This has been a secret beauty ingredient used by many women all over the continent of Asia. It is their secret weapon for smoothing and brightening dull and lacklustre skin.
Rice powder or rice flour, is made from ground uncooked rice. It is grinded into a fine powder, and when mixed with a liquid of your choice, forms a paste that can be applied to the face as a mask.
Rice Flour Benefits for Skin
Para aminobenzoic acid, or PABA, is an amazing sunscreen, and rice just so happens to contain high concentrations of it. As we all know, the sun is a huge factor of premature aging in the skin. This is why it’s very important to wear sunscreen.
Other powerful anti-aging agents in rice include Ferulic Acid, which is an antioxidant. Allantoin is an agent that helps the skin soothe and repair itself.
Tyrosinase, the enzyme in responsible for hyperpigmentation, is inhibited when rice powder is applied to your skin.
DIY Rice Powder Facial Mask Recipes
This is one of my personal favourite masks right now and this is how I use rice flour for my face.
You’ll need:
- 2 tbsp rice flour
- 1 tsp of water (give or take, gradually add a little more if you need)
Mix these two ingredients together until you have a paste, and put it on your face! Leave on for about 15-20 minutes, it should dry and harden on your skin, then rinse off. When rinsing, I like to use my fingertips to massage the mask off in a circular motion, which helps to exfoliate the skin.
You can substitute the water with milk or lemon juice, which would have extra skin brightening and exfoliating properties. I DO NOT suggest using milk or juice if your skin is on the sensitive side.
After doing your rice flour mask, you should notice that your skin is silky smooth and glowing! You can do this once a week, or more often if your skin isn’t too sensitive.
Where to buy rice flour
This is the tough part. You will have to find an Asian Supermarket, that carries either East Asian or South East Asian groceries. I live in a fairly multicultural city, so I was able to find it at my local Walmart in the Southeast Asian foods section.
If you don’t have any of those options in your area, I highly suggest buying this one from Amazon.