Rice water soap, is it worth it?

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MondayBlue

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Hello, I recently "fermented" some rice water with distilled water to use it in my CP soap. However, since the water evaporates anyway, do you all think there's any benefit of using fermented water or is it a waste of time?
 
I made a Rice water soap after reading a thread that @Misschief mentioned above. I liked it, but mine has a distinct smell of rice water. Not sure whether it is common. I do love the feel of it on the skin and leather, but not sure if I would make it again. Currently using my first bar, did not notice much difference in after feel comparing to my normal recipes.
 
I made a Rice water soap after reading a thread that @Misschief mentioned above. I liked it, but mine has a distinct smell of rice water. Not sure whether it is common. I do love the feel of it on the skin and leather, but not sure if I would make it again. Currently using my first bar, did not notice much difference in after feel comparing to my normal recipes.
Does rice water smell good?
 
I've made quite a few soaps with fermented rice water, but I can't really speak towards any difference between recipes because my soaps with fermented rice water also have rice flour and rice puree in it too (see the link Misschief shared). I have a friend who says my triple rice is their favorite soap, however.

Fermented rice water is good for hair and skin, but I doubt those specific benefits survive saponification. At most it might be a difference in lather texture and bubbliness.

Does rice water smell good?

It's a neutral scent to me. Mild and pleasant.

Fermented rice water has a proper stink to it, though 🤭
 
Yes, I was wondering if there were any good bacteria in my fermented rice water if they'd survive the heat when I added the lye! I read the link shared by Misschief, I want to try doing that, but I want to make CP soap, not HP.

When you add the rice puree do you add it after mixing the lye solution with the oils? And do you strain it before adding it? Otherwise, I'd think the soap would be grainy, no? 🤔
I've made quite a few soaps with fermented rice water, but I can't really speak towards any difference between recipes because my soaps with fermented rice water also have rice flour and rice puree in it too (see the link Misschief shared). I have a friend who says my triple rice is their favorite soap, however.

Fermented rice water is good for hair and skin, but I doubt those specific benefits survive saponification. At most it might be a difference in lather texture and bubbliness.



It's a neutral scent to me. Mild and pleasant.

Fermented rice water has a proper stink to it, though 🤭
 
Does rice water smell good?
It smells in soap just like it smells before you put it in the soap, just milder. I put the FO in it, so it kind of blended together, but didn't disappear. It doesn't stink to me, I like the smell of freshly cooked rice, still slightly strange to smell it in soap.
You have to try, I don't think it is disgusting.
 
Yes, I was wondering if there were any good bacteria in my fermented rice water if they'd survive the heat when I added the lye!
Yeah, it's unfortunately hard to tell what actually survives the 'saponification monster,' if anything.

I want to make CP soap, not HP.
You definitely can make triple rice soap with cold process! I've never done hot process.

When you add the rice puree do you add it after mixing the lye solution with the oils? And do you strain it before adding it? Otherwise, I'd think the soap would be grainy, no? 🤔
I usually make the rice puree in advance in my normal blender (cooked rice + distilled water, blend until smooth), push it through a fine mesh strainer, and then freeze it until I'm ready to use it. I put the cubes of frozen rice puree into my oils (usually the heat of the melted oils melts it enough) and blend with my oils before adding lye. I've never had any graininess since the puree is smooth.
 
Yes, I was wondering if there were any good bacteria in my fermented rice water if they'd survive the heat when I added the lye! I read the link shared by Misschief, I want to try doing that, but I want to make CP soap, not HP.

When you add the rice puree do you add it after mixing the lye solution with the oils? And do you strain it before adding it? Otherwise, I'd think the soap would be grainy, no? 🤔
I only make CP. I've never made HP soap.

When I make mine, I cook the rice in more water than required (like double). Once well cooked (overcooked, really), I strain it and puree it to make a slurry. I rinse the rice before cooking it and use that water to dissolve the lye, with as much distilled water as needed to make up the required amount (it turns kind of thickish when you add the lye). I add the rice slurry and some rice powder to the oils and stick blend it before adding the lye slurry. It ends up being a lovely, creamy soap. And, because I use Jasmine rice for my Triple Rice soap, I scent it with Jasmine FO.
 
Hello, I recently "fermented" some rice water with distilled water to use it in my CP soap. However, since the water evaporates anyway, do you all think there's any benefit of using fermented water or is it a waste of time?
I didn't ferment my rice water (I use my fermented liquids for gut health purposes), but I meant to try rice water in a CP recipe and accidentally let my rice boil too long and had mush 🙄😆 so I added more water to loosen it up and made rice puree (very liquidy) then froze it into cubes to use in my recipe as the liquid. It was ok ~ I did notice it was less slimy than my other recipes (which usually had a high % of OO and goat's milk as the liquid) but I don't remember off the top of my head what ingredients were in that recipe with the rice puree liquid. I also don't add any scents to my soaps and I don't recall that soap smelling much different than the others. I still have some bars in my "Basket of Many Soaps" that I must use up before I'm allowed to make more soap without getting a mean side-eye from the hubby 😂😂😂 As for trying again ~ not sure, as I think the curiosity of the novelty has passed 🙃
I hope you give it a try as you never know for sure until you do ~ Happy Soaping 😁
🧼🫧🧼🫧🧼
 
I made my first batch of triple rice soap right after I saw the @Dawni post. I was doing mostly HP at the time. Now I'm doing mostly CP and am still doing my version of triple rice soap. I make it to gift since it is very mild and creamy and a version for my hubby and grandson which is high in CO...a little harsher for my old dry skin. Every time I gift the triple rice soap I get high compliments from all. Of course most of my friends are of the same age and skin type. I'm past the time of experimenting with other recipes that I see here or other sites. Nothing I have tried is comparable to the triple rice soap. It doesn't seem to matter what kind of rice I use...although I haven't used wild rice or instant rice....yet! LOL
 
I don't know if you use brown rice, or if this is of interest to anyone at all, but I was recently made aware of the high arsenic level in brown rice which is the only rice I use.

The way to remove the arsenic is to parboil the rice, meaning boil it for 5 minutes, then pour off & replace the water. The majority of the arsenic will be in the discarded water.

So, I'm wondering if this would be of any concern if you used rice water for soap. Would it have high arsenic levels? and would that matter to soap? I would think it wouldn't be great.
 
I don't know if you use brown rice, or if this is of interest to anyone at all, but I was recently made aware of the high arsenic level in brown rice which is the only rice I use.

The way to remove the arsenic is to parboil the rice, meaning boil it for 5 minutes, then pour off & replace the water. The majority of the arsenic will be in the discarded water.

So, I'm wondering if this would be of any concern if you used rice water for soap. Would it have high arsenic levels? and would that matter to soap? I would think it wouldn't be great.
I've heard of that too. But I only use white rice, always have, I grew up with it.
 
You can also purchase rice grown on farms that were never sprayed with the high-arsenic pesticide. Lundberg Farms is one of my favorites; they also don't enrich their rice with synthetic vitamins (which are a problem for those of us who have the MTHFR mutation).
Arsenic is a naturally occuring element in the soil
 
Arsenic is a naturally occuring element in the soil
Yes, but the heavier concentration in some rice fields results from a combination of cultivation methods, including pesticide use and how they water. There are farms such as Lundberg that have never been sprayed (always organic) and use far less water, leading to much lower arsenic concentrations.

SOURCE: Arsenic, a pollutant stemming from industrial processes and pesticides, also naturally occurs in soil and groundwater in regions across the globe.

Groundwater irrigation as an arsenic source for Rice accumulation

 
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