Raise your hand if you get stuck in a TikTok rabbit hole every night before bed *raises both hands and feet*. Apart from picking up some cringey dance moves, I have no doubt that you’ve also come across some impressive beauty hacks; a favourite of mine being the viral rice water hack. If your fyp hasn’t blessed you with this, it’s basically a hack where rice water is fermented to create the ultimate hair treatment leaving TikTokers with super shiny, healthy locks and us with a mess in our kitchens up until recently.
Put away those measuring cups ladies, we don’t gotta live like that anymore. The team at Shu Uemera have made our lives a little more convenient by saving us the work and creating a boujee version of this DIY haircare gold. Packaged in a spray bottle, Shu Uemera’s Izumi Tonic uses rice water to protect hair from damage, delivering healthy, strong hair. Super easy to use, all you need to do is spritz this into your towel dried hair after washing it to reap the benefits.
The History of rice water
Believe it or not, this rice water hack goes waaaay back to Japenese history. Before TikTokers made this trend go viral, women in the heian period (794 to 1185 ce) practiced yu-su-ru; a Japanese hair beauty tradition, where women kept their floor-length hair strong and healthy by bathing it in rice water. Giesha’s used rice water in the evenings as well, before combing through their flawless hair. This ancient Japanese practice was also the secret to firm, smooth, radiant skin. Now I understand why people refer to rice as a “good carb”.
From Ancient Japanese Giesha’s to the influencers we all know and love, rice water has travelled to the twenty-first century as a trending search topic. As a matter of fact, in 2019 searches for “Using rice water on your hair” were up a whopping 2000%! “Rice water for hair growth” was also ranked as the seventh most searched on Pinterest. On top of this, it’s known that Kim K uses rice water to help grow her natural hair. If a Kardashian’s doing it then so am I; someone hand me a bottle of Izumi Tonic.
Now that we know where this beauty tip originally came from, it would only be right that the rice extract in the Izumi Tonic formula was sourced from Japan, right? Sourced from Hyogo, Japan, Shu Uemera rely on an Asian eco-friendly farming system which involves the help of a few feathery friends; ducks. This system is based on a symbiotic relationship for higher productivity. Love, love, love!
The Benefits of Izumi Tonic
So, we know that rice water is responsible for glossy, nourished locks but how? Well, rice water contains a number of the vitamins and minerals found in rice including amino acids, B vitamins, vitamin E, minerals and antioxidants. Basically, with each application of Izumi Tonic we're feeding our hair the same essential vitamins and minerals we’d ingest by eating rice. Rice water also contains inositol, an ingredient that penetrates damaged hair and repairs it from the inside-out, as well as protecting hair from future damage. Good for your insides and outsides, move over bread, I think rice may be my new favourite carb (last carb joke, I promise).
With a tonne of research, Shu Uemera found the top consumer need gap to be hair breakage and damage; sounds about right with all the chemical processing and heat damage we do to our hair. Giving the people what they want, quite literally, Izumi Tonic instantly makes the hair 10x stronger, and after just 28 days, hair is smoother, silkier and healthier.
My experience with Izumi Tonic
Last year, when I first heard about this product, I knew it would be the one for me. And when I got it into my hands a month ago, it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. To give you a bit of background on my current hair situation, think lockdown, no access to hairdressers, split ends, heat damage, highlights that need love, just not a vibe. Alright, I’m hyping it up to sound worse than it is, but it just could be healthier, you know.
I found Izumi Tonic super easy to use. Instantly when I think hair treatment, I think time consuming. Well, not in this case. I simply just shampoo, condition, towel dry my hair and spritz a generous amount of Izumi Tonic from root to tip, I massage this in and voila! No need to apply, wait half an hour, then rinse out; sometimes, we’re just not bothered for all that. As well as its convenience, the fragrance is another thing I love about this product. Think vanilla and sandalwood base notes with citrus top notes. If I could spray Izumi Tonic on my body, I honestly would. The light-weight, watery texture of this product is also a win. Some treatments can leave your hair feeling a little heavy, Izumi Tonic has the opposite effect.
Alright, let's talk results. First thing I noticed was how easy it was to brush through my hair after applying. The brush simply glided through my locks where usually, it would get stuck at points. I also noticed that my hair texture felt different after I blow dried it. My hair felt a lot smoother and a lot less frizzy. I also had a few compliments that my hair looked shinier than usual, and I promise, the only thing I had done different was use Izumi Tonic. One of the more significant benefits, was dramatically less breakage. After three weeks of using Izumi Tonic, I noticed the snappy hair pieces in the sink slowly decrease to almost none. Basically, this product saved my hair when my hairdresser was unable to; thank you Shu Uemera!
And there you have it, the ancient Japanese beauty ritual, turned viral TikTok hack, turned life-changing Shu Uemera product, that’ll have your hair looking brighter than your future. Visit Oz Hair & Beauty to shop this and more.
