You may remember it, the ‘rice water movement’ where almost every vlogger and blogger hopped on the beauty trend to see what all the buzz was about.

Almost everywhere you looked you’d see a rice water video telling you about all the great benefits the mixture had to offer.

Rice water, who would have thought? It’s often the little things that we tend to overlook that deliver the best results – especially when it comes to beauty.

People are easily attracted to the glitz, the glam, portrayed in TV commercials and will spend big bucks to get these off-the-shelf products. But the reality is that there are dozens of amazing beauty products sitting in your kitchen right now.

Rice is one of many ingredients that can be used to naturally work magic for your hair. Along with rice, you’ll need a few other ingredients to make the perfect potion for your hair.

Using rice water to strengthen and beautify hair isn’t new. Historically, women in various Asian regions such as China, Japan, and Southeast Asia have applied rice water as a hair treatment for hundreds of years.

It dates as far back as the ancient Heian period in Japan, when court ladies were known to have beautiful, long hair that draped to the floor. Their secret was rice water!

Fascinated by this hair treatment, scientists, researchers and beauty lovers alike have tried to discover whether or not rice water can actually beautify and strengthen your hair.

Studies have found that inositol, an active ingredient found in rice water, is able to penetrate damaged hair and repair it from the inside out and even protects hair from future damage.

One of the best parts about this homemade beauty product is that it’s so easy to make. All you’ll need is rice, purified water, orange peel and an essential oil of your choice.  

Lavender, tea tree, peppermint and ylang ylang are popular essential oils used in treating hair.

Probably the ‘hardest’ part of this beauty trend is actually choosing a method to make the hair treatment. Our Today did a little research and here’s a great method you can use to make your own bottle of rice water.

What you need:

• 1 cup rice
• 1 cup water
• Essential oil
• Orange peel

How to make it:

1. Firstly, and most important, rinse and strain your rice to remove any dirt or impurities that you don’t want to apply to your hair.
2. Mix the strained rice in a medium-sized bowl with the water. You should mix until the water becomes pretty cloudy.
3. Strain the rice, this time reserving the water. Store the rice for later or cook it up!

4. Put the rice water in a plastic container, drop a piece of orange peel inside the container and cover it. Let the rice water sit at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours. This allows it to ferment and all of the great vitamins and minerals to come out. Tip: Don’t let it sit for over 24 hours (it will go bad).

5. Add three drops of essential oil to the rice water.

6. Refrigerate the rice water until you’re ready to use it.

7. Fill a small container or small spray bottle with rice water for application. Keep the rest in your fridge.

You are probably wondering how to apply the mixture to your hair, right? Well, no worries, here’s how you use rice water on your hair.

Contrary to popular belief you won’t need to change your washing schedule around your rice water rinse — simply use it after shampooing and conditioning, whether that’s once a week or however often you wash your hair.

When applying the rice water, try to really focus in on your scalp and work your way out. Let it sit for two to five minutes, and then rinse.

Remember to be consistent, keep at it and you’ll probably notice how strong and thick your hair feels after a few applications.