Use Shaving Cream to Keep Your Bathroom Mirror Fog-Free

Not everyone is fortunate enough to live somewhere with a bathroom that has a powerful exhaust fan — or any exhaust fan at all. This means that getting out of the shower feels like you’re walking out into a steam room instead of your own bathroom.

But even when the steam dissipates, there’s a good chance that the mirror will still be foggy. And if you’re doing something that requires the mirror — like brushing your teeth, combing your hair, or shaving — you’re faced with having to wipe it down with your hand or a towel (but that’s not ideal either, because then the mirror is just wet and streaky).

As it turns out, there’s a way to prevent your mirror from fogging up, and it involves something that you may already have in your bathroom: Shaving cream. Here’s what to know about the household hack.

How to use shaving cream to keep your bathroom mirror fog-free

The process is pretty straightforward. Start by putting a relatively small amount of shaving cream on the mirror — the amount you’d use of a cleaning product. (You aren’t actually shaving the mirror, so there’s no need for a thick layer.)

Then, simply wipe and buff the mirror until you can see yourself again. The mirror might be a little cloudier than usual, but it’s either that cloud, or giving the cloud of post-shower steam the chance to fog up your mirror.

So why does this work? Shaving cream is a surfactant, meaning that that helps prevent water condensation particles from sticking to the glass of the mirror, according to the Pleasanton Glass Co.

And how long is it effective? This appears to depend on a variety of factors, including the number of showers taking place in the bathroom, and whether you’re working with even a weak exhaust fan, versus no fan at all. But in general, the anti-fog protection can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.