“fog free”
I hate to shave. My typically messy and disheveled look allows me to get away with scraggly facial hair for most of the week. I shave about 2, maybe 3, times per week. One modern convenience that has allowed the shaving to be a tolerable experience is the “fog free” mirror I have suction cupped to the shower. It is my 5th. I have to keep rebuying “fog free” mirrors because the “fog free” only lasts for a couple of months, at best. If you don’t know, shaving in the shower is the absolute best way to shave. Your skin is the softest and slippery-est, the hairs are easier to cut, and there is absolutely no mess and no cleanup. So good, but a pain in the ass if the your damned mirror keeps fogging up.
Tonight, I figured out the secret to semi-permanent fog-freeness, and I feel like I need to share it with the rest of the world!
I heard a story once, from a great storyteller, a guy who had a live act, not quite a comedy show, where he basically just told really long, really detailed, really funny stories. I saw him live in LA about 3 years ago. I forget his name, but I am confident Kathlene or Kevin, who were with me, will write in to tell us soon. In any case, he told a story that somehow had something to do with shaving, and he talked at length about the fog free mirror. Near the end of the story he suggested a method for keeping the fog-freeness. For whatever reason, I never thought about it again, but tonight, I remembered. I think I remembered because I was thinking about storytelling. I am watching, “An Evening with Kevin Smith” on cable for the 4th time. In case you don’t know, it’s a 4 hour long on-stage storytelling and question and answer session with the hilarious genius Kevin Smith (writer/director of Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob…) It’s on Starz right now, but I think it can be found on one of the DVDs, maybe jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. He’s an unbelievable storyteller, like I would love to be, and he takes simple, everyday stories and weaves them into side-splitting, super-entertaining tales that you can’t turn away from. Basically, he’s brilliant. I highly, highly recommend watching this thing. Sorry about the tangent – I’ll just say that I was thinking about storytelling tonight, and it reminded me of the guy in LA, and then I thought about the fog-free mirror right before my shower. In the shower, I tried the technique I remembered, and it worked flawlessly.
Here’s the technique:
Soap. A simple bar of soap will bring back the fog-freeness of a fog free mirror. Mine lost it’s ability to resist fog a few months ago, but I have tolerated the inconvenience of wiping the fog away every 5 seconds. Tonight, I took a raw bar of soap (Lever 2000, for all my 2000 parts) and rubbed it side to side from the top to the bottom of the small circular mirror. Then I lathered up my hand and rubbed the other way, up and down, from left to right, in even, smooth columns. Then I rinsed my hands and cupped handfuls of water and tossed them onto the mirror until all the residue was gone. When complete, it was obvious that all the fog was gone too, and was not returning. FOG FREE, for the first time in months! In fact, it was more fog free than when it was new!
I have no idea how long it will last. But, at least for now, I highly recommend shaving in the shower, using a fog free mirror, and coating it with Lever 2000 to keep it fog free. Enjoy.
UPDATE: Well, it does indeed work, but only for about one day. Still a helpful tip I guess. Lucky for us, some geniuses at MIT are working on a new type of glass that simply does not fog up. Very nice.
I love An Evening With Kevin Smith. It actually is a DVD box set – comprised of two DVDs. I found my copy in Best Buy, but you can also get it from his Website – viewaskew.com. He was supposed to be coming out with a second one called Another Evening With Kevin Smith, but I’m not sure if that is still happening or not.
You’ll soon find that the fog-free-ness after a good soaping is only temporary. I find it best to lather up some soap in my hand and then give the mirror a swipe. This gives me the necessary few minutes of fog-free-ness needed for a full shave. I’ll try the scrubbing motions you suggest and see if it is longer-lived.
I agree whole-heartedly! Shower shaving is the only way to go!
I usually lather some soap onto a wash cloth and wipe down the mirror right before shaving. I never lasts long though. I too, will try your technique.
Here is the solution:
http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&did=22&Product_ID=857&test=testpl
How it works: the reason things fog up, is because the temperature of the item it lower than the temperature of the air. When the super-humid air comes closer to the item, the air cools off, and can no longer hold onto all of that moisture, so it gets deposited on the item: in this case, a mirror.
What this set up does, is it let’s the same water you are showering with to flow in a cavity behind the mirror, bringing the mirror to the same temperature as the water: thereby eliminating the fog, and no special coating to wear off.
~nj?
i knew some guys that scuba-dived (dove?) a while back, and they said that they used toothpaste for their masks to make them fog-free. apparently, the toothpaste worked better than anything else they tried. worth a shot perhaps.
-dg
JOHN LEHR
http://comediclectures.com/
cut a potato in half and rub it on the mirror. it also works on windshields of cars….let me know if that works…it should
miss you booger!!!
WOW!
Chris,
I think you are a genius. Seriously.
Now you can shave your Ba**s with a fog free mirror!
YAY!
I use the crome part of the shower head as a reflective surface to shave from. eh.. works for me. Also pickup one of those new Gillette m3 shavers too. They work well.
shave in shower > *
Thanks for the idea, Chris! It works really well…
for about a day.
I shave in the shower without a mirror. I run one hand around my face, feeling for the stubble, and follow close behind with my razor in the other hand. It’s faster than messing with a foggy mirror.
I should mention that I do use a mirror to even out my sideburns and catch any stray whiskers after I step out of the shower.
I should also mention that I’m a woman.
cool!
I just tried it a while ago, normally it takes no more than 15 seconds after the first drop from the shower head to fog it up …
i then tried it with just a normal bar of soap and it worked, and it does last quite long …
This is what i think, with the soap it give the mirror a coating of slick water on it which prevents fogging, as the fog just adds up to the thin layer of slickish water on the mirror … when u clean the mirror throughly again and let it dry u see it get fogged again …
cool!
I think this is the most important post I’ve read all year.