To think she thought I was 10 years younger than I am

People usually think I'm younger than I am. I don't know about ten years younger but it's common for me to get told that.

I had my 40th not too long ago and I was getting a bit down about it. I had several of my friends tell me well you don't look 40!

I certainly feel 40 though!!

I was going to say mid 30s to mid 40s
Very attractive, but clearly not a 20 something. No shame in that.

I'd say you look between 37-42? What do you get mistaken for?

😂

@KatyaKabanova Was it Amanda Holden?

No. But then again you do get people who are delusional.
The funniest on here was a woman in her 50s who claimed everyone thought she was in her 20s. There followed other ludicrous claims.

Thing is....they never do!
Many threads with such claims. No evidence.

45 almost.

But yes I think its getting harder to tell nowadays. I would say I am 40s as I dye my greys and am now perimenopausal too to add to it

I very much doubt that she put enough thought into it to work out how old that would make you

@WalkingonWheels this has made me think, the only person I know who genuinely looks much younger than they actually are, I'm talking 20 years younger. She is around 5 foot tall, has a very useful dress, sense, around very pretty face, and natural blonde hair

I definitely think size does come into it a bit!

You are beautiful! I think it's very hard to tell how old you are, I would comfortably say you could be anything from late twenties to mid 40s, but fabulous regardless of what age you are.

You look great for an 118 year old.

How ironic and unfortunate. 😂

I don't know why people on Mumsnet think it's impossible to look a lot younger than you are. People can look a lot older, so why not younger? Is it jealousy?

FWIW, I'm in my 40s and I do look very young. I'm 5ft, but my face looks young too. I have no greys, no wrinkles and am often mistaken for early to mid 20s. I am always asked for ID, without fail, even when with my husband and teenagers.

Last year, I was treated horribly by an educational behaviourist working at the school I was teaching in. When she found out how old I was, she was very apologetic and said she thought I was an NQT straight out of uni. Not that it should have been an excuse for her behaviour, but it happens to me in every job. People think I was a teen mother (I was 26!).

I'm now a lecturer. People assume I'm a student. It's hilarious a lot of the time, but can be extremely frustrating if I am not taken seriously as a grown adult.

And no, I won't be posting pictures of my face on Mumsnet. The fact that I've had to live with this since I was a child is more than enough for me. I don't need to be believed by Internet randoms.

I get taken for ten years younger but only if I'm dressed up and have a full face of make up . I dye my hair too but I know sans make up , greasy hair and in joggers and t shirt I look my age

Hahahahahaha, you must have very low self esteem to post this on mumsnet...

She probably just misheard and never even looked at you.

However I have genuinely met one woman who looked 10 years younger than her age. Even when you knew her age you wouldn't be able to see it (she was Asian though, I think on white skin you can always see ageing).

the optician once read my age as 1972 when it is 1982 so consider yourself lucky.

In 2001 I suddenly lost the ability to instantly calculate someone’s age from their date of birth. I work with new people everyday and I never compute their age in my head. I doubt the receptionist was even looking at you, she was searching for your details and couldn’t find you. s soon as she updated the details she found you.

At no point did she think well I have a person here on the system but it cannot possibility be @Mairzydotes because she looks ten years younger.

Yes so many children doing responsible jobs. I often think the same.

Yes, it definitely goes crazily the other way.

Even though I tend to think people are younger than they are, sometimes I think people are older than they are, generally people in their late 20s, who could easily pass for 40+! But then they tend to plateau, and look the same as 60, so it's swings and roundabouts really.

I think it can vary a bit through life, I was often mistaken as older when I was a teen, mistaken as younger as an adult and I swear I've aged about 20 years since my 70th birthday and hate to think what people would guess my age as now. My face has collapsed but I'm blaming that on long covid so hoping it might improve a bit, I don't even recognise the old woman in the mirror.

Thinking about it I'd suggest Olivia Newton John, she aged really well.

Sorry, posted too soon - judging by my GP's receptionist, some of them appear to put in day/month and go from that, also?

I'm dreadful at construing a year of birth into an approximate age, unless it's very close to my own age, or my child's, because there I have an inbuilt sense of 'approximate age in relation to YOB'. So someone could tell me they were born in 1993, and I wouldn't automatically think 'Oh, the person I'm looking at is x age' or 'That person looks way too young to have been born in 1983'.