To feel a bit of sadness to see looks gradually fading

[Maisyblue]

Just that really, I wonder if we all take it for granted when we have young fresh faces. I can remember when looking in the mirror first thing in the morning before putting makeup on wasn't an unpleasant sight. Now it's a bit of a scary sight. Also it gets longer to get ready now to look half decent. Isn't it a bit sad to see the face that was once young and glowing slowly start to fade.

Thank you Distance I'm SO not though!

crabby i dont know how old you are, but I think you need to learn to embrace your looks your very beautiful and you need to appreciate it, they have not faded in the slightest.
i look back on myself as a young girl and hate all the angst and issues i had with my looks, looks are indeed wasted on the young. so many people pay for plastic surgery or wish they could be more beautiful, please be grateful for what you have, your very lucky.

Crabby , I honestly think you are gorgeous .
Your eyes are stunning

Oh gosh, don't take too much notice of the symmetry thing.

It can absolutely denote beauty. But not necessarily...! You can have symmetrically plain, even symmetrically downright fugly features. I'm sure there are plenty of dumpy old middle-aged men with symmetrical features.

And there and zillions of beautiful women the world over whose features are not symmetrical. Grace Kelly is a notable example.

The sum is often greater than the individual parts.

We're all lopsided one way or another. I've seen so many womens' self image improve with age. Get that sagging skin and those hormones in remission. Get on with life and recognise how lovely you are.

I remember looking in a mirror when I was 36 and thinking, "Oh god you look old"

I still colour my hair as I don't want to go grey yet. To be honest I think I look better now than I did 10 years ago.

Oh my god, I thought I'd come on this thread to see what older women thought on the subject and some of the people on here are younger than me! I'm 34 and consider myself in my prime, can't believe 33 year olds and younger are seriously considering themselves as past it.

I'm fit and active, can still keep up with the children, I do have a couple of smile lines and plenty of grey hair highlights, but everything else is pretty much still in the right places.

I know in 10 years I'll look different, but I'm hoping I'll still have, or grow, the confidence to carry it off. I can cope with changing looks, it's the prospect of eventually having to deal with fading health which really frightens me.

Well I had a marriage proposal on Friday from a lovely customer of ours. He said "let's get married on Friday and have it annulled on Monday. It might not last long but think of the weekend we'd have!"
He was 80.
I made him a cuppa for that :)

I am 35, I have started to notice recently how old other 35 year olds look. Especially when I look on Facebook and I see how old school friends my age look. So, I have started to worry and wonder if I look old too. But thankfully most people think I look younger than my age, I am lucky that I still don't have any grey hair (touch wood) my hair is long and blonde and I am still slim although much harder to stay that way now. I have never smoked and I have always looked after my skin, wearing SPF almost everyday in my 20s and 30s. I think it is so much harder for women, as someone else mentioned above, men grow into their looks women don't. I would definitely have botox and might consider it soon as a form of preventative.

rockpink

I much prefer the way I look now to the way I did when I was younger. I've never been a looker, always felt pretty ugly and felt that makeup wouldn't really help but now I feel my face reflects my personality. It's not beautiful or even pretty, but it's me.

It is hard but, even though I'm vain as hell, I think looking older is important. I'm 58 so, in 12 years, I'll be 70. That's hard to take in. I don't know how much life or good health I have left but I do know for certain that it'll be gone in a flash. If I still have things I want to do, I need to get a move on. This is why I would never have any work done (well that plus the fact that I despise the anti ageing industry). My face acts as a spur; it reminds me that I haven't got all day.

men grow into their looks women don't.

This is just not true.

I agree JapaneseMargeret, some people grow into their looks, others don't.
Men are just as likely as women to lose their looks post 45 or so

Exactly!

For every silver fox, there are 10 beer-soaked, balding old bloaters....

aint that the truth

Interesting thread. I am in my early 40s and I honestly think I look better now than 10 years ago - and DP agrees!

Pregnancy improved my previously very small boobs, my skin isn't too bad and I probably make a bit more effort (when I used to take none). Also I have kind of grown into my features ifykwim. I am overweight but always have been and I feel less pressure to be thin.

I could do without the dodgy knees though

Thank you areyou and knitted. I'm 41.

I was thinking about this thread last night and my reactions to all the lovely compliments. They made me feel like a fraud! I was thinking 'oh that photo's misrepresentative, I just caught a good angle' 'oh the light was just good in the pic and you can't see my spots' 'well I look ok because I'm not smiling'.

It's true though that I look back on pictures of myself when I was younger, slimmer and more pert than I am now and think 'if only you'd had more confidence in yourself!', and I'm sure I'll think the same when I look back at these pictures in 10 years time! So thank you MNers, you have given me a boost and I shall do my best to accept the compliments without dismissing them like I usually do.

Having lost my dad at. 51 and my step dad at 54 , when I look at my wrinkles in the mirror I don't care about looking rough just appreciate my health and pray I have longer than they did on this earth. I 'do rather grow old than die young.

41! And, if I may ask, do you have a picture of yourself that you keep in the attic...?

One of my brothers is like this. He just doesn't age. He's 42 now, and looks about 30. He is older than me, but now I look older than him. Soon he will look like my son..

I want to grow old too Lalaleaona, but I want to do it looking like Anne Bancroft.

I think early 40s is hardest as it comes as a but if a shock! But I am 49 now and there is an inevitability that sets in and once you accept it and just get on with life it's fine. Not to say I don't do all I can to look good I do sometimes it gets a bit of a pita but I enjoy it mostly and concentrate on looking well rather than young.

I'm 44 and look good in jeans and have longish blond hair. I get lots of men looking with horror at my old face when they turn round to look at me (having appreciated the rearview!). I'm really not so bad but not the youngster my arse and hair make me out to be!