Rice Water Natural Hair Rinse: Week 2

I completed my first full week of my six week rice water challenge. I did my second rice water rinse last night to kick start week two of this challenge.

If you followed my first post, you are aware of my skepticism of fast natural hair growth claims especially with this rice water.

I know for a fact that my hair grows between 6 to 7 inches a year (on average o.5 inches per month). However, so many women have been reporting inches of growth in a matter of weeks.

This is why I am flabbergasted! Is the rice water for natural hair idea for real. Seems like a too good to be true type of stuff.

And this is why I am here at week 2. To test out such fast hair growth from rice water claims. I want to give credit where it’s due and call out any bluffs as I see it.

Read on to see how my natural hair responded from last week’s initial rice water hair rinse. There may be some light on this rice water debacle…

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My Hair’s Reaction Throughout The Week

Recalling from last week, I noticed my hair felt stronger as if I used a mild protein treatment on my hair.

I twisted my hair for the week and kept things very low maintenance. I spritzed my hair (almost) daily and covered my hair overnight (faithfully).

Nothing out of the ordinary in my daily hair routine..

However, as the week progressed, I started to take notice of some of the extended impact last week’s rice water has had on my hair.

Reduced Frizzing

First off, my twists felt plump and lively this entire past week. Usually by day 5-6 of wearing my twists, they can have a pretty decent amount of frizz action going on from the roots to the ends (especially).

On the contrary, following the rice water rinse, my twists had experienced minimal frizzing. What is amazing is that I only used my leave-in and sealant oil to style my twists. Typically I use gel if I desire for my twists to last longer without so much frizz.

This means I achieved better long term styling results with less product (gel). A definite plus in my book (although I do not mind frizz at all because it is the general nature of natural hair).

Hair Shine and Smoothness

Secondly, as I unraveled my twists last night, I noticed a vibrant shine and smoother feel of my strands. My hair can look rather dull as days go by but this was not the case this time around.

My hair felt so good and was quite hydrated. Several times this week, I would squeeze my twists because they were just that squishy rather than flat and lifeless. The twist out actually had really great definition. Unraveling my twists was a breeze this time likely due to the smoothness of my hair and the lack of moderate frizzing at the ends.

Strength and Bounciness

When I manipulated my hair during last night’s wash day routine, I noticed the feel of my hair. It felt more durable and resilient. The bounciness of my twists was amazing. The last time I did a twist out (before the rice water hair rinse), my hair did not perform this way at all. I definitely have all feels for the hair bounce! A sign of moisture/protein balanced hair.

Detangling and Shedding

Lastly, detangling my hair after the rice water rinse was smooth as butter. There is something going on that just clicks when I apply the rice water to my hair and layer it with my favorite deep conditioner. It feels as the rice water smooths down my cuticles to give the illusion of extra slip in conjunction with my deep conditioner.

After using heat for about 35 minutes, detangling only took me no longer than 10 minutes under warm running water with my Tangle Teezer. This is impressive to me because generally, wearing twists would equate to a longer detangling session due to knots and tangles around my ends.

I also noticed slightly less shedding than typical after last night’s wash session. After postpartum shedding, I am still trying to gauge once again my normal level of shedding.

I am not sure if I can equate the lesser amount of shedding to the rice water only, but I will make sure to keep tabs on my shedding as the weeks pass during this challenge.

Thoughts About My Second Batch of Rice Water Hair Rinse

What Kind of Rice Are Y’all Using???

I do know if women are using some funky rice or if my sense of smell has been desensitized by constantly changing a toddler’s stinky diapers daily. However, I am feeling a little baffled on this matter.

I fermented my rice water rinse for a 50 hour period without using an essential oils prior to fermenting (as I did with the first batch). Even after the longer fermenting period, I did not notice a horrible smell at all. It simply smelled like rice to me.

::Shrugs shoulders::

I even made a batch to use on my daughter’s hair earlier this week. Once again no weird smells.

Seriously, if I wanted to, I could skip the oils. The smell of the rice water rinse is just not appalling to me. And I am talking about not noticing any off-putting scents from the fermented water (in case you were thinking I enjoy smelling funky things…lol)

Nevertheless, I will continue to do so because I love the tingly and cooling peppermint sensation on my scalp after rinsing with the fermented rice water.

Ratio of My Rice Water Batches

So I took in all my considerations from last week to improve this week’s rice water batch. The quarter cup of rice in 2 cups of water seems to make more rice water than needed. But that’s okay. I simply used the remaining water to do a final scalp rinse in the shower prior to detangling my hair.

Spray Bottle Versus Applicator Bottle

The spray bottle method worked wonderfully to saturate my strands without dripping all over the place. The applicator bottle method however was still messy as I applied the rice water to my scalp. For the next batch, I am going to ditch the applicator bottle completely and focus the spray bottle on my scalp for the necessary coverage.

The Wrap Up

Even if I do not gain fast growth from the rice water, at week two, I am definitely appreciating some of the above mentioned benefits my hair is experiencing. My hair legit feels so good right now.

I twisted my hair again and the shine, tameability, and bounciness is just undeniable. My gray hairs are lit for real although I have read somewhere that rice water is supposed to help reduce grays. Not sure how I feel about that because I am kind of looking forward to graying all out.

But let me not jump into conclusions too quick. We still have several more weeks to go with this rice water challenge. What I am looking for is consistency in these results and of course, faster hair growth.

I will follow up on the week 3 post with a length check update. Of course, I am very curious if I gained any faster new growth. Nevertheless, I will remain patient and continue with my low maintenance regimen for the upcoming week.

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Engage and Connect

Do you use specially formulated products (commercial or homemade) that promotes fast hair growth? If so, did they come through with more growth? Or were you disappointed about another “claim”?

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