What age did you start to think "this is it, I'm looking older"

[cheeseandpickledonions]

Light hearted thread as I know it's a privilege to grow older.

I'm 37 and it's hit me. Lol

I thought I was lucky and blessed with one of those eternally young kind of faces (round, button nose, full lips) but boy oh boy the past few months have come at me quick.
I changed my blond hair to brown so now my greys are SO much more noticeable
My skin is just dull
My neck and chin feel 'looser'
My under eyes are dark and this morning I noticed crows feet without even smiling.
I can't lose weight as easily as I used to so I've got this middle aged spread way too early that won't budge

Ah well, I've had a good innings
Time to embrace it and grow old gracefully? Dye my hair back to blonde and get some Botox once lockdown is finished

OMG, I’ve noticed the marionette lines at my mouth recently! Always had full lips but they are starting to droop at the sides...

Up to the age of menopause, I think you age gradually. I have been through menopause thd last couple of years and O have aged dramatically on this last year. Before, I used to scrib up quite well, no amount of scrubbing is making my face look younger now. I look like I'm permanently frowning and my face looks middle aged.

I'm 45 now. I've always been one of those people that looked a lot younger than I was. I've always been delighted when someone asks my age and I tell them and they can't believe it! I'm not vain at all but I get a small pleasure from that. However these days I'm finding people aren't so amazed when I tell them I'm 45. They just accept it. I still think I look fairly youthful for 45 but I have good days and bad days. If I'm run down and tired I look every day of my 45 years. If I'm refreshed and relaxed I look younger. I think oestrogen has a lot to do with youthful looks. It's why women age quickly after the menopause. After 45 most women's oestrogen levels start plumetting and its no coincidence a lot of women start to say they feel invisible at 45.

@missyB1 I'm with you. I'm 50 this year and started feeling like I was looking older a couple of years ago. That's when I started dressing slightly differently, and not dying my hair quite so dark, I also don't really wear high heeled shoes anymore (too painful, all about the comfort now lol). I don't mind getting older, it's better than the alternative!

It's noticeable in my knees! I never understood Poirot's point about Princess Shaista's (sp?) knees revealing her true age before but now I totally get it! The rest of my body is currently ok but I have wrinkles in my knees!!! I am 31

In the last couple of years. I’m 44 now and have always looked much, much younger than my years. But past the 40 or a bit older there are little tells that give a subtle hint that you’re no longer a spring chicken.

Doesn’t bother me at all in terms of ageing - I am happy to look my age since I don’t worship at the altar of youth and/or sexual availability to men. But it’s sometimes difficult for the perfectionist side of my psyche to accept that I am moving further and further away from my own ideal.

Doesn’t bother me on a day-to-day basis at all. There is far more to me than my face and body.

P.S. Did anyone start to feel a bit invisible once they realised they were looking older? It's a strange one but I don't mind, I never really liked being looked/stared at anyway!

Just this last year really, I'm 50 in October and always looked relatively young for my age (not attractive young, just young ) but now when I look in the mirror I see someone getting older with a jowly face and a middle aged spread. I've never liked my legs but always had a flat tummy but now it's saggy and I look a bit bloated.
However I'm not exactly doing much about it. I'm quite active but haven't done more when it's clearly needed and I know I'm eating a lot. I need to get motivated but I feel defeated before I've even started.

38 - this last year 😭 I’ve also noticed lots of my hair falls out in the shower, luckily it’s thick but now I get that advert for did oak shampoo for the over 40’s (the one from Germany)

*that special

43. Until then I’d looked an odd combination of childish and middle aged due to being podgy but with very staid dress sense. An emotional upheaval at 42 led me to lose weight that never came back and my face seemed to age overnight. Now I’m 53 I’m glad to at least know what it’s like to be a ‘normal’ size, but a thinner face has made me look a bit older. With lockdown, I’ve stopped wearing makeup and have grown used to my naked face again - I think this is possibly quite a good thing. Will I go back to wearing makeup again? Yes, probably, but I am wondering how I’m going to feel about it.

I looked younger than my age until I got really ill. The decade since turning 40 has been harsh. I changed very little between 27 and 37. 37 and the following years were all down hill from there...

42. About now! Duller skin and cheek bones jutting out. Body is fine! Just my face.

My body changed a lot at 36, I had my third child, a double mastectomy, chemo and a oopherectomy in the space of a year.
However, at 42, I'm more saggy and the greys are creeping in!

Late 30s I started to notice, now I'm in my late 49s and it's hit me like an articulated lorry

After having my baby I'm 30. I knew I'd put on weight. Didn't know I'd age like this.

Really couldn't care less about being invisible to men. It's very liberating.

39, following weight loss. I lost the fat from my face, which was nice, but left the skin much looser than I remembered it - especially on the neck. Things aren't too bad yet, and I already had a good skin care routine, but I've definitely started investing more on serums and other face shite.

No I’ve not felt invisible, and I don’t suppose I ever will, until others decide I’m too old to matter, which is a view I absolutely don’t endorse.

My face and my body may have been, and actually still are, even if I do look my age, attractive/sexy/pretty/beautiful/whatever, but they weren’t ever the most interesting things about me. I’ve claimed my space in the world completely, regardless of whether or not my appearance meets some arbitrary ideal, and consciously independently of the male gaze, to whatever degree that’s possible. I don’t consider grey hair a horrible thing, because I don’t see why it can’t also be beautiful.

36. Face and hands. I like being outdoors, so…. I'm not bothered. Getting older is much preferable to the only other viable option.

Late 30s I could see some wear and tear. 40 hit me like a tonne of bricks and now at 43 I easily look 50.

36. After having my first. Really bad now. No time for me at all with the kids and no friends and family to help. Oh well. I guess I don’t care now, can’t be fixed

45 for me. Dreaded marionette lines. Up until then I was also one of these people who had always looked younger than they were. At 48 now there is not so much of a shocked reaction at my age. I actually like the rest of me just the marionette lines, they are so ageing! I am fine if I smile but when my face is resting, I feel like I am 100.

I have always said I wouldn't go down the botox route but am slowly turning round to this is the way forward as I am starting to become obsessed about these dreaded lines!!

Seelyboo same here. 47 - just - and can definitely see that I'm now nearer 50 than 40

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