How to detect a 2-WAY MIRROR

When we visit bathrooms, hotel rooms, changing rooms, etc., how many of you know for sure that the seemingly ordinary mirror hanging on the wall is a real mirror, or actually a 2-way mirror (i.e. they can see you, but you can't see them)?

There have been many cases of people installing 2-way mirrors in female changing rooms. It is very difficult to positively identify the surface by just looking at it. It's time to get paranoid. So, how do we determine with any amount of certainty? Just conduct this simple test:


Place the tip of your fingernail against the reflective surface and if there is a GAP between your fingernail and the image of the nail, then it is a GENUINE mirror. However, if your fingernail DIRECTLY TOUCHES the image of your nail, then BEWARE, for it is a 2-way mirror!

So if not at home and changing before a mirror, do the "fingernail test". It doesn't cost you anything. It is simple to do, and it might save you from getting "visually raped"!

May be you are asking yourself how do two way mirrors work?

Have you ever been in a bright room and tried to look out the window on a dark night? All you can see is your own reflection in the window, right? That is because there just is not very much light coming in from outside, and there is a lot of light hitting the window from the inside, most of which goes out, but some of which gets reflected back. You just see yourself in the window, but anybody who is outside can see you very plainly through the window. You can imagine adding just a little bit of "silvering" to the window so that it reflects more of the light that hits it, and there you have a great spying device.

The actual test is accurate. Snopes and about both confirm that. The reallity is that a two-way mirror is going to be installed in some sort of window frame and with all the small camera techology, it's much cheaper to spy on people with a camera than an expensive two way mirror. So look for small cameras if you are worried about peeping.