Spa Night: Rice Water Toner 4/29/10

Can you believe that I might have had one of the oldest beauty secrets in my kitchen all my life and never knew it? I've been researching ancient beauty techniques and what people in different cultures use from their kitchens for skin care and wow, how have I never heard of a Rice Water Toner? It is so easy to make, too! And apparently has a world of benefits. So, to this day, in many Asian households, when the daily pot of rice is made, a cup or two of the rice water is set aside for the mother or daughter's nightly face washing. Interesting! I think it's pretty awesome. I've read that with long time use it can brighten skin, even out skin tone and tame oily patches. That's great news for my uneven, oily skin! It also has a reputation for lightening freckles, but I think that may be a myth. Would be nice, though, if it could remove freckles. I have lots of those! The best versions use organic rice, but um, yeah, that's a little too pricey for me. I still wanted to try it, just with regular rice. Here's what I used:

Rice Water Toner
White rice
Rice pot
Warm water
Ladle
Container with lid

Directions
-Add rice to rice pot.
-Cover with about 1 inch water.
-Swirl rice around until the water gets cloudy
-Let sit 5 minutes.
-Ladle rice water into container.
-Keep covered in fridge for 1-2 days.
-SHAKE WELL before each use. -Apply to clean face and neck and let dry. May be used before makeup application and after makeup removal.

Optional: I added 2 drops of tea tree oil before placing in the fridge. Tea tree oil is a natural antibacterial so I'm hoping it will fight the bacteria and make the toner last longer than 24 hours.  At least until I make another pot of rice! I'll let you know if it works :)

Look how much rice water could be collected from rinsing one pot of rice! Wow. If it could last longer, this would be the cheapest kitchen beauty treatment ever!

There are so many more sophisticated Asian beauty products that can be purchased that offer beautiful results. But rice water caught my interest because the cost is so reasonable (we always have rice!) and it's still being used by people today.
Oh yeah, after squirreling away the water, don't forget to add more and cook the rice!