I have been shampooing my hair with rice water for a few years now and I love it. Contrary to many YouTube videos not everyone will have ankle length hair but it will, my opinion, help maintain the health of your hair IF.
My hair has never been shoulder length though my two older sisters did. Growing up my mother tried various treatments including putting mayonnaise in my hair- no one told her she was supposed to rinse it out before she sent me to school! My hair had some lenght so I could plait it and then comb it out but as soon as it came in contact with humidity my hair shrunk tighter than a geri-curl. (A geric-curl is a type of hair treatment that would give women and men of color really tight curls. People who chose this hair style had considerable hair growth BUT I believe it is because they had to take care of their hair or it would fall out!) Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s (1960!!!) It was embarrassing to have very short hair and be a girl- bald was not beautiful. I was often the brunt of jokes, referred to as baldy. As pretty as I was back then I grew up feeling ugly.
My first husband’s mother tried to help me with my hair. She was the one attempted to geri-curl my hair, the process made my hair softer with a lot less natural curl but it was not the soft bouncy GREASY look people sought after. After that I put relaxers in my hair and attempted a few curls but it was a struggle that I often failed at. And then he, my first husband introduced me to his ‘friend’ the hairstylist and I was able to look feminine for the first time in my life. And then we divorced.
I have no idea what I was doing with my hair between 1991 and 2018ish, I think I was back and forth between, braids, weaves, relaxers natural and wigs. The struggle as to what to do with the stuff on my head was real! It was around 2019 that I came across a video regarding the Yao women, Red Yao tribe, of China; these women had extraordinarily long black hair. These women washed their hair in rice water and rinsed it in the local river. Their hair length often reached their ankles. It was a simple process and I was interested in natural treatments.
It was around 2019, definitely in 2020 that I began washing my hair in rice water. On an introductory level I did as the person who released the YouTube video stated the women did in preparing the rice water, my results were not destructive. My hair was softer and easier to manage. I toyed with interchanging shampoo with the rice water only shampoo / rinses and discovered I actually preferred the rice water rinses. I refer to the process as a rinse because it is not a typical shampoo, with lather and such.
Last year, around December of 2021, I did something without thinking- I washed all of my clothes and headwraps in a laundry detergent that I know my skin would react adversely too. For the past 5 years anything that touches my skin has been homemade, including my laundry detergent, I used to use Tide but stopped. My laundry detergent, soap, deodorant and even hair moisturizer was homemade using natural products and I had of course added to the product line mu own shampoo. My alternative to Tide was a product that was more appropriate to sensitive skin- Arm & Hammer but on this day the only thing available was Tide so I used it. It took a few days of my wearing headwraps that had been washed in time for me to figure out that my scalp was itching not because it was dry but because I was having an allergic reaction. And then! I just so happened to be looking in the mirror and notice all the bald spots; Oh my!!! All of my headwraps had to be rewashed and I just tolerated the minor discomfort with my clothes, this was easy since they are all loose fitting.
I added a few natural ingredients to my hair conditioner, I don’t use hair grease, and continued with the rice water shampoo. Do I think that the rice water shampoo alone will make a persons hair grow? NO! In addition to using natural products I also made adjustments to my eating, I increased my activity (exercised) and decreased my stress (divorced husband #2 - not laughing out loud) AND I also prayed.
James 1:5 (KJV)
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
Yes, I prayed about my balding hair and my receding hairline. The hairline is genetic, during the process of my hair growing back I visited my great aunt, age 92, my hairline is just like hers’. My hairline is also like my mother’s and both my sisters, I don’t like it but I have accepted it.
There are a lot of videos out there about the Yao women and many individuals will tell you how wonderful the formula is and add their own little twist. Black women will swear that it is making their hair grow very long. Yes, there are people who will tell you it is not worth the effort, and for some this will be true. I am recommending one video with this article from on YouTube: ORIGINAL RICE WATER RECIPE DIRECTLY FROM THE YAO WOMEN IN CHINA ll The secret of real life RAPUNZEL'S, note the individual is selling products. Common sense has to prevail in order for you to not get caught up in the possibilities.
My hair is short and healthy. I would suggest to anyone the key to hair growth is a healthy lifestyle. Rice water shampoo alone is not going to make your hair grow, the foods you eat provides nutrients to your body including your hair. Exercise is important, not putting crap in your body and on your body is also important. Perms, relaxers, gels, hair sprays, hair colorants and such affect the health of your hair- it weakens the follicles (my opinion). Your emotional well being influences how your body responds to the foods you eat and even if you eat at all (my opinion). And your genetics not only determines your skin tone but your hair length (my opinion).
Now I am concluding this article because I need to wash the rice water out of my hair. Today I actually washed my hair with a deep conditioning shampoo, knowing that it would strip my hair of all of the healthy oils on it and then I applied the rice water shampoo which I normally keep in for about 30 minutes but today I kept on for an hour. My plan is to rinse out the rice water with bottled water, I normally use tap water, and let it air dry. I will then moisturize my hair and scalp with my homemade conditioner and then put my little girl plaits in.
I will wash my hair maybe once a month no more than twice a month for the winter. In the summer time I try not to plait my hair but twist it since it is gentler on my hair (my opinion) and since I wash it weekly it is easier to take out. It’s like women who have braids in their hair, it does not get a good washing until those braids come out. Anyway, this is what I have been doing around November even before I started washing with rice water; back in the day I would wear wigs during the holiday season so it made since to plait my hair.
Year to date the longest hair length on my head (top front and my “mullet”) is 4 1/4 inches and the shortest, which is another genetic malfunction plagued by both male and females thanks to daddy, in the back of my head is 2 1/4 inches. For many women that means weave, wig or cut it all off not me.
written by Marsha L Floyd
Psalm 139:14-18 (KJV)
14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with t
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