We painted ours. The house was built in 1983 so I am fairly sure it is not
asbestos.

I sprayed the laundry room ceiling and it didn't turn out very well. I used a
Wagner sprayer (inexpensive) and that may be the reason.

I bought a heavy roller especially for popcorn ceilings and my husband started
out with it. It didn't do very well - it was really heavy. So he switched to
one of those cheap, use once and throw away types, and it worked best of all.

Mind you, the ceiling doesn't look great - just better than before we started.