So, from the tutorial i saw - you should apply it after washing your hair. But what since I'm rocking the natural now - I apply it everyday on my twists and more generously during the weekends when I loosen them. If you are washing the rice, you should leave the rice in water(the water you used to wash the rice) to ferment for 24 hours before filtering out the rice. But a more efficient way is to use the water you used to parboil the rice, that way you don't waste anything. You use the water on your hair and then you eat your rice!