Maybe cruising around in the rain doesn’t give you a bout of anxiety so severe that your arms hurt from gripping the steering wheel. That’s great for you, but if you’re the person who hates a rain-covered side mirror and freaks out when you can barely make out the cars behind you, you might want to start keeping toothpaste in your car.
Yes, we know this makes no sense right now, but as it turns out, applying toothpaste to your car’s mirrors can help them repel rain.
The odd trick was showcased by TikTok content creator @andrelifehack whose whole thing is putting these viral hacks to the test. Apparently, this one really works.
@andrelifehack Toothpaste for your mirror really does work? #lifehackvideo #lifehack #lifehacks
♬ оригинальный звук – This is hack
In the video, Andre watches someone do the hack and then repeats it for himself. First, he cleans his car’s side mirror. Then, when completely clean and dried, he adds a small dollop of toothpaste to the center. The toothpaste is buffed into the mirror using a towel and wiped away until it’s no longer visible.
When completely clear, Andre sprays water all over the mirror, and the section where the toothpaste was buffed into the mirror completely repels water. It’s like really cheap Rain-X and it’s already in your bathroom.
The real question here, though, is why toothpaste repels water, and it’s all about the surfactants in it. These surfactants prevent condensation or water particles from forming and prevent water from clinging to a mirror. So the rain hits the mirror and falls away.
Yes, of course, you can always use Rain-X, but if you don’t keep it on hand—or want a wildly cheaper option—toothpaste on your car mirrors might just be the way to make driving in the rain just a bit more tolerable.
