it and store the rice water in a fridge and use it.
Boiling
In this method, cook the rice with water in 1: 2 ratios in a pot. Boil this until starch comes out into the surface. Once the starch makes its presence known strain the water out, cool it down, and then store. Be careful with this method because heat and boiled water are involved and you should also be on the lookout for starch coming out.
Here is the video about rice water.
What does Hair Porosity mean?
Your hair porosity determines whether the oils, water, and other products you use on your hair like conditioners are getting absorbed or not. There are three broad categories of hair porosity, your hair porosity Is determined by the way tiny individual cuticles are spread in the outer protective layer called the cuticle. They are Low porosity, Medium porosity and High Porosity.
Why is the porosity of your hair important?
As you know our hair is made up of three layers. The cuticle, the cortex, and the medulla. For healthy and beautiful hair, the oil, water, or products you use have to get absorbed via the cuticle and should reach the medulla. The absorption and retaining of the products can get affected based on the porosity of your hair. If you have low porosity hair i.e. if the tiny individual cuticles are too close together and overlapped, then the products and oils may have a hard time getting absorbed. And deny your hair of the moisture it needs. And in contrast, if you have high porosity hair i.e. if the cuticles are farther apart, they will get absorbed but they won’t be retained and will prevent your hair from staying hydrated. That is why when choosing products, you have to be careful and choose products that contain ingredients that are suitable for your low, medium, or high porous hair, just don’t buy a product because someone you love bought it. know your hair and then buy the product. Watch the video below to know the porosity of your hair.