'I tried the rice paper skin tightening hack. Here's what happened.'

Mamamia’s Tried and Tested series is your review of the latest to hit our desks in beauty, health and wellbeing. You won’t find any #sponsored content here, just honest, relatable and independent advice. This week, Mamamia's Beauty Editor trials the rice paper skin-tightening hack.

Yes, friends. We find ourselves here again. Trying whacky beauty hacks on the Internet to see if they actually work or if the strangers are lying to us again.

Oh, come on. It'll be fun.

In my defence — this one really does look like it would work, you guys. More so than the hemorrhoid cream. Or the nappy rash cream. Or even the 10-pump foundation hack.

Watch: Speaking of trialling hacks, remember that time I put lube on my face to see if it *really*. Post continues below.

It's called the 'rice paper skin tightening hack' and it involves, well... rice paper. 

Promising to tighten and smooth your skin, the viral hack has pulled in millions of views and thousands of attempts on TikTok (just search 'rice paper face mask'), where you'll find users claiming impressive results. 

As a beauty gal who's always on the hunt for affordable skincare hacks, I decided to put this trend to the test. 

Here's what happened.

What is the rice paper skin tightening hack?

As you can probably guess from the name, the hack involves using edible rice paper sheets, typically used for spring rolls or rice paper rolls, and using it on your face as a face mask. 

The process is pretty straightforward:

1. Wet a sheet of rice paper with water
2. Apply it to your face, smoothing it out to cover the skin
3. Allow it to dry completely (around 15 to 20 minutes)
4. Gently peel off the dried rice paper

Another version of the trend uses egg whites, instead of water. 

The idea behind it? As the rice paper dries, it's supposed to create a tightening effect on the skin, claiming to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles for smoother 'plumped' skin. 

Fans of the hack also claim rice paper has antioxidant and mild exfoliating properties (due to the peeling process), that help with skin tone and elasticity, potentially leaving skin smoother.

Here's TikTok user @gina__cicero giving it a whirl with egg whites:

@gina__cicero This rice paper skincare hack is PHENOMENAL!!! @jaime nicole thank u shuga. #ricepaperhack #ricepaperfacemask #ricepaperskincare #glassskin #eggwhiteskincare ♬ original sound - Official Lady Venom

Sounds pretty good, no? 

How did you go with it?

I headed down to Woolies and bought myself a pack of Pandaroo Vietnamese Style Rice Paper, $2.30, to put it to the test.

Image: Supplied.

Before I get into it, though — a little bit about my skin. 

Coming out of winter it's pretty dry and dehydrated, little bit red and pi**ed off and I'm struggling with some cute hormonal breakouts around my chin. Nice! So, I was really hoping this wouldn't make things worse.

First up, I added egg whites to a bowl (look, Mum! I'm cooking).

Egg whites!

I pulled out a sheet of rice paper and measured it to my face. I then used scissors to cut it up into separate sections for my forehead, cheeks, chin, upper lip and nose. 

As per the viral videos, I dipped each section into the egg whites — except I got too excited and threw them all in at once. Don't... do this. Because it gets all goopy real quick and it's hard to work out what goes where.

Anyway, I then went ahead and moulded each section of the rice paper to my face and put a timer on for 10 minutes.

While I waited I... typed this exact sentence and started noticing a little bit of a stinging sensation around my nose. Ruh roh!

Never looked better tbh

After 17 minutes (I got distracted), I started peeling the mask off... and it literally looked like I was peeling off my own skin. 

Exhibit A:

Yum!

After peeling off the layers, my skin immediately felt tighter. I had lotsss of the crusty egg white situation underneath my skin, so swiftly cleansed my face to get it all off.

The immediate results? Unexpected.

My skin definitely felt smoother and looked brighter and fresher. It still had that 'tight' feeling, and although I wouldn't say my lines and wrinkles 'disappeared', they were a little less obvious. 

Here's what my face looked like before and after:

Before and after.

The verdict.

So, have we just added rice paper to our skincare routine? 

When it comes to immediate effects, as soon as I removed the rice paper, there was a noticeable tightening sensation and my face felt overall smoother and softer (probably the exfoliation part!). There was a subtle (but temporary) smoothing of fine lines, particularly around my eyes and forehead — but nothing too hectic.

While the initial results were pretty promising, within a few hours, my skin returned to normal.

Obviously, any skin expert or dermatologist would kindly ask you not to put this on your face — or if you do, they'd probably advise against doing it too often. Why? Well, it could potentially end up drying out your skin or really messing with your skin barrier — both of which aren't a fun time. So, it's good to keep this in mind before trying it. 

There's also pretty limited scientific evidence when it comes to the proven long-term benefits of using rice paper for skin tightening. While the immediate effects are great, they're temporary and mostly due to the paper drying on your skin, rather than changing your skin's structure.

As with any skincare trend, results will depend on your individual skin type and concerns — so while it works wonders for one person, it might end up irritating your skin or making it a little angry, red and inflamed. Also, do a patch test. I didn't and it could've been very silly.

While the rice paper mask hack may offer a quick, affordable fix, if you're looking for an immediate tightening effect, keep in mind that it's not a miracle solution and shouldn't be a replacement for your regular skincare routine.

While I enjoyed the satisfaction of the immediate results, they're temporary at best — and there are a ton of science-backed skincare ingredients out there that can do the same thing, if (a lot) better.

Want to hear more from Erin Docherty? Follow her on Instagram.

Have you tried this technique before? How did you go with it? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Feature image: Erin Docherty.