Do You Own A Mirror?

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m99cgpbWZt1qkrshko1_1280.jpg

*no mirror in the men's room* with a don't-primp subtext makes me want to KILL

does the bathroom mirror count, above the sink? or are you talking about supplementary mirrors?

The bathroom mirror counts. That would be option 2 if it's waist length, or option 3 if it's just big enough to see your head in.

Needs an option for wall-mounted mirror that is mounted horizontally. I guess that's sort of a "half-length", but not really. I would like a full-length mirror though. It's on my list.

gotcha! then i have a half-length mirror, above the sink. i pretty much only look when i'm shaving, and when i'm leaving to make i don't have mustard all over my face or something

yeah the thought of owning a separate mirror beyond the already furnished bathroom mirror never crossed my mind as a student even though i clearly enjoy looking in them.

a nice half-length mirror near the front door is a good idea imo, maybe a full-length in the closet for special occasions or those all-night fuck-fests.

That's why I want a full-length mirror. For the fuck-fests.

: D

I have only a half-length mirror in the bathroom. I thought, when I got this flat, about getting a full length mirror to put in the hallway by the door, but decided against it because mostly mirrors just make me feel awful. I carry a pretty outdated image of myself around in my head, I guess, and it guts my confidence to realise it. I don't know if this is good or bad - like, if the key to self-confidence and accepting my body is to let go of that internalised image entirely, or if I should just keep it in the back of my head to feel better about myself. I feel a lot better about myself not looking in mirrors. I don't know if this is good body image or bad body image. It's complicated.

And now I feel quite bad for typing out a careful, considered post about this stuff when people are talking about fuckfests. Fuck my life.

i was totally kidding fwiw

Sorry. I was just poking fun at Matt P.

Wondering if I can use my half-length for blowjies though.

mirrors are like checking your bank account imo -- better to face the truth and more often than not you're better off than you think you are.

In seriousness though, using a smaller-sized mirror, I only have a fleeting and indirect idea about my appearance when I care to check it (usually while rushing out the door somewhere). It has me a little uneasy, and hence ready to spring for a larger one when I can budget it.

mirrors aren't for hating yourself, they're for owning yourself before someone else does.

Mirror in the bathroom and full length mirror behind the door in the bedroom. Decorative mirror in living room (they make spaces seem bigger!) but never really look in that. I have a compact though and I check my face compulsively.

It's weird and a problem and I don't actually know why I do it. My face doesn't change and yet there I am checking to make sure things look OK. It's more of a habit than anything else. So much so that one of my friends made me a homemade card a couple years ago and it was in the shape of a compact! That actually made me feel pretty shitty so that I've tried to do it less since.

I remember forgetting my compact on a night out dancing a couple years ago and being really weirded out and a bit panicked the whole time. I guess I was concerned that I loooked awful and had something on my face or something. When I saw pictures the next day I was shocked that I looked fine and good actually. Yes, I have issues.

I definitely have issues with my appearance but don't know exactly from where this habit stems but it's definitely there.

xp: I like that, Matt.

Oh and I have a face I make when I look in the mirror that I don't even realize I'm doing but it's such a thing that people (friends, parents) imitate me and poke fun at me for it. Nobody has done that for a while though so maybe I don't make the face anymore or at least not as often.

Two full-length, one of which is a cheap plastic one that's stuck to my door and I can't get it off! Plus a half-size on my dresser for making sure my jewelry goes with everything (and itself) but it only shows from the waist up.

there are people who don't have a mirror? really?

just one over the sink

most other mirrors are hung too low to be of service to me

I used to have a flat that had floor to ceiling mirrors all along the length of the bedroom. It was absolutely awful - the owners probably put them in to make the space seem larger but they freaked me out so much that I had to cover them up and only draw the curtains back to check stage outfits and things. If I can see myself in a mirror, I tend not to look at anything else, it's weird compulsion and I hate it. Shop windows, too.

Yes.

You know how sometimes restaurants have mirrors or mirrored walls? Despite the whole checking my face with the compact thing if I ever go to one of those restaurants I make sure I don't sit facing it otherwise I'll wind up looking at myself and stressing out the whole time.

there's always this http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/16/fashion/mirror-fasts-help-take-the-focus-off-yourself.html

One of the flats we lived in in London had huge mirrored sliding doors in the bedroom. They were super annoying and distracting in addition to being tacky and ugly.

We have mirrors in each of our three bathrooms and I added one to the back of our closet door because i got sick of jumping up and down to see if the bottom half of my outfit matched the top half.

I used to be absolutely obsessive about looking at my reflection. This included mirrors, store windows, car windows, etc etc. like ANYTHING. I'm nowhere near as bad about it now but I will cop to some sneak tactics like using the reflective apple on the back of my phone to check my makeup, teeth etc

Yeah, I know about those. I honestly don't think I could do that. Scratch the think part - I know I couldn't. The idea of that makes me very nervous.

three bathrooms!

Full length mirror in the bedroom (never really had a fuck-fest) involving it, plus a good-size one in the bathroom, by he from door in the hall (that's for catching light and making space seem bigger) and a good size one in the living room above the stereo / TV, which is too high to do more than check my hair in before going to work. There's an old bathroom mirror in the cupboard too; the new one is much nicer.

I check myself in the mirror a lot, but I've always been vain / stupid. I suspect looking a yourself compulsively is a throwback to being mystified by it. I kind of think of it as being a bit like magic.

i got sick of jumping up and down to see if the bottom half of my outfit matched the top half.

Before getting the full length I used to have to get on the bed to do this. lol.

Also, three bathrooms!! lol x-post

All sorts of iPad typos.

I check myself in the mirror a lot, but I've always been vain / stupid. I suspect looking a yourself compulsively is a throwback to being mystified by it. I kind of think of it as being a bit like magic.

― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, August 30, 2012 3:47 PM (18 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Maybe for some. I do it to make sure I don't have something on my teeth or nothing's wrong with my face or something. Yes, I know this is dumb.

The mirror thing is strange, because I am the least obsessed-with-my-appearance person ever. I am perfectly happy to go out with unbrushed hair, mismatched socks and toothpaste on my shirt and not even notice or care. It takes a lot to get me to pay attention to or care about my appearance. It's not actually that I'm checking what I look like at all, it's a strange OCD thing.

Also, I grew up in a house with 3 bathrooms. Is that a lot?

unbrushed hair

Oh the other thing I have with me about 90% of the time is a tiny hairbrush.

x-post - It seems like a lot? I don't know much about houses but considering that our apt only has one three seems downright extravagant. My childhood home had 1 and a 1/2.

I would brush my hair, like, once a week if I didn't know that I get horrible bed-dreads at the back which are impossible to comb out. :-(

(And I would grow dreads if they weren't so damned itchy.)

shaving mirror in bathroom, and a really awkward, inaccessible mirror in the kitchen of all places. can never use it because it's in a corner, behind a door and too dark. I don't mind mirrors particularly, but I don't mind not having more.

hmm, a little runic that - i don't mind mirrors, but I don't mind not having them more. God, I shd stop this.

We have a full length mirror in the bedroom but in thinking about it I actually probably use the tiny bathroom mirror more. I dress in the bathroom after my shower and it's usually dark when I wake up Mr Veg so I just go out to the kitchen & have breakfast while he's getting up. I will look at myself in the full length when I get a new outfit or if I'm going somewhere fancy, but i guess I kinda know how I look most of the time that it's like 'shrug, you get the idea'

but I stare at myself in the mirror while brushing my teeth or washing my face. which as i'm writing seems kinda weird lol

The two mirrors in my apartment: 1) above the bathroom sink, and 2) on a closet door (full-length).

The bathroom one is the only one I use regularly -- I need to see what's going on when I shave, and I have to ensure that my hair doesn't look completely ridiculous when I leave for the day. It's also occasionally useful for inspecting zits, food in teeth, etc.

We've put hooks on the closet door, so much of the time that mirror is covered by coats or bags. Once in a while I'll use it to check if my full outfit matches/isn't too wrinkled, but I don't often need a mirror to tell me that.

my flat has a full-length one in the hall, which is good cos i think they're necessary.

i have a tiny desk one in my room too.

Decorative mirror in living room (they make spaces seem bigger!)

^ This matters, people. Thinking mirrors are for nothing but looking at yourself is like thinking white is not a color.

They can also double the light from a light source placed near to them!

Oh man, I probably have the most mirrors on this whole site. Lots of the ladies I work with have little ones on their desk for us to fix hair/makeup with. Good for meetings/client visits IMO (our business is image!) Mine is pretty much always pointed at me, guaranteeing I will brush my hair once an hour.

I have two full lengths in the room my closet is in - one bolted to the closet door that opens at an awkward angle and is thus never used - and another leaned randomly for me to be able to see my whole outfit at once in. But, making sure I look nice is the best way to triumph over my "ugliest girl in the world" insecurities. We have another full length in the hallway mostly because it's just a beautiful wooden piece, but it rarely gets used because the light in that hallway is finicky and never flips on, rendering the mirror fairly useless.

Man come to think of it I even have a little pedestal mirror in the bathroom to use for straightening the back of my hair (in conjunction with sink mirror). Oh well. Best defence is a good offence or whatever..
Husband has an old dresser from the 70s with a giant mirror bolted on top. Possibly a woman's dresser? It has had no effect on his sexuality from what I can tell. Neither of us really use it since we are giants and it cuts off at our chests.

3 bathrooms isnt that extravagant in the south where shit is cheap. why right here is an ugly ass house in beautiful conway arkansas that has 10 bathrooms and costs only a little more than the two bed/one bath apartment my mom owns in Sydney.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/Conway_AR_72034_M80945-71232
i wonder if these people have put the thought and effort into their mirroring opportunities that they have clearly put into their moose decor

mirror above sink, which I only really look at when i'm shaving, so twice a week. There's a full length mirror in the lifts at work so try to make sure i don't look too crappy before i face the general public.

oh man, now i want another one in the bathroom to see the back of my head.

i have 4 small areas in my flat and i have a mirror in each of these areas inc. 2 in the bathroom. i have all of these because i think i'm amazingly good looking and i like to see my reflection as often as possible.

<3

Do you have one of those tryptic folding mirrors, jed, where you can admire your own ass?

Like in department stores!

I need the one above the bathroom sink to put my contacts in in the morning, plus shaving and cutting my hair with the clipper/trimmer thing. Think it may be broken though, it shows an ugly fat guy.

My grandmother knew a lady with a fantastic closet that had one of those. I was always curious to see what I looked like from other angles since I knew what I looked like from the front but hadn't had any opportunities to see me from other angles. Kinda like the first time you see yourself filmed. 'Who's that? Oh Jesus!'

i look in the mirror so much i barely know myself anymore, i'm just that guy in the mirror

I've changed my hairstyle so many times now, I don't know what I look like.

The closet in my bedroom and the main closet in the entrance to my house both have big sliding door mirrors. It's kind of weird, since before living here I only had a small mirror in the bathroom which was only used for shaving really. It makes me more conscious of the fact that I am getting older and that my body is decaying, but it also makes me notice when I spilled something on my shirt before going out.

do you sense a change surm?

xp

my grandmother, who was cursed with the same naturally curly hair as mine, had a mad mirror rig out in her bathroom set up so that while straightening her hair she could see every angle possible. so fresh. im too afraid to look at the back of my hair. just seems like it will only lead to more straightening.

HOLD @ MIRRORS GOTHER ! INFINITY! SEE GOD AND HIS FREINDS!

They can also double the light from a light source placed near to them!

uh, no. not really.

i look in the mirror so much i barely know myself anymore, i'm just that guy in the mirror

― surm, Thursday, August 30, 2012 3:32 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is so perfect <3

when you hold two mirros why do they get smaller into infinity? is God doing a shrinkjob!?

I feel like old photographs are more shocking than mirrors. Looking at mirrors daily is akin to watching children grow- you notice the change less if it's a daily thing and I don't much care to shy away from the reality of change. Plus mirrors bounce light around and make living spaces feel larger.

uh, no. not really.

Well, no, not really. But it's a fine illusion. Done with mirrors.

Why do you hate magic?

magic mirror eats your soul

"Done With Mirrors" is perhaps the most underrated Aerosmith album that I have owned. Ted Templeman, you know. Clean as a razor blade.

Do you have one of those tryptic folding mirrors, jed, where you can admire your own ass?

of course i do.

i look in the mirror so much i barely know myself anymore, i'm just that guy in the mirror

you are amazing.

lived for a year without a mirror once, lots of looking at my reflection in shop windows instead

sometimes when I get really drunk I look at myself in the half length mirrors of pub bathrooms and think bad thoughts

I own Mirrors

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XdhcOcITAOw/TQwNEsXKByI/AAAAAAAACHI/v8NpjcbQEhM/s1600/cover_1454161332010.jpg

I will spend an AWFUL LOT OF TIME looking in the mirror if given the chance, it's kind of gross. It's a combo of vanity and bad habits from altered states, where the most fun thing (or scary thing) is mirror universe.

Beyond the body image whatevers, mirrors CAN be kind of freaky you know? Bloody Mary and all that. If I read about that kind of stuff before bed I can't sleep.

My high school boyfriend's family had TONS of mirrors lining all the walls in the kitchen and living room. It made me very uncomfortable. He said one time, "I guess we don't have a bunch of family photos like your family because mirrors are pictures of the present."
PICTURES OF THE PRESENT!!!!!!!!!

Ah! V creepy!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Halloween-card-mirror-2.jpg

This is turning into one of those "don't look in the mirror while tripping... AAAAARRRGGGGGHHH!!!" kind of moments.

i like how the girl's face in the mirror is squinting, like she's trying very hard to make up her mind about her future prospects and whether she might not be better off as an old maid.

i've been living for a month in a place that had one palm-sized mirror by the sink (that then broke), plus a laptop-screen-sized mirror in the bathroom at, like, torso height, not at all convenient. And it did kind of have that no-mirror-in-the-men's-room effect. Every time I wanted to look in a mirror I'd think: well, there isn't one, and this isn't the place to think about your appearance, stop being so vaiiiiin. Except everyone was taking photos all the time and putting them on facebook, so i had to simultaneously not-look-in-mirrors and not-be-bothered-by-looking-bad-in-photos, and all in all the whole business could at times feel like some kind of masochistic exercise or aversion therapy programme or just poking at the bruise of 'so you're not super comfortable with how you look, and you feel like people will think less of you if you admit that'. Except actually the absence of a proper mirror bothered the dudes the most, because shaving.

Also I then discovered that there was a mirror in the wardrobe in my room, which was useful the few times I needed to do makeup. As a person who is often late, I have got pretty used to applying makeup on public transport using a compact as my only mirror, and it kind of works but you always worry that the individually-made-up bits of your face do not add up correctly.

In the deathmatch of 'your face in mirrors' vs 'your face in photographs', i would come down on the side of mirrors, definitely.

I have a mirrored bathroom cabinet above the sink but my special ninja skill is never looking in bathroom mirrors even when stood in front of them.

I also have a... full length? 3/4-length? mirror which I have put behind a door which is almost always open, except it's not wall-mounted, so it goes from my feet to my armpits. I think the awkward/no-face positioning is more due to being too lazy to drill holes in the wall and having too much clutter to put it anywhere more prominent, but there's probably an element of not wanting to look at the thing either. When my mother arrived with it she said "oh you could put it here in the hall, or fix it to your wardrobe door, or" and I was like, well, maybe, but for now I'll prop it here where I can't accidentally see myself in it, thanks

also they always have a layer of dust and smears on for extra haziness of self-vision but that is also mainly because of my housekeeping laziness

The apt. came with a mirror over the sink, which gets the most use for doing hair/makeup. We've also got a full length mirror that I use for an outfit/clothing malfunction potential check/you look marvelous moment before I leave the house. Jeff has a shaving mirror in the shower, and there's a small antique decorative mirror in the bedroom. I caught sight of a large decorative mirror shaped LIKE A CAT in the window of a shop that I pass on the train and I'm thinking it would look hanging in this one blank spot in our living room, but it's probably half as much as that ten-bathroom Arkansas house given where it was displayed.

I think I look in the mirror a pretty normal amount. I look for practical purposes, and sometimes because I like the way I look. Although my desk faces two windows and unless there's full sunlight outside, I can see my face reflected in the window and I look at that reflection a lot because 1) it's right there when I look away form my computer monitor and 2) it kind of fascinates me, which makes me feel like a baby or maybe a chimpanzee.

but I stare at myself in the mirror while brushing my teeth or washing my face.

I seriously cannot stand still while brushing my teeth. I'll do some simple one-handed task or if there's nothing to do, walk around. This morning I read ILX while brushing.

I walk out to my living room and sit down in a chair while brushing my teeth. If I'm doing it in the mirror, I feel rushed and sometimes don't end up brushing for the recommended amount of time.

I don't mind looking in mirrors, though. I used to, because I'd use every opportunity for harsh self-criticism, but now I just seem them as practical items for daily modern living.

Just been discovering Cleveland's Mirrors cos I copied their material from Those Were Different Times to my walkman which keeps throwing up their tracks to play while I have the thing on random. Don't think I really listened to the compi over much on disc.
Does have me kicking myself for not getting the orange sleeved compi on them alone when I saw it years ago.

Do have a half length bathroom mirror that unfortunately has my sink directly under it so I can't see any lower. Clean it occasionally too.

Also do have a 2 or 3ft mirror that I can prop up and look at my lower half on. Might be nice to have a full length on a stand.

All that talk about checking my look in the mirror and I ran out of the house to catch a bus this morning and have no idea what my clothes look like from an objective perspective.

I have a large one in the bathroom, goes to a little above the knee. I have a face-sized decorative one, and a full length one directly across from my desk so I can gaze at myself all day long

you can watch yourself while you are eating

one of the previous residents put a mirror on both sides of the bathroom door--there is really no room on either side to stand far enough back to get a good look at yourself, but you can gaze into your own eyes while on the toilet

even the brightest stars
fall in love in the looking glass

ok messed that stuff up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYh3HlGY35g

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Never really gave much thought to this. Almost every bathroom has a mirror over the sink, including mine. A bedroom I rent out had a full-length mirror in it when I moved in that is still there, but my bedroom didn't and I never thought to install one. I own a couple of small handheld mirrors that are only occasionally used.

I use the bathroom mirror for shaving or checking my hair and such. Even when I lived somewhere that had a full-length mirror, I really only used it to look at my face/hair, only occasionally checking out my entire appearance. If I want to see how my slacks or shoes look, I don't need a mirror.

I like looking at myself, because if you do it long enough, you start to freak out because human bodies are really weird.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

these poll results have kind of restored my faith in ilx tbh

The sides of my truck work as a full length mirror, otherwise I have my above sink mirror. But I think an honest poll would of included the reflecting windows we walk by through out our days?

I have a full-length mirror from ikea, it is dope

I have a lot of mirrors. But I try not to look into'em too much. I am fugly and fat. lol

no

Full length, half-length, bathroom, all ower..

(I think we may not have one in the kitchen)

i've only recently moved house and where I live the only mirror is the bathroom cabinet which is tiny. I don't really think about it that much but it is awkward not knowing if you've got sticky-up hair when you go out. That said the only way I can get to places is by bicycle these days and cos of the busy roads I always wear a helmet so sticky-up hair has become an inevitable fact of life.