Does anyone really look younger than their age?

[smoleyjolie]

Online on forums, social media, on dating profiles and even in real life people claim to look younger than their age, they are X age but don't look it. They get ID's in the supermarket buying wine.

I am always highly sceptical because I've know people who say to my face how they look like they are 25 when they are actually 38 because they have no lines or wrinkles when I am looking at them and thought they were actually in their 40's and they have obvious wrinkles and grey hair, people are delusional! Honestly the capacity people have to delude themselves about anything is quite staggering and I have never met someone who claims to look younger and it actually turn out to be true.

When I was younger I thought some older people looked younger so I once thought a woman when she was 49 was closer to 30 but that was because I assumed all people of 49 looked "old" which isn't the case at all and looking back she looked great but she also looked her age which is fine.

Going back to the first case where the women was convinced she looked over 10 years younger, what could I say I just said yeah you look great and its the same anytime anyone makes that claim. People aren't going to dispute it.

There's quite clearly some refusal to believe basic facts on this thread. Many people have told personal stories of being surprised at the age of others themselves. And yet the recipients of such shock are apparently kidding themselves and any shock must be disingenuous.

I am perfectly sure I've had people shocked at my actual age. I don't think they had any reason to flatter me. Recent occasions that spring to mind is a Danish man who had assumed I was 32. He certainly wasn't the type to not tell the unvarnished truth of his opinion. And the other was a woman I met at a club who was either genuinely shocked or a fantastic actress. She demanded to know my secret and then dragged me round to show me to her friends so she could tell them my actual age as well as she was so surprised.

I don't think we need to post pictures of ourselves to not be accused of making up a fantasy or wishful thinking.

I suspect some people have a rather rigid view of the world and simply won't accept anyone else's account to the contrary.

I hope you have a better day tomorrow. Please don't let this thread get to you.

I’m in my early 30s and have been in rooms with recent graduates who realise that I’m not their age. This is usually if I have my hair in its natural state and minimal make up.

I don’t think I look young but I am amazed at people’s reactions when they hear my age.

I don’t get ID’d at shops so I can’t look that young!

Also race can play a role - melanated skin might age slower. Don’t ask me what the science is!

Look, I know I look my age.

Do I look good? Yes!

Do I look my age? Also yes!

I look 50. But 50 can look fucking brilliant.

I was traveling recently with a friend who asked me to buy him some cigarettes when I went into a gas station while he pumped gas. I did, and the owner of the store was at the register. He yelled at me for trying to ruin his business. I was so confused for a second, then I realized he thought I was trying to get away with buying cigarettes while underage. I pulled my ID out and he apologized. The age to buy in that state was 18. This kind of thing happens to me all the time. I myself don't smoke, don't drink, have been vegan or vegetarian most of my life, always worn sunscreen, plus whatever genetic factors. My mother had the same issue. I feel like this thread is just a troll thread. I thought it was a lighthearted fun thing but no, I was asked to upload a photo so I could be judged by a stranger with questionable motives. It's really icky.

Oi, @flowerchild2000, I did ask, and then apologised. I don't think it's a troll thread.

You say it's lighthearted and fun, and then have posted a diatribe and used the word icky.

Where do we go from here?

Asians also always look much younger than they are

SE Asians or S Asians @Nofilteritwonthelp?

Some people do look younger, some look older. Shirley Henderson was in her 30s when she played Moaning Myrtle.

Dara O'Brien and Ed Byrne are the same age. I think Dara used to look much older than he was, but he doesn't seem to have aged.

You look much younger than 40 in that photo. I would have said late twenties.

I regularly get pinned at 10 years younger than I am even by people I know reasonably well.

I got IDed everytime I bought alcohol until I was 35.

I'm four years older than DH. People think he's 4 years older and he doesn't look his age either!

It isn't irregular from strangers. It's every single time. Everyone is shocked when they are told my real age.

The issue is I'm tiny. And have decent skin.

As we’ve seen on here. Some people are just bad at guessing ages. Most people look within 5 years of their age. Especially once you hit late 40s.

Younger than 40 it’s very difficult to tell ages as most signs of ageing hasn’t kicked on yet so you’re going off the way someone dresses, posture, hair etc

I last got carded for drink about 5/6 years ago, it happened a good few times that year, nothing since so I take it I look old now. I'm 38

But that's the point people are making, people age at different rates even after 40, it just isn't the case that what you are stating is categorical. It is going to be fact that genes play a role but that is bizarrely not acknowledged on this thread. It is fact that some people will look older than their years even in their 20s and not only because of abusing themselves as OP asserted. It is also going to be fact that others look younger and others look their age. The OP's opinion is just a 'feeling' on the subject that appears defensive (only the OP knows why that is) but has no basis in fact.

Also, the idea that there is no general idea of attributes of a 19 year old as opposed to a 39 year old is ludicrous but you are suggesting anyone under 40 due to lack of aging could be anything from 18 to 39? Seriously? I would say it is quite easy to guess someone is 21 as opposed to 36 and 9 times out of 10 people will predict accurately I.e "she is early 20s, she is mid 30s, when they don't it is precisely because someone 'does' look young for their age or someone 'does' look way older than their years.

I am really perplexed as to why people can't get their heads around the simple notion of looking older or younger than you are and that this only happens after 40, no it doesn't, don't anybof you have children, teenagers where their friends vary due to physical characteristics? My DS is in 6th form and has a pretty face so looks his age or younger, he has a friend who could pass as 21 and he's 16. My DD has a 12 year old friend who gets refused the under 12 fare on buses as they think she is 16. She was also refused entrance to a child's session at laser zone.

I think perception of what people at certain ages should look like plays into it as well:

https://www.unilad.com/film-and-tv/people-cant-get-over-45yearold-1990s-846473-20230103

That is not how most people I know in their 40s look.

But I can guarantee at the ripe old age of 35 I prob look like a dinosaur to children

Yes but not the 10-20 years younger that many claim on here. Especially after 45. I’ve never met or know of anyone including all celebrities who at 50 look 30.

And yes some people look a little younger than their age, especially if they are small for example. Yes certain ethnicities age better than others. But most people look within 5 years of their age post 45. Of course there is the odd outlier. But not the hoardes we see on here.

I say this as someone who was always told they looked younger and was IDed right through my 30s. I just thought people weren’t very good at guessing ages! Not that I had drunk some elixir of youth…

I think old age is when you can see people looking massively older or massively younger than their actual age. That’s when the effects of decades of smoking, and sunbathing are really obvious. Or things like ill health and grief can take their toll.

I’ve never seen a 45 year old who looks 25 but I have seen an 85 year old who looks 65.

This is a good point actually - yes there are people in their 80s who look like they’re in their 60s for sure. That’s when exercise, good genes, looking after yourself all kick in more.

I think quite a bit of the most dramatic ageing happens in our 40s that’s why most 50 years olds look within 5 years of their age. Definitely not like they’re in their 30s. Then it levels out a bit.

I was at a gig last year. Afterwards I got chatting briefly to a bloke who told me that he thought I was 32 rather than my actual age of 52.
Much as I was flattered, I strongly suspect that beer goggles and the fact that we were in a dingily lit basement at the time, had more to do with his delusion. I imagine everyone looks twenty years younger in such conditions. Meanwhile, in the cold light of day...

I don't believe most of the people on this thread who say they look younger than they are. On the very rare occasion I've thought someone looked younger than their age they were people of colour, and it was only by 5 years or so.

I am a 45 year old Caucasian woman and I had a deep plane face and neck lift a year ago. They say it knocks 10-15 years off but that is absolutely not true. I still look 45. I look much neater and tidier and less tired, but you can see from my loss of facial fat that I'm 45. When you look at a celebrity like Amanda Holden, you can see she's had work done and that she looks good, but you can still tell she's 50. I am glad I had my surgery as it's given me much more confidence as I age, but I am not under any illusion that I look 35 again. I still look 45 but with with no jowls or turkey neck anymore. 😊

"When you look at a celebrity like Amanda Holden, you can see she's had work done and that she looks good, but you can still tell she's 50. "

You already know she's 50 though. I'm not convinced you'd know otherwise although I agree that you can tell she's had work done.

It's funny though, Gillian Taylforth has had really obvious work done ime, but I've see people on MN saying she's aged very well naturally.

A new chap at running club was STUNNED when I told him I was 51. We had run together, side by side in the dark for a good 6 miles 😂
I obviously have the spring in my step of a much younger woman. My face and neck tell the truth!

I'm quite bad at assessing people's age. I'm OK with children, actual young people (under 25) and people the same age as my parents or older (75+) but everything in the middle is just a bit vague. I generally think of people being "about my age" which is 50, but I think a lot of people do this.

I have mentioned this year's "big birthday" to a few people who don't know me well, like people at the gym, and several of them have said "oh, I wouldn't have said you were 40 yet!" but I don't for one second think this means I look 40 rather than 50, just that they also think of people as being about the same age as them unless there is a big obvious signifier to the contrary.

Just because you don't believe it doesn't mean that is fact, again you are not acknowledging the science in this, which comes down to genes. How would you even know who looks young for their age when you are out and about in public? When I was doubted at passport check out at Copenhagen airport, he was a young Danish man, and he was questioning it his official capacity as he didn't believe that I was DS's (who was 14)Mum. He kept looking at the photo, looking at me in the most unflattering light of an airport. At the end of the day he did question it, said that I had to be his older sister age wise and we were delayed, it wasn't said to flatter me!

I don't believe people don't have a fairly common idea of someone in early 20s someone mid thirties, some who is 50. The link above doesn't really prove anything as Steve Martin always had white hair, they are also depicting a fairly typical wholesome American family in that photo. I don't think loads of 40 something's which is what my Mum was in the 90s were dressed in that way. Like now people usually dress in middle and old age with a reference to their youth, my MIL was a Bohemian hippie living in Camden in the 1970s,who studied art history at university, she still dresses in that way but with notes of maturity. My Mum has always worn a pretty romantic style of clothing so floaty and pretty, she never wore buttoned up shirts with dull wholesome jumpers in the 90s like the above as it wasn't her style. It is similar to now, if you have teenagers and ask them if you dress like them they would think you were deluded. I am not wearing the clothes my 12 year old DD is wearing and wouldn't as star clips in my hair and plaits even, outside of the home, would look ridiculous on me. Equally, DH does not dress like DS, baggy jeans, v neck golfing jumpers and other stuff from vinted that is put together to look alternative, if DH wore the golfing jumper, people would think he is actually playing golf. So no, I don't think we are one homogenous group where age is unidentifiable from 18-45 due to good skin care and dressing the same!