How To Find The Best Fogless Shower Mirror

Written by Lynnette on March 3, 2007 | Comments (2)

In our home, Jim shaves his head bald every morning.

In addition to a lifetime supply of Gillette Mach 3 razors and replacement blades... it's a necessity that we have a fog-free mirror located inside the shower itself.

Here's what we've learned about fogless shower mirrors...

Most are not worth the price you pay for them.

Suction Cups Lose Their Grip

The fact of the matter is... the suction cups they come with lose their grip under the weight of the mirror itself every few days.

That means, you always have to remember to reach behind the mirror itself and "push" the suction cups firmly to the wall. If you don't? After a week or so, you'll hear this loud crash coming from the bathroom itself, only to realize, "Oh yeah, it's that stupid fogless mirror again!"

Miraculously, our plastic-framed fog-free mirror has never broken, or even cracked -- despite a 4-foot drop every few weeks. (They must be made durable enough to withstand these frequent crashes.)

Still... ideally, a fogless mirror for Jim to shave his bald head would be permanently affixed to the tiled wall inside the shower. No more suction cups!

Fogless Mirrors Still Fog Up

Despite their claims, every fog-free mirror we've tried still gets fogged up on occasion. Usually we just toss handfuls of water on the mirror itself, and the fog goes away temporarily.

But then you're left with ugly water spots! And if you happened to have a combination of soap & body oils, or shampoo on your hands, then you're actually just contaminating the fog-free properties of the mirror anyway.

Most current solutions don't work: anti-fogging sprays are short-lived; and windshields coated with titanium dioxide require exposure at least every few hours to ultraviolet light to work. It's very difficult to prevent fogging from taking place. Source

It's not horrendous, just inconvenient. Still, (at least in our experience) the weakness of the suction cups remains the bigger issue.

Some Fogless Shower Mirrors To Consider

This is the fog-free shaving mirror we currently have.

We like it, but don't love it.

This one is similar, with a few "bonus" features like a digital clock and/or an mp3 player.

This one seems like it might have some potential.

This mirror is warmed from a trickle of shower water that is diverted from the main shower stream so that it is sprayed on the back of the mirror and then exits the mirror bottom directly to the shower floor. A layer of copper is sandwiched to the back of the mirror to ensure that the heat from the water is evenly distributed. It is this transfer of heat from the water to the mirror that keeps your view entirely fog free no matter how hot or long your shower. Source

I'd have to see it to believe it though. (Here are a few reviews of the ShowerTek Fog-Free Mirror.)

RELATED:
Fog-Free?

Scientists At MIT Creating "True" Anti-Fog Glass

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2 Comments

Deb said:

Try this...take a small amount of shaving cream, the cheap stuff works fine, and clean your mirror with it. It may take a little elbow grease but it will work. You may get light moisture but no fog. Works for me.

January 27, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply to this Comment

Barbud said:

I have the same mirror with plastic around the edge. Must have dropped it about a dozen times before I removed the suction cups and just hold it in my hand when I shave.
I had noticed that divers spit in thier masks to keep them from fogging up. So I tried it one day. It worked for a day or two until one day I was brushing my teeth and I spit out on the mirror. Guess what, it got rid of the water spots and kept the mirror fog free for a couple of weeks. I then tried toothpaste directly on the mirror and it worked better. I can even rinse it in water and it creates a nice thin sheet of water on it (first few days after toothpaste).

Hope this helps,

January 19, 2008 10:29 PM | Reply to this Comment