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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:
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WildflowersInAMasonJar · 04/12/2023 19:35

I think it’s fairly common for people to look 5 or so years younger, but the world isn’t full of 50 year olds who look 30, or 40 year olds who look like teens. People are being nice, making conversation, going along with others etc. The ID ones in supermarkets are staff that are scared for their jobs.

People usually give examples like that women on Coronation Street, on threads like this, but they rarely look more than a few years younger.They often look great but not particularly younger than their age. And if there’s not loads of celebs that look much younger than their age, who have the best healthcare, skincare etc, then there sure as hell isn't going to be a load of mumsnetters that look a lot younger than their age, as in 10-20 years. I saw a woman on one thread swearing she looked early 30s in her 60s.

I do like these threads though, they always make me laugh.

Goldenbear · 04/12/2023 19:36

Goldenbear · 04/12/2023 19:22

Yes, exactly, I don't understand how it can't be both ways as the OP stated. I think that theory is flawed, it's illogical that abusing yourself equals looking older than your years.

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I should add, it is illogical to think the only people who look older than their years are those that have abused themselves. I knew a balding 19 year old young man who looked 29/30, I only recently found out a colleague is 13 years younger than I thought and she is in her 30s but she is conservative with a small c, definitely doesn't abuse herself but just looks older.

LeedsZebra90 · 04/12/2023 19:37

I think a lot of it comes down to how you dress and how you act. There are a couple of people at work who seem younger than they are but it's to do with them seeming immature and quite naieve in their management styles - when you look closely they look their age. Some people do look younger but anything over 5 years is the minority I think.

Goldenbear · 04/12/2023 19:47

This discussion is funny as there is no reference to genes whatsoever like it has no bearing on how people look.

Babyboomtastic · 04/12/2023 19:59

I remember a new mum starting at a baby group I went to. It was very much a group frequented by oldish middle class mums (probably including me 😂), and here was this brave teenage mum joining us all by herself (and baby). I'd not have had the confidence to do it at that age.

She was maybe 18 say a push, but I wouldn't have been surprised at a couple of years younger. She joined us for lunch after and on conversation mention came up of her husband, and her work etc and it became obvious she really wasn't a teenager. She was in her mid 30s, less than 2 years difference to me 😂

SiennaMillar · 04/12/2023 20:02

The only people who have shocked me with their actual age are black.

Original poster
smoleyjolie · 04/12/2023 20:02

ANightingale · 04/12/2023 19:14

I'm sometimes told I look younger than my actual age of 109. What do you think?

Who do you think you are kidding your totally bald and can't even walk!

OP posts:
SweetPetrichor · 04/12/2023 20:05

HamBone · 04/12/2023 19:08

I’m sure you do look young, @SweetPetrichor , but unfortunately, I think being ID’ed for medication is pretty standard unless you’re lelderly.

I was ID’ed last week and I’m 49. I think I look decent for my age, but there’s no way I look THAT young. 😂 Staff are trained to ID basically everyone, I think.

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Haha, that’s true. Drat…I’ve not been ID’d for alcohol since I was 30 so that knocks my youthfullness back a few years. 😅

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 04/12/2023 20:05

I'm 53, and have been frequently mistaken for being 5-10 years younger than I am since I was about 20. I was still being ID'ed in bars when I was in my 30s. I'm really not complaining!

Original poster
smoleyjolie · 04/12/2023 20:05

I feel I must rest my case, just look at this thread, every other post or more is someone desperate to tell me they do indeed look so much younger than their age and that people faint in disbelief when they find out they are actually 45 and not 18. I don't believe any of you, if even one of you genuinely looks so much younger that people are shocked at your real age it would be a bloody miracle.

OP posts:
CharlotteBog · 04/12/2023 20:06

Shewhobecamethesun · 04/12/2023 19:16

I routinely get mistaken for being 12years younger than I am which I think is hilarious. I've lost count of the number of times since September I've been told "I would've put you at 26/27. No way are you that old."
I think the best one was when I was mistaken for being the student checking into uni halls, when I was actually the mum moving in my dd.

I don't think I look that young at all, I certainly don't feel it. This is just what 39 looks like

In what situations has your age been discussed so many times you've lost count since September?

ANightingale · 04/12/2023 20:07

smoleyjolie · 04/12/2023 20:02

Who do you think you are kidding your totally bald and can't even walk!

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Touche!

TeaWithASplashOfMilk · 04/12/2023 20:11

I always looked young for my age. I then started to catch up when I had kids and now reckon I look very old for my age (long covid).
I've also known people (normally men) that have looked much older than their age for years, but eventually look young for their age - it's like they were born looking 40 and never changed.

NectarinesAreNotTheOnlyFruit · 04/12/2023 20:14

My partner looked really young until he was in his 30s.

Then we had children. That aged him.

Catsmere · 04/12/2023 20:14

I do, a bit. People have always been surprised when I tell them my age.

I knew a woman who I thought was in her late thirties, maybe early forties. I was astonished when she mentioned grown children and grandchildren. She was 54.

ChiaraRimini · 04/12/2023 20:22

I am 50 and usually taken for 10 years younger. It's happened all my life, even when I was back home from uni and my 16 year old sister's friends thought I was younger than her.
Recently I was having bloods done and a lady walked in with totally grey hair in a granny style, she looked in her 70s. the nurse asked her DOB and I nearly fell off my chair when she said 1971, she was only 2 years older than me.
I heard a cafe worker complaining about having to sweep under the tables with a dustpan and brush she said I'm 52 you know! as if her age made her infirm.
So there definitely are people out there who look their age or a lot older. But not on MN...

CatsWillRuleTheWorld · 04/12/2023 20:23

The best way to be told you look young is to lie about your age and say you're much older. Then everyone will be shocked and compliment you in all honesty, rather than lie and pretend out of politeness as they usually do. My grandma used to do this, it was hilarious.

Original poster
smoleyjolie · 04/12/2023 20:27

CatsWillRuleTheWorld · 04/12/2023 20:23

The best way to be told you look young is to lie about your age and say you're much older. Then everyone will be shocked and compliment you in all honesty, rather than lie and pretend out of politeness as they usually do. My grandma used to do this, it was hilarious.

Love this 😂

OP posts:
HeavenCANTwait · 04/12/2023 20:45

Wisterical

Quick photo of my neck (there's a sentence I never thought I'd say Grin)

I'm not sure my neck looks 60 but I could be delusional ...

Delatron · 04/12/2023 20:49

FKATondelayo · 04/12/2023 19:10

I'm 49. People tell me I look younger. I know they are being polite. I look 49. I was last ID-ed at the age of 18.

People can look good for their age (just as some 18 year olds will be much better looking than others) but generally they look within 5 years of it. I have worked in film business for years - so surrounded by very beautiful women with access to lots of anti-ageing strategies. I have only ever seen one woman who genuinely looked 15+ years younger and that was Heather Graham. Anything she has had done must be very discreet - she was in her 40s then and could pass for 25. Even women who are genuinely beautiful and looking amazing (Julianne Moore, Halle Berry) - still look like they are in their 50s.

Basically this. Once women get beyond a certain age (45+) then it all catches up and we look like women in our late 40s. I can’t think of a single woman, either who I know or in the public eye who is late 40s and looks a decade younger.

I can believe that about Heather Graham though. She’s always looked younger than her years with zero discernible work. Unlike most other celebs.

People just aren’t very good at guessing ages that’s all.

Original poster
smoleyjolie · 04/12/2023 20:50

@HeavenCANTwait You don't look 60 and nor does your neck Wisterical is being ridicules or just plain mean.

OP posts:
Luxell934 · 04/12/2023 20:51

I think everyone thinks (secretly) they look younger than are to be honest.

I remember when my 88 year old grandfather was in hospital and he referred to being "stuck on the ward full of old people" and it really made me laugh because he was probably the oldest one there!

Anyway I think how you dress and also act can play a part in how others perceive you. Theres two women at my work place, same age, both 40. One of them is very slim, very attractive, has highlights, wears makeup, dresses fashionably, goes to lots of social events, is quite out going and up for a laugh etc. The other lady is more serious, has frizzy hair, wears glasses, wears long skirts and mostly unfashionable clothes, prefers not to attend social events and is more serious. I was shocked to find out they were the same age.

lilsupersparks · 04/12/2023 20:52

I’m in my 40s - I think I look my age, but frequently have people saying I look like I am in my 20s (no way!)

I think people just like to flatter other people.

HunterHearstHelmsley · 04/12/2023 20:53

I always get told I look younger. I think I look very much my age. It's baffling!

lilsupersparks · 04/12/2023 20:53

Mind you - the midwife congratulated myself an my hubby on ‘starting young’ when we had our first child. She had read my date of birth wrong and thought I was 17 not 27 🤣