Rice Powder: An Asian Skin Whitening Secret

Maybe you’ve heard about the benefits of washing your face with rice water.

While rice water offers great results, even better is using rice flour or rice powder to make your own face mask. It offers a cheap, effective way to get the bright, beautiful skin that you desire.

Often Used in Asian Countries

Rice flour or powder is often used in Asian countries and is known to effectively treat pigmentation issues, wrinkles, and blemishes. Many Asian countries have been using rice powder for hundreds of years as an anti-aging treatment.

For example, in Japan, Geishas have porcelain smooth skin despite wearing a lot of makeup, which is a result of using rice powder regularly on their skin.

Make your Own Skin Lightening Rice Mask
Rice paste applied as a mask can lead to a fairer complexion if used consistently.

You’ll Need:

• heaping tbsp of rice powder/flour
• full fat milk or cream or yogurt

Step 1. Grind a handful of uncooked rice into a fine powder. You can use a coffee grinder or a blender to do this. Or you can buy the ground rice at your local supermarket.

Step 2. Add some milk to the rice powder – enough to make it into a paste.

Step 3. Apply this paste over your face and neck. Leave for 20-30 minutes.

Step 4. Wash the mask off with some warm water and finish it off with cold water to close the pores.

Frequency and Results: Do this consistently at least 2x-3x a week and you should see your skin lighten after a month or two.

Rice paste will lead to not only fairer skin, but also a smoother complexion with fewer wrinkles.

How can Rice Powder Lighten our Skin?

There are plenty of anecdotes about how rice powder and more specifically, rice water, can keep our skin youthful and translucent looking. But why does rice powder work, exactly?

• Rice contains a high concentration of PABA. PABA (para aminobenzoic acid) is a very good sunscreen. When taken internally, PABA also raises the Vitamin C levels in our bodies.
• Rice also contains two other sun protecting agents – ferulic acid and allantoin.
• Ferulic acid is an antioxidant. Incredibly, scientists have found that when ferulic acid is added to Vitamin C and E, its sun protection ability doubled.
• Allantoin is a good anti-inflammatory agent. It soothes sunburns and also promotes the skin’s repair.
• When applied as a paste on the skin, rice powder has been shown to inhibit tyrosinase.

Milk: When applied topically, the lactic acid in milk will gradually reduce skin’s pigmentation, resulting in a lighter complexion.

Protection from the Sun

You may be surprised to find that using rice powder on your skin may offer some protection from the sun. UV rays can damage skin and increase the signs of aging.

However, in Asian countries, field workers often use a rice powder paste to keep their skin protected from the sun.

Rice Powder Exfoliates

Another benefit of rice powder is that it helps to exfoliate skin as well. Exfoliating your skin can keep your skin looking brighter and fresher.

Rice powder also is very close to ceramide in its chemical structure. Ceramide helps to increase collage production, which leads skin to be more elastic and supple.

This means that rice powder may have the same effect on the skin.

Add Other Ingredients if Desired

Rice powder can be mixed up with a bit of pure mineral water to make a rice powder mask. That will do wonders for your face.

Of course, you can add other great ingredients to the mask for even more benefits, such as honey, milk or a bit of plain Greek yogurt.

After you mix up your face mask, apply it directly to the neck and face.

Allow it to dry for about 10-15 minutes, and then you can rinse it off with a bit of warm water. It is so easy and offers great results.

Enjoy Instant Brightening

After using the rice powder mask, you’ll enjoy instant brightening of the skin. While it offers some brightening results, the effect is only temporary, so you need to use the rice powder mask frequently.

After frequent use, then you may start seeing some permanent changes to your overall skin tone.

Finding Rice Powder

You may be wondering where to find rice powder. It is important to find rice powder that has not been bleached. If you have a problem finding it, you can purchase rice and grind up your powder.

While it will take a bit of work on your part, it is cost efficient and offers great results when you use it to make your rice powder mask.