Do you look your age ?

[TheTecknician]

Not wishing to brag, but I often feel I could pass for 5 - 10 years younger. I've never asked anybody this question and I'm purely using the judgement of my own eyes. If I go back in time 39 years to when my late Dad was the same age as I am now (53), I see a man in early middle age with a full head of black hair - some greying - but a rather lined face and seemingly expanding ears! I, on the other hand, have a lot more grey hair than he did but a much denser texture and no obvious facial lines. I've always had bags under my eyes but not Peter Woods proportions! My sister is 61 but she could pass for late 40s, in my opinion.

Maybe there's no right or right or wrong answer. I could have a skewed personal perception or perhaps we're all living longer and I'm seeing that played out at close quarters.

PS. The old man had, along with Mum, raised seven children by the time he was my age whereas I have no children. So, no parental stress!

I don’t think I look young but I went for a hospital appointment and the receptionist said “you know only the patient can come in. They can’t have companions.” I told her I was the patient and she said “it seems we’ve got the wrong date of birth then” I confirmed it was right but she couldn’t believe it.

When I went into the doctor he was taken aback and asked what my secret was. I just laughed. I don’t think I look any different to any other 53 yo tbh. My mother looks good for her age, so maybe I follow her.

DS1 is 29. He gets ID’ed all the time. He can’t even buy Red Bull in the corner shop.

I think people who get told they look younger than they are is because in peoples heads a certain age is supposed to look a certain way, we see it in the media all the time, 50-80 year olds are one humongous mass and are lumped together as the same generation, you only have to look at the funeral plan adverts! 50 year old June and her parsnips with her cauliflower perm and sensible slacks, it’s ingrained in peoples psyche that this is what 50 plus looks like so it a huge shock when someone doesn’t look like June at 50 plus and looks more Jlo! It blows their mind.

I'm a healthy weight but I have chubby cheeks, big round eyes and the weird baby hands of a cherubic toddler so people tend to age me down at first glance.

But then my style is a bit dated and I couldn't name a single tiktoker if my life depended on it, so I'm sure I give it away in other ways. 😆

I look a few years younger but no, I think I look my age
My dad looks a good decade younger, thinks SPF is for abroad and anything that foams will do for your face, even if it's washing up liquid

This made me laugh 😂😂

I think I look older. I'm nearly 54. There was a guess your age app on Facebook the other day, everyone was saying it was estimating 10 years younger and I came out as 61!

I was looking ok until a few years ago.

I m 48 , but look mid-late 30s… thanks to face yoga!

I was ID'd twice in Sainsburys last year. I turn 40 next month. Not sure if the cashiers were being nice or actually thought I was much younger!

I think that I look my age & I'm OK with it.

I think people sometimes looked older in the previously due to hair styles & fashion.

I look about 10 years younger than I am. However I don't look good, I look like a bag of shit. Lack of sleep from a demanding toddler, grey roots, 3 stone overweight.

@Amy1998 honestly he's ridiculous
I saw him wash his face with Swarfega once, maybe that just resurfaces your skin like a fancy peel

I was buying a can of Monster at the weekend for my 16 year old son. He was with me.
The checkout attendant peered right into my face twice, before she clicked the approved button.
Even my son laughed.
I don't look 38. I feel it. But, I've kept well & my parents aged well, so hopefully I'm okay for a few more years.

So are you in your 40's now?

Seems to me your Mum would have been young for dentures!

No I never have. Annoying when I was 20, amazing now I am 50!

Most people think I am 10-15 years younger than I am when they first meet me. When I told people I was having a "Big 0" party, anyone who didnt know my age assumed it was my 40th, there was a lot of surprise when I said it was my 50th.

Its genetics in my case I think as I have never been particularly careful with my skin! My Grandmother passed at 86 and looked about the same as my mother does now in her early 70's. My aunt has dementia and is almost the same age as my Grandmother when she passed, but again she looks about the same age as my mum. My sister looks good for her age but much to her annoyance, most people think that she is the eldest sister.

So far 2 of my DD's seem to have inherited it, DD3 in particular. She is 19 but could easily pass for 12! DD1 is 26 and still gets ID'd absolutely everywhere, she was once refused entry to a club as the doorstaff didnt believe her ID wasnt fake!

I am 25. People have been guessing my age as 10+ years older since I was about 17!

Definitely looked like an early 20s at 16.

I think each generation looks younger than the previous.
We have better nutrition and skin care so a 40 year old today will not look as aged as a 40 year old a few decades ago.
Increased weight can also help make people look a bit younger in the face, and people are bigger than they used to be.

I had a chap knock on my door cold calling the other day. He asked me to guess his age (he was a very good salesman.) I guessed 25, he said no I’m 19! With a massive smile. I said oh… sorry. He said no it’s better to look older 😁….

ha… ha.. haha. Said only by a young person.

Interesting subject. I've nothing more to add other than I'm pleased to have got so many people talking.

Depends really. Some dentists would sell full dentures as an alternative to troublesome (and therefore expensive) teeth until a lot more recently than people think. I certainly know of people who did it into the 1980's. I think a lot of it depended on where you lived, if it was a family/area norm and if you had an old fashioned dentist.

Also I think that fashions age people. I look at photos of my mum in an nice A Line skirt and blouse and cardigan. She had a perm and what have you. She looked older than I do now but she was 31! All the women of her age looked and dressed like that but as we think of it as a) old womens clothes (our mums were old....obviously!) and b) old fashioned, it puts people in an age bracket.

Now there is not so much a "look" for each generation in the way that there used to be, or at least less so.

I really hope I look my age. People
trying to look younger are just a bit sad, IMO.

There was a viral thing recently about Gen Z-ers aging worse than Millennials.

https://nypost.com/2024/01/02/lifestyle/gen-z-aging-worse-than-millennials-the-alarming-reasons-why/

I'm nearly 30 and look about 19. I hate it because I struggle to get taken seriously professionally, when trying to socialise with people my own age and i often feel patronised. Physically I feel about 84.

Have you ever used sunbeds? Everyone I know who has ever used them regularly looks older.

I was genuinely shocked when an "old" woman came to my till at work. She turned out to be someone I knew years ago and is younger than me, but looked like she was pushing 70. She used sunbeds for years, every week, and by the looks of the colour of her skin still does.

Yeah nah, that’s hardcore 🤣

@PyongyangKipperbang no, I am mixed race but I see why you'd think that 😂

Sun does age the skin!