I look much younger than my age.

[LockdownLoser]

I actually don't! I look my age or there abouts which is fine, its how old I am. But I always get the faux shock, no really? When people ask my age and then tell me I look much younger. I laugh it off and act flattered which seems the apporiate response.

I see it on here a lot where people have been convinced they genuinely look 10 years younger than their age because they get told so all the time. Some do look younger of course but a lot of the time they look round about their age. The picture threads dont help either because everyone is scared to cause offense and guesses 5 years below what they think, or they are spiteful and guess 10 years older than they think.

Are you one of these people who tell everyone how young they look? Why do people do that, are they giving out a compliment, being polite, or just laughing at how the other person laps it up and believes it? Its bizarre, what is wrong with looking your age, and if everyone looks much younger then surley the younger look becomes what that age looks like so again they actually look their age.

Agree OP, I think it's a mixture of being complimentary and people not being good at judging age. Generally we look close to our age, unless work has been done.

I'm 45 and still get asked for ID every few months, so one one hand, I think I probably look younger than my age, but I think that's on a shallow first glance, because I have a fairly alternative, unnaturally coloured hairstyle, live in a student area, and it usually happens when I'm wearing very casual clothes, so I think I get mistaken for a hideously hungover student in her twenties who looks terrible. And I like looking my age, too - I have parents and grandparents and great grandparents who aged proudly and interestingly, so I've always liked the thought of looking older like them. Actual aging so far has involved more joint pain than I'd hoped for, though.

Some people do look younger!

I often get, oh you dont look old enough to have a X year old child or 3 kids? You don't look old enough.

But I had my first when I turned 19 so had a head start.

And when I say that I don't have i.d. because I'm 45, and point out my wrinkles and grey hair, the cashiers are perfectly willing to believe me, so I obviously do look my age once I point it out.

I sometimes tell people that they seem younger, and it's not a lie! Usually these are lively, fun people. Male or female. It's not a look so much as an energy, a state of mind.

I know some people do look younger, I even put it in my OP.

I was really happy last week after using the facebot app which said Iooked 26 (my actual age is 40). My OH said that it was designed to give a younger prediction so he tried it. It said he was 2 years older than his actual age, he was very grumpy the rest of the day!

I read an article recently about masters athletes. People in their 70s/80s/90s who can still achieve remarkable physical feats.

The article wanted to explain that actually these people aren't remarkable, they're how it's supposed to be. The majority get old before their time because of unhealthy lifestyles.

I think the same can apply to looks. For example smoking is very aging, so someone the same age who looks younger than the 40yo smoker doesn't actually look young, they look their age.

Who asks you your age? Why?
No one ever ask me how old I am and vice versa?
Is it an MN thing?

I do look younger than I am- I'm nearly 40 and get IDd fairly regularly. The Woman in Tesco told me it was my glasses (what?! Women under 18 don't wear glasses?!)
A neighbour who didn't know us knocked on my door and asked me if my mum was in the other week...
I find it really frustrating- I'm in a very senior role at work and it's doubly hard both as a woman and someone who doesn't look their age to be taken seriously.

I get asked my age a lot when I meet new people, it seems to be a standard question in small talk, how old are you, where did you grow up, do you have children and so on.

Yes I’m definitely guilty of faux shock at someone’s age. It’s an attempt to be kind / polite I guess. I do it most I think to middle age ladies who maybe are commenting on how I should enjoy my children while they’re young then tell me they have teens/grown children and I usually do a sort of standard ‘no way, you don’t look old enough’ response as I just kind of feel like it’s the right thing to say..? My mum has often complained about the middle age invisibility so maybe I feel it’s important to compliment women of a certain age when given the opportunity..?

That's incredibly condescending of you. I'm well into middle age, don't feel invisible at all and if someone told me I didn't look old enough to be mum of a teen, I'd think they were dim.

I used to get charged a child fare on the bus when I was 21, so I must have looked younger then.
Now, in early 30s I think I look around my age, maybe a couple of years either way if people had to guess.

That said I have been shocked at the age of some people in magazines etc. This week there was one in a woman magazine who was apparently 27, but if I had to describe her to the police I would have said late 40s! So it can go either way.

If a woman tells me her age my automatic default response is ‘what? Now way!’.
Most of the time, they look their age, if not older.

As a middle aged woman, I think it's really horrible to think that someone thinks the nicest compliment they can give me is that I don't look like who I am, because what I am is not good enough. It's like saying "I can't believe you're a woman - your posts on Mumsnet are so clever, I assumed you were a man!". It might be intended as a compliment, but it's actually really insulting.

My cousin has always looked a lot younger than she is. I was on the bus with her when she was 25 and pregnant and a couple of older women made comments about how disgusting it was to see a pregnant 14 year old. She’s now in her 60s and looks no older than 40. It’s so unfair!

On the basis you only need to be 30ish to be mum to a teen isn't humouring "middle aged ladies" that way a little patronising?

I think I have always genuinely looked younger than I am because my mum does and her mum was the same too. My mum is 68 and could pass for 10 years younger. I'm nearly 39 and reckon I could get away with saying I'm under 35 my husband is the same. People sometimes assumed we were in our twenties when we were early-mid thirties.

I looked pretty young til I had my kids and aged two decades in one.

Yep, same here Sometimes it still takes me by surprise when I catch a glimpse of myself but really what's so bad about aging? It's a priviledge not everyone has.

Some of it I think it politeness/faux surprise, but I also think subconsciously a lot of us have ideas in our heads about what people look like at certain ages which are influenced by our parents or grandparents and people don't dress that way now! I'm useless at guessing people's ages!

Menopause is the real test, 30% of your collagen just fucks off and slams the door on its way out.

@CookieMonster22

I was really happy last week after using the facebot app which said Iooked 26 (my actual age is 40). My OH said that it was designed to give a younger prediction so he tried it. It said he was 2 years older than his actual age, he was very grumpy the rest of the day!

serves him right really!

Yep, I looked much younger than my age until around 43/44 then perimenopause hit and I Iiterarly aged overnight, well over the course of a summer, it was quite shocking really.

im 28 and i still get Id -_- it annoys me so much, i was also stopped by a police man in a garage ... to check my age like i was a 16 year olf just stealing a car fgs.

I get it a bit less now but still get asked for id everywhere i go.