Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Does anyone really look younger than their age?

762 replies

smoleyjolie · 04/12/2023 14:10

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.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
26
Worriedmom2 · 04/12/2023 16:15

I'm 46 and look younger than many of my peers on a surface level. People often express surprise at my age. I think it's a mixture of people (younger ones mostly!) expecting women of my age to be "old", and the fact I have good skin and no obvious lines. However, some signs give it away if you look closely such as the skin on my neck not being as firm anymore. Most people don't look that deeply though.

NoMoreCapsLock · 04/12/2023 16:17

People say it to me. I think it could be between 2 and 11 years younger

witchypaws · 04/12/2023 16:19

My dad genuinely doesn't look his age
Fuck knows how since I think he last wore SPF in 1970 and thinks fairy liquid is a face wash

MattDamon · 04/12/2023 16:19

There are studies that show most people think they look younger than everyone else.

I frequent some skincare subreddits and people are always banging on about how they look younger. One woman, early 40s, was posting a lot about it, talking about how she gets carded, hit on by younger men, etc.

I went back through her old comments and found a photo she'd posted. Not being bitchy at all but she looked mid-50s at best. Deep, deep lines, neck waddle, sagging. I'm 40-ish and she looked nothing like my peers, let alone the 'late twenties' she claimed.

blowfishh · 04/12/2023 16:20

Ha you're probably right for the majority.

I'm 39 and got asked for ID in Sainsbury's when buying my Friday night wine the other week. I'd just had a shower and scraped my hair back and looked borderline homeless. The poor lady most likely couldn't detect if I was human, never mind under 25.

I do get comments that I look young, I'm blonde so either don't have greys or they're hidden well in my light hair. I will add that I've not messed with my face and lips with Botox and fillers, I do think these age (ironically!)

MattDamon · 04/12/2023 16:24

I watch women's football and a lot of the players have the deep lines and sun damage of older women from being in the sun constantly. But they still look 25 because that's how old they are. It's about more than wrinkles!

ManchesterLu · 04/12/2023 16:24

I still get IDd sometimes because I have shit skin and look like a teenager. It's not always a good thing!

Original poster
smoleyjolie · 04/12/2023 16:28

@MattDamon This is 100% my experience, pretty much everyone thinks they look younger or good for their age.

Its like the people who fall for obvious money / romance scams, they want so much for it to be true that they focus only on the things that reinforce their belief and block out the signs to the contrary.

All the people here saying how much younger they look and how they have been asked for ID a few times or that people have been surprised by their age are ignoring the other 99% of the time when nobody bats an eye when they mention their age or they don't get carded. They look at themselves in the mirror in a certain light or take a selfie from a certain angle and think they look younger but that isn't how other people see themselves.

The woman who posted her photo hasn't been back to tell us she is 65 so I am assuming she thought we'd all say a younger age and we probably guessed about right.

OP posts:
FlatWhiteExtraHot · 04/12/2023 16:29

What does an age look like though? What is a 40 year old or a 60 year old “supposed” to look like?

I think a lot of us have the image of our grandmothers in our mind, who having lived through the war looked 70 at 50. Because we don’t look like that, some delusional people think that they actually look 20 years younger than how they think 50 “should” look.

DoktorPeppa · 04/12/2023 16:29

CheldonSooper · 04/12/2023 16:01

I always find it funny when people are falling over themselves to declare that 'no one, absolutely no one looks younger than x age or years'.

I see these people with their opinions much more often than those who say that they look younger unless the topic is brought up or something just happened to them that they want to share.

What does it even matter if they do or don't?

In my opinion, people who keep going on about 'No one looks younger than this or that' either don't know a lot of people or anyone who looks younger than their age and in their mind, that means they don't exist, or they're jealous [because to them, looking younger than your age is aspirational and something they can't achieve] so they believe that continuously saying this will mean that it stops existing or make them feel better.

I can't imagine what else it could be.

For some people, looking much younger than your age and knowing many people who do are both everyday reality and no big deal because it's the norm for them. I can see why it would be such a big deal and seemingly unimaginable for some people though.

Or maybe other people are just better at judging age than you are

FlibbedyFlobbedyFloo · 04/12/2023 16:31

I have a friend who still looked like a teenager in her 40s, to the extent that she got stopped by police and asked why she wasn't at school. She was also tutted at loudly in the post office when she was with her baby son, by two women complaining about teenage mums. She was 34!

EmmaEmerald · 04/12/2023 16:31

SomeCatFromJapan · 04/12/2023 16:12

If everyone looks younger than their age, which you'd be forgiven for thinking by reading all these posts, maybe we're just wrong about what various ages look like?

Lots of things factor in though

when I worked a 60 hour week with a 90 min commute each way, I definitely looked older than 28!

my mum didn't start to look her age till dad died. Before that, she'd have passed for 60 at 75.

dad swore by Nivea cream and had baby soft cheeks till his mid 70s, I used to pat them and say "awww", much to his annoyance 😂

Flatbellyfella · 04/12/2023 16:31

I am 77 & often get told I look too young to have a senior rail card or bus pass.

OneCup · 04/12/2023 16:36

I used to get IDed till I got to early 30s and had a child. Sleep deprivation took its toll and it's fair to say I now look considerably older than my age!

ChoupetteTheCat · 04/12/2023 16:39

Are you going to tell us your age @HeavenCANTwait ?

Iwasafool · 04/12/2023 16:40

I used to. People thought I was my sons girlfriend, my grandsons mother and so on. Once I hit 70 I suddenly aged, I still get shocked by the old lady in the mirror. I think it is probably more comfortable to age at the normal rate.

VivaVivaa · 04/12/2023 16:40

I looked younger than my actual age up until my mid to late 20s. I regularly got told that. It’s not particularly hard in your 20s though is it?

l now have 2 kids and I look every single one of my mid 30s years, if not older. Not a single person is shocked at my age anymore. The last ten years have not been kind!

bloodyfreezinghere · 04/12/2023 16:41

smoleyjolie · 04/12/2023 16:28

@MattDamon This is 100% my experience, pretty much everyone thinks they look younger or good for their age.

Its like the people who fall for obvious money / romance scams, they want so much for it to be true that they focus only on the things that reinforce their belief and block out the signs to the contrary.

All the people here saying how much younger they look and how they have been asked for ID a few times or that people have been surprised by their age are ignoring the other 99% of the time when nobody bats an eye when they mention their age or they don't get carded. They look at themselves in the mirror in a certain light or take a selfie from a certain angle and think they look younger but that isn't how other people see themselves.

The woman who posted her photo hasn't been back to tell us she is 65 so I am assuming she thought we'd all say a younger age and we probably guessed about right.

Though my experience is based on people whom I have been surprised when I found out their real age. A friend who was a good 12 years younger than I realised. My kids ( junior school age) also met up with some friends with a female relative. I initially thought she was their Aunt, an older sister to their mum. She was their grandmother, and had not been a teen mum either.

I've also had it the other way. A colleague I thought was mid 50s was mid 30s. Another women I thought was 50s was 41.

Some-one looking about a decade older or younger than they are is not that unusual.

Goldenbear · 04/12/2023 16:43

Isn't it as simple as some people do look younger than they are, some look older than they are and same look their age. I suspect if you have never been told you look younger than you are then you find it perplexing that others are. Likewise, if someone is told they look younger than they are quite frequently then the judgment appears to be that they very much 'do' look young for their years. Your proposition OP is like suggesting no one can ever look older than their years and some people absolutely do. I am mid 40s now but up until my early 40s was told this quite regularly with ID. Only 3 years ago I was having my passport checked at Coppenhagen airport and the young Danish man didn't believe my 14 son was not my younger brother. He was in an official job, was only late 20s himself so I probably did look younger than my years and up until early 40s always experienced that, I never get ID'd at 45 anymore though! My Mum and Gran were the same so may be it is genetic no just generational. My Mum when she was 25 went to the cinema with my Dad and they commented on him being too old for a young girl and they asked her fo ID to watch a 15 film!

xogossipgirlxo · 04/12/2023 16:43

My husband is regularly told he doesn’t look his age, but it’s not crazy difference. He’s 35 and people tell he’s 26-30. I hate when someone asks me how old do I think they are, because I’m afraid someone will feel offended if I think they look older than they really are so I lie 😵‍💫

Hadebough · 04/12/2023 16:43

tbh I think people really struggle to accurately guess peoples age between about 30-40 I think people think anyone young looking but clearly an adult must be in their 20s because people don't seem to have a very good idea of what people in their 30s look like

PrincessHoneysuckle · 04/12/2023 16:45

I'm 44 and I've been oltold by a few people that I look around 35/6 so I'm happy with that tbh

Justbetweenus · 04/12/2023 16:46

I look amazing in the nice soft lighting of the bathroom … but then I put my glasses back on, and with 20/20 vision I totally look my age (54). Fun while it lasts though! Happy to have my health and good fortune tbh.

Bbq1 · 04/12/2023 16:49

I'm 50, look late 40 i am told by others. All my family are the same Mum is 83, looks 73. I had my son at 34 and there's a photo of. E holding him at a couple of months old and we laugh when we see it as i look about 20! My dh is similar, 53 but looks 40 odd. Obviously we don't get ideed or anything but I did whe i was lste thirties. It's just good genes, good luck and general taking care of your skin etc.

PrincessHoneysuckle · 04/12/2023 16:49

HeavenCANTwait · 04/12/2023 14:54

You tell me? How old am I? Photo taken 2 seconds ago

(I occasionally get told I look younger)

47