We did it! Your donations and my research work combined to enable me to present my True Mirror Research at the Association for Psychological Science Convention in Barcelona!

I just got back - see my latest update for how it went. Thank you! JW

Hi Everyone,

I'm John Walter, creator of the True Mirror — an optically precise non-reversing mirror that lets you see yourself as you actually appear to others, instead of reversed like every mirror you've ever used.

The concept isn't new (first patented in 1887), but what happened the instant I saw myself unreversed in a medicine cabinet double-mirror was life-changing. It wasn't about what I looked like — it was what I felt like. It was really me looking back, with genuine happiness showing not just in my smile but in a sparkling light from my eyes. In the regular mirror, that sparkle froze, the smile collapsed within seconds, and the connection disappeared. The difference was unmistakable.

Since 1992, I've been perfecting the optics (the key was creating a seamless join between two mirrors at exactly 90.00°) and showing people this experience one by one. What I kept seeing was the same thing: genuine smiles sustain and communicate in the True Mirror, but look fake and collapse in seconds in a regular mirror. I've demonstrated this to more than 25,000 people over 30+ years and have more than 1,000 videos documenting the phenomenon on social media (@truemirrorco on TikTok and Instagram).

This year, I conducted a formal study analyzing 22 video-recorded subjects using FACS (Facial Action Coding System) software to measure exactly what genuine smiles look like in each mirror. The results are striking: True Mirror viewing produces significantly higher expression density across virtually every subject, with an average advantage of 7.5× — meaning genuine smiles are seven and a half times more present in the True Mirror than in a standard reversed mirror.

I've been accepted to present these findings at the Association for Psychological Science (APS) Convention in Barcelona this May. This is a major opportunity — not just to share the research, but to put the True Mirror in front of researchers across psychology, neuroscience, child development, clinical practice, and self-perception science who can take this into their own labs.

This GoFundMe is to help cover the trip: airfare from New York, lodging, convention fees, and expenses come to about $2,200 — a real stretch right now with sales being slow at the True Mirror Company.

Can you help? Your donation is deeply appreciated. And if you'd like to experience it yourself, please visit truemirror.com and bring a True Mirror home!

All best,

John Walter

truemirror.com