Do some people genuinely not notice their own lines and wrinkles?

[stetha]

Just read on another thread a woman claiming to be mid 40s or older with not a single wrinkle and using no skincare other than a cheap £1 moisturiser. Hey I can’t see her but so many times I’ve had people say this to me in person, how they don’t have any wrinkles and yet I’m looking at their face and yes, yes they absolutely do!

Now I don’t mind lines and wrinkles I have a few myself but what is going on! Why do so many people, even those who are quite heavily lined and sun damaged insist that they haven’t any lines and everyone is shocked to hear they are a day over 21? Do other people have magic mirrors? Or perhaps there is an epidemic of untreated long sightedness?

Because some people dont. I am 55, have never used a single skincare product and my skin is great. I see my other faults easily enough.

Same with going grey - I don’t have a single grey hair, and if my mum is anything to go by

Ironically it’s something that I don’t care about though - I would be fine with being a wrinkled hag!

If people want to live in their delulu more power to them!

Yes! I am a good 15 years younger without my glasses . . .

I agree with this. The mirror in our bathroom is soooo flattering i really dont think can ever move house 😂

Illness (now ok again) has taken its toll on my body and face. I am still the same person, can't do much about it and am enjoying life immensely now that I'm alive again.

I think the face shows what's within, wrinkled or not. You can tell.

I fail to see what impact this has on you OP.

If someone has wrinkles or not and claims otherwise, then let them be. How does it affect your life?

It might be down to the lighting in their house where they put their makeup on. They might automatically believe compliments when so many people do the opposite. They might only have lines when they speak so they never seem them themselves.

I've always insisted I don't have cellulite. I've never seen it so why would I think differently. One of my friends recently was referring to being in her twenties and checking for it with a small mirror - why???

I look like I'm 20 till I put my reading glasses on ... then a lined late 50s face looks back.

The vast majority of my Black female friends do not have a single wrinkle and many are in their late 40s/early 50s. I don’t have any either. This isn’t based on self-delusion but on comments from other people (work colleagues for example who don’t believe me when I tell them my age and mention the absence of wrinkles). On the other hand I struggled with acne when I was a teen/early 20s and have never had blemish free skin.

It’s not something I give much thought to. Within the Black community it’s completely standard to look at least a decade younger than your actual age because our skin just ages differently so it isn’t considered noteworthy.

I have been wearing glasses since I was 19. It's only fairly recently I've realised that the reason I think I look better without them is nothing to do with the look of the actual glasses 😆

My mum had quite smooth skin and very few wrinkles when she died age 64. I think partly because she was overweight. She still looked in her 60s though.
Often people initially mistake me for younger because im very short and dress casually but its quite apparent from close up, that im in my 40s.

People tell me I look young for my age (I do not, and I’m over the moon to just look my age). My skin is a weird one, I can go from borderline perfect skin, to grade A scrotum from 1 day to the next, not sure why, but it’s a huge difference, could it solely be down to water intake and sleep🤷🏻‍♀️ who knows!

I'm in my mid 40s. I have a single fine line on my forehead, and my teenage daughter has the exact same one. That's it.

I was refused the purchase of a single bottle of beer with my grocery shop a couple of weeks ago. Gutted nobody I knew saw it.

This all seems a bit laden towards it being better not to have wrinkles.
Wrinkles are ok , at least having them signifies that you are still here , getting older.
Some people get wrinkles more quickly than others. People who are plumper have less, ditto black and Asian people.

Surely this is a weird topic. Running alongside the weirdness of women ( and lets be honest it is women) being under pressure to stay young, stay thin etc. Which is completely tedious bullshit.

This is totally me! I look in the mirror when I'm ready for a day or night out and am generally happy - looking good, nice outfit, hair done, make up done and looking/feeling relatively youthful etc.

Then I see the photos .....

I just tell myself that people see me as I see myself - the camera just tells LIES!

Why do you care … just get on with your own life! It’s not a competition, let people believe what they like … how on earth does it impact you?!?

I’ve seen this in action many times. I don’t believe in makeup and swear by blue Nivea alone and my skin is greeeeat. Sometimes I’m privately thinking er yes, I can tell as you’re standing there with the complexion of a farmer. It’s not up to any of us to burst each other’s bubbles though, if they are happy and confident in their skin it can only be a good thing.

Agree I have a friend who is Asian and she just turned 60 and has the most beautiful skin, smooth and glowing, she geniunely does look about 40. She is a lovely person which counts for so very much more. My skin isn't bad which I put down to having an Asian grandmother, never smoking and taking care of my skin. but I have 11's, forehead lines which began in my 20's and just general sagging and my former sharp jawline is looking soft and squidgy. Sometimes I look in the mirror and think "bloody hell" but mostly I accept it because I knew people who never got to have wrinkles because they died young.

I love Blue Nivea especially at night if .I have been out in the sun ! I shall embrace my farmers face 😂

I know a woman in my neighbourhood who genuinely looks like she could be in her 40s & she is 60 plus. I don't know exactly how old but she is all natural & had a 60th birthday party a few years ago. She is very pretty & probably has a genetic anomalies. Comments like this are spiteful & possibly the result of jealousy of the fact there are definitely people who naturally look significantly younger than their years.

But...but... You're just a seventy year old woman. Like 99% of other women at your stage of life. Where is the shame coming from? Why the narrative that it is bad or wrong to look like exactly what we are? To deny our very being? To belittle ourselves.

Seven decades of being you. Whichever version of you, in flux over the years. I personally think that's lucky, exciting, and worthy of feeling like you are amazing, worthy of looking squarely in the mirror and seeing so, so much more than skin. Seeing actual beauty, not the narrow and insane popular standards.

I've noticed that people who love to tell you they just wash their face with soap and water and never use a moisturiser or anything always insist '...and I've got great skin' afterwards. Same with people who boast about cutting their own hair and tell you that everyone says it looks great.

I rarely think these people look great, and I also think it's a bit rich crowing about how great they look while implying other people are vain and silly for using decent skincare.

Ultimately, lines and wrinkles don't matter to some people and that is absolutely fine, all power to them. If someone says 'I don't use skincare because I just don't care about my lines and wrinkles', great - I admire them for that. But when someone says 'Oh, I don't use any of that stuff you use! I just scrub my face with Fairy Liquid and gravel, and my skin looks amazing!' I simply think 'Christ, you're full of yourself, aren't you?'

I agree. My mums bathroom mirror has the most flattering lighting ever. I choose to believe this version of myself and not my front camera 🤣🤣

People aren’t asking if your skin is great. Or whether you look young for your age.

This thread is about people that claim to have zero lines (and I mean even fine lines) at 50+.

I feel it’s gone off on a tangent.

I think we all probably see ourselves differently to how other people see us because we tend to look in the mirror with a neutral expression, whereas we are more animated (and hence more wrinkly) with others. Doesn’t matter though- if anything it’s a good thing if it helps people feel positive.