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.

My mom is 44 and you genuinely would not believe that she's older than early to mid 30s. I wish I could post a picture but she'd kill me haha! She's always looked very young, I hope I have her genes

I am 60. The menopause has not affected my skin at all. I look early 50s. Good genes plenty of water. No sunba thing. Always use factor 50 daily on my face. No booze.t

it is of course easy not to sunbathe in the UK climate!

I honestly think a lot of it is down to genetics.
The lady I know who at 38 looks 19/20, barely drinks water, no proper skin care routine, actually takes some pretty heavy meds for a condition she has but she still looks super young. A lot in her family do as well. Many mistaken for at least a decade younger.

I thought Shirley Valentine was meant to be about 52-55! I also thought Pauline Collins was about 50 at the time too, but as she was 49 that's not far off eh? If Shirley was meant to be just 40, I am shook! Looked like a woman in her mid 50s. Pauline Collins looked nice/pretty, but she did look frumpy - and older than 40.

Pic 1 is Pauline as Shirley - at 40.

The other 3 are also 40 year old women. There looks to be a 12-13 year difference in age between 'Shirley' and the 3 other women IMO. (The 3 other women look younger obvs.)

But 44 is not that old really. Many women - myself included when I was that age - could pass for mid 30s at the age of 44. As has been said by many women, it's when you hit early-mid 50s that the 'ageing' kicks in. I rarely see women of 52-80 who look younger than their age...

Some look older, if they have been/are a smoker, or suntanned a lot in their younger years. And having botox and fillers is ageing too, which is ironic, seeing as people have these to look younger! A few may look 3 or 4 years younger. But that's it. I have rarely seen a woman in her 50s, 60, or 70s, look much younger than her age.

Oddly though, when women get past 80, (and men really...) the ageing process seems to slow down, and I know a few 90 year olds who still look late 70s/early 80s. Age doesn't seem to catch up with them again til they hit 95-100.

But yeah, 44 is not that old really, and it's not unusual to look early to mid 30s then. It's the outlandish claims from women who are early to mid 40s, claiming people think they're 17 that makes me roll my eyes. And women in their mid to late 50s, sticking some botox and filler in, and dying their hair and expecting people to think they look 30, when they just look like a women in her mid 50s who has had botox and fillers.

One poster claimed one time, that she looks so young for her age, that when she answered the door once, the man at the door asked her if her mommy was in.

She was 46. 😂

It's not all it's cracked up to be, honestly. I'm at the age now where it's just plain embarrassing. When I went to Paris the museum and attraction staff kept asking me how old I was, because there's a discounted ticket system everywhere if you're under 25. I kept having to awkwardly tell everyone I'm 38, and then they were embarrassed in return. My partner is several years younger than me and wasn't asked once.

I had some workmen round and mentioned I was tired (I work a lot of hours, often till 2am), one of the apprentices said, "I know how you feel, I'm a student too."

Then the other day I was in a meeting where a woman went into a long story about how well I was doing for myself to take on big responsibilities at such a young age, and launched into a very long story about a 22 year old she'd met recently and how impressed she was by our generation. I felt like I had to tell her my age, at which point she literally screeched and said "tell me your secrets!!" It was so awkward (and irrelevant to what we were talking about).

It's honestly really embarrassing. No one takes me seriously and I can feel people in their fifties and sixties practically giving me a virtual pat on the head. It's impossible to be an authority on anything because people just assume I don't know what I'm doing in industries I've been in for nearly two decades. They assume I can't make contributions to conversations for things I'm perfectly capable of remembering, like 9/11 and Tony Blair, because they don't think I was born (!)

People have been saying to me "you'll appreciate it when you're older," but I'm yet to see that. It's cost me so many opportunities because people have listened or accepted people who just look older and more authoritative (even when what they're saying is rubbish) instead of me.

I have a successful business I've built from the ground up, absolute scratch, took years of non-stop blood sweat and tears, and people ask me or just outright assume my parents or partner funded it.

I'd rather look my age and be taken seriously. By the time that happens I'll probably be retiring age and people will assume I've retired young or something 🙄

What are the tell tale signs of an over 50 jawline?

Surely once you tell people you are not under 25 then they get beyond the initial impression and interact with you based on the words that come out of your mouth and your behaviour.

The workmen maybe thought you were a mature student (since I presume this was work on a home you own)?

My 38 yr old colleague has had very similar experiences. She has a fair few qualifications and I heard my 22 yr old colleague say to her “You don’t look old enough to have done all these things “. People younger than her by a decade believe they are older than her and that she’s only between 19/21. Always gets the “You were not born during this time so you wouldn’t know what I mean “. She’s quiet with no kids or husband which doesn’t help. She hates it and I know she would do anything to look at least early thirties. Been so many embarrassing moments in her life and yes she also gets mothered by those who believe she is a young girl. I would hate all that crap so understand how frustrating it must be.

What are the tell tale signs of an over 50 jawline? The skin around the jaw line is looser by the time you hit your mid 50s unless you have some exceptional genes. The same as the neck. Are you a young person who genuinely doesn't know that or someone just being obtuse?

No, I am neither young nor being obtuse. I am 53 and while I can definitely see ageing on my neck, my skin on my chin/jawline doesn't look looser.

I'd forgotten all the years of people asking me what I was doing at uni. I used to get asked that all the time!

And no, they definitely didn't think I was a mature student. People are desperate to grasp at any straw they can to prove no one could possibly be mistaken for being younger than they are. It's getting a bit weird at this point in the thread.

Yes but Pauline Collins wasn't that age so why are you comparing her to 40 year olds today. You are actually proving the point that people do look younger dependent on looks and genes as the women photographed perhaps looks wise are more striking. I would say the last woman looks 40 though. In addition the photography now is more flattering. It is not the case that in 1989 all women looked old at 40 which was when the film came out, a better comparison maybe someone like Abba's Agnetha who is probably more comparable looks wise to the women you have posted photos of, in 1989 (when the film Shirley Valentine came out) looks young.

Equally, this thread is doubting anyone looks younger than their years not younger by decades. Someone who looks 7 years younger is quite a bit younger, 5 years is half a decade, that is younger so the OP is wrong!

No, I am neither young nor being obtuse. I am 53 and while I can definitely see ageing on my neck, my skin on my chin/jawline doesn't look looser Well you are very lucky and must know that for most people skin loses elasticity from your mid 40's onwards on the neck and jawline for most people, men as well as women. Even people who have escaped too many wrinkles often have the beginnings of jowls. It's part of the normal ageing process.

Of course I know that skin loses elasticity, I just never really thought of it being particularly noticeable around the chin.
I definitely look my age.

People assume I'm younger because i had both my children in my mid 40s, so they probably think i look older than my age, without knowing i am actually just old, if that makes sense!

Ooh bit tetchy 🤣 (in a nice way!)

Of course I know that skin loses elasticity, I just never really thought of it being particularly noticeable around the chin It's more the side of the jaw and under the chin. It's more a softening to start with, but there's a definite difference in the tightness of the jaw line in people who have plenty of collagen in their 20s and 30s than when it starts to deplete during perimenopause and menopause.

Ooh bit tetchy 🤣 (in a nice way!) 😅 Didn't mean to be. These threads do wind me up a bit though as a fresh faced 20 year old can post a pic and be told they look middle aged lol.
I think with the rise of people having stuff "done" people have lost touch with what normal ageing looks like (not talking about the poster I was replying to, but in general). I've been pretty lucky with my skin through a mix of good genetics and looking after it, but have friends who are going crazy worrying about things that are totally normal, and they look great, not 25 anymore, but still great.

I think so!

I have a friend who for had her children in her 40s, and got mistaken for the grandmother more than a few times. She laughed it off (while the other person crawled off to cry under a bush).

But not everyone can agree - some people will say one person looks 5 years younger (I don’t think that’s much) others will be better at guessing ages so will place them within a year either side of their age. Others may say older. We have seen that on this thread.

Without asking every single person you meet, a few people saying you look younger doesn’t add up to much meaning. I mean how often are you discussing your age? Every few weeks? I doubt it. Just because someone got ID’d last year doesn’t mean they definitively look 10 years younger right now. Or that they’ll continue to look so.

This is rather odd.

Are you short?

I bet it does.

I am probably just tired, but eh?

Looking early 50s at 60 is believable and not THAT rare. Now if you'd said you get ID'd for booze.............. ! 😆