Authored by Suzanne Alicie in Bathrooms
Published on 09-18-2009

There is nothing quite as annoying as getting out of the shower and having to leave the room to look in a mirror. All the steam from the shower fogs up the mirror in the bathroom. Sure you can use a towel to wipe it off, but that leaves streaks and foggy areas that make it seem as if your face is underwater when you look in it. This also makes the mirror dry with streaks and spots as well. There are a few steps you can take to make sure that the mirror gets defogged and dries shiny and spot free.

To help prevent the fogging, try cleaning your mirror and all bathroom glass with auto glass cleaner. Many of these cleaners are formulated to prevent fogging, and are good to use on eye glasses as well. This helps a little, but on really chilly mornings when you take a hot shower there is just no preventing that fogged mirror.

To defog the bathroom mirror without messing up the clean glass, the idea is not to wipe or rub it. In fact don’t touch it at all. The first step is to dissipate the steam in the bathroom. Open the door or make sure that the ventilation fan is on. This will clear the moist air away so that more fog and condensation don’t form on the mirror. If you don’t get rid of the cause you can’t change the effect.

Turn on the blow dryer and point it at the mirror for just a few moments and you will see the fog and condensation disappear! Touching the mirror at this point is still a no-no, so if there are a few spots that didn’t clear right up with the blow dryer either hit it again or wait for just a minute or two and it will dissipate naturally.

Once you know a few tricks like these for defogging your bathroom mirror, it becomes a lot less annoying to see the fog and condensation there when you get out of the shower. Many of us are reaching for the blow dryer at that time anyway so pointing it at the mirror instead of at your hair for a few minutes isn’t a big hardship.

After the air in the bathroom becomes less humid and the mirror is dried off you may be able to see a few water spots left on the mirror, this is, sadly just a fact of life, but also easily remedied.

Spray a paper towel or micro fiber towel with a little bit of white vinegar and wipe the mirror. The towel doesn’t need to be wet, just the slightest bit damp. This will take away not only the water spots, but will also eliminate hairspray residue and other cosmetic products that may settle on the mirror.

Keeping vinegar on hand will help make sure that your mirrors and all bathroom fixtures will sparkle and shine, without a dull buildup covering them. Simply spraying and wiping daily will keep the whole room clean, and does wonders on shower doors as well as mirrors.