Rice Water for Face: What It Does, What It Doesn't, How to Use It

Rice water is the cloudy liquid left after you rinse, soak or cook rice. People have used it on hair and skin for a long time, and on social media it gets credited with fading dark spots, smoothing wrinkles and clearing acne.

The research is much smaller than the reputation. This article goes through what has been tested, what hasn’t, and how to use rice water sensibly if you’d like to.

Home-remedy note: this article describes traditional and popular uses of rice water and summarizes research on its ingredients. It’s not medical advice. Persistent skin concerns deserve a licensed clinician, not a rice-water ritual.

What’s actually in rice water

Mostly water and starch. The cloudiness is starch that rinses off the surface of the grain.

Rice has a reputation for richer chemistry than that, and the reputation belongs to the bran. A nutrition review lists “ferulic acid, tricin, β-sitosterol, γ-oryzanol, tocotrienols/tocopherols, and phytic acid” among the compounds in “the bran portion of the rice” [Henderson et al. 2012]. A dermatology review names “phenolic compounds, betaine, squalene, tricin, and rice bran” as the rice components studied for skin [Zamil et al. 2022].

White rice is rice with the bran milled off. We could not find any study that measured how much ferulic acid, phytic acid or anything else ends up in water that white rice was rinsed or soaked in. So when an article tells you rice water “contains” a list of actives, the fair question is: how much? Nobody has published the answer.

Two things you may have read that we no longer repeat:

• Kojic acid in fermented rice water. Kojic acid is “a natural metabolite produced by fungi” [Saeedi et al. 2019]. Specific fungi, under controlled conditions. We found nothing showing that a jar of rice water left on a counter produces it.
• Ferulic acid making skin sun-sensitive. The best-known ferulic acid study found the opposite direction: added to a vitamin C and E serum, it “doubled photoprotection” against simulated sunlight [Lin et al. 2005]. That was a measured dose in a formulated serum, though, not rinse water.

What the research actually shows

The one study of rice water on skin

Researchers in Lisbon made a gel that was 96% rice water and gave it to 12 volunteers for 28 days [Marto et al. 2018]. In the abstract’s words, “Rice water presented in vitro biological antioxidant activity and elastase inhibitory effect.” Those are test-tube results. On people, the gel “was biocompatible with the human skin and presented suitable cosmetic properties.”

That is a tolerance result, in a dozen people, for a laboratory formulation. The same abstract opens by saying of rice water that “no scientific evidence supports their role in skincare products.” It is a first step, and an honest one.

The best evidence nearby: rice starch in a bath

A Belgian team irritated volunteers’ forearm skin with a detergent, then had them soak it in bath water containing rice starch. The result: “a 20% improvement on the healing capacity of damaged skin” [De Paepe et al. 2002], measured as water loss through the skin.

This is the most persuasive finding in the whole field, and it is about starch, forearms and fifteen-minute soaks twice a day. Boiled rice water is starchy, so it’s a plausible reason a rinse can feel soothing. It isn’t proof for faces.

Reviews

A 2022 review concluded that rice-derived ingredients look “safe, non-irritating, and hypoallergenic” [Zamil et al. 2022]. It reviewed ingredients isolated from rice, mostly bran extracts in finished products. A 2020 review of East Asian botanicals for dark spots found that rice water’s support came from laboratory studies, not trials in people [Hu et al. 2020].

What has no study at all

Rice-water ice cubes, rice water for acne, for wrinkles, for rosacea, for keratosis pilaris: we searched and found nothing. The searches are listed in the evidence register.

The SK-II Pitera story

You’ll often see Pitera offered as proof. As the story is told, someone noticed that “elderly workers at a sake brewery had smooth, clear and young-looking hands”, and a yeast extract was isolated and launched as a brand in the early 1980s [Wikipedia, SK-II]. That is the company’s origin story. The ingredient is a filtrate from one cultured yeast, studied in cell cultures [Takei et al. 2015] and in a year-long trial of three branded products run by the company’s own staff [Miyamoto et al. 2023]. Whatever those show, they show it for that filtrate. Homemade rice water is not a weaker version of it. It’s a different thing.

What to realistically expect

• Right away: people commonly describe skin feeling soft and a little smoother after a rinse. A thin film of starch is the likely reason; it hasn’t been measured.
• With the ice-cube version: possibly a brief tightening and less morning puffiness. That is the cold, and it wears off.
• Over weeks: unknown. No study has followed people using a homemade rinse, so we don’t give a timeline. If you notice nothing after a month, you’ve lost very little.

If your hope is that it replaces sunscreen, a retinoid or a vitamin C serum, it won’t. If your hope is a cheap extra step that feels nice, and you’ve patch tested it, that’s a reasonable thing to try.

Body skin too (briefly)

The rice-starch bath study was done on arms, which makes body skin the better-supported use. For rough, bumpy upper arms, see rice water for keratosis pilaris, where the short version is that a moisturiser with urea or lactic acid does the work and a rinse is optional.

How to use it (three methods)

Full recipes, with photos and troubleshooting, are on the recipes page. The batch calculator scales them.

1. Soaking — the gentlest

• Rinse ½ cup white rice and pour that first rinse away.
• Soak the rinsed rice in 2 cups of water at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Strain into a clean glass jar and refrigerate.

2. Boiling — the starchiest

• Rinse as above.
• Simmer ½ cup rice in 2–3 cups of water until the rice is soft.
• Strain off the cloudy water, cool it quickly, and refrigerate.

3. Fermenting — the one we’re cautious about

• Make soaked rice water, then leave it loosely covered at room temperature for 24–48 hours.
• This step deliberately breaks the food-safety rule below, and no study shows it improves anything for skin. Read the safety page before you try it.

Storage, in one paragraph

No one has tested how long homemade rice water keeps. We borrow food rules: chill within two hours [FDA, storing food safely], and use a refrigerated jar within 48 hours or freeze it [UK Food Standards Agency]. Frozen cubes have no sourced use-by date. The use-by helper works out the times for your batch.

Application

1. Patch test first. The American Academy of Dermatology’s method is a small spot on the inner arm, twice a day, “for seven to 10 days” [AAD, testing products]. Eating rice without trouble doesn’t guarantee your skin agrees [Yamakawa et al. 2001].
2. Wash your face the ordinary way: gentle cleanser, lukewarm water, pat dry [AAD, face washing].
3. Apply with clean hands or a fresh cotton pad. Pour out what you need; don’t dip into the jar.
4. Rinse it off after a few minutes if a starchy film bothers you or your skin is oily. Leaving it on isn’t known to do more.
5. Carry on with your usual routine: moisturiser, and sunscreen in the morning.
6. Go slowly. Two or three times a week is our suggestion, not a studied schedule.

Who should not use it

• Anyone who reacts at the patch-test stage.
• Anyone with a rice allergy, unless a clinician says otherwise.
• Anyone with broken skin, an active rash or infection, or skin recovering from a peel or procedure.
• For the ice-cube version specifically: people with rosacea, visible broken capillaries, or hives from cold. See the ice-cube guide and the safety page.

The honest bottom line

Rice water is a nearly free home remedy with a long tradition around it and one small human study, of a laboratory gel, near it. The strongest related evidence is for rice starch soothing irritated skin. Claims about brightening, anti-ageing and acne rest on studies of other materials, or on nothing.

That’s enough to justify trying it carefully. It’s not enough to justify expecting much. Every source used here is quoted in the evidence register.