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.

Look, it is slightly sad getting old but the truth is who actually really appreciated the tits that defied gravity and their cellulite free thighs when they were 19? Not very many of us I'm afraid, I wish I could go back to 18 year old me and tell her to wear hot pants ALL THE TIME and stop thinking her bum looked huge in everything.

So what if everything starts falling apart at some point? It's meant to. The beauty is that hopefully you gain wisdom and a bit of confidence that isn't totally dependent on whether you can do the pencil test with your arse.

However, I am still mightily pissed off with the puberty fairies who gave me spots and forgot to take them away in my forties. Now they are utter bastards.

Yip for me it's the jowls starting and saggy eyelids. I don't look hideous and a lot better than many my age but I also have friends my age whose faces haven't started to go so much. I've list weight recently, so though I now feel good in my clothes - it hasn't helped my face. Thing is we look at women of a similar age and think they look good etc, we don't know what work everyone is having done or if they are just naturally lucky. It's an unfair fight but then leaving it just to nature is unfair as well as some folk are just genetically luckier than others.

Would be interesting to know how many of the mums in the playground are getting botox.

Oh God, LOADS of 'em. They all are. It's so unfair! My friend has had it, and I feel that's it's only fair that she wear a sign round her neck or something, explaining why her forehead is so smooth compared to the crone next to her (me).
Still. I stand by my conviction that the best anti ager is happiness and hot sex, and the worst thing is worry and stress. Everytime I have been in love, people start saying things like "oh, you wouldnt remember xyz-you're too young" and when I am stressed and tired, people say things like "Oh, your sons is still quite young then?" (Code for "I thought you'd have teenagers you ancient old hag")

I agree thebodyloveschocolate people who weren't used to getting much attention from the opposite sex often tell me it doesn't bother them that much because they never had looks to mourn. I know it sounds vain and in the big scheme of hinges very trivial and self indulgent but when you had it you sure as hell miss it when it goes. I know what you mean about being whistled at, I always liked it and walking into a room and seeing all the admiring looks. Now I'm basically ignored.

Why are the mirrors at the hairdressers so unflattering. I hate sitting and looking at my reflection. Such a nasty shock. Ditto holiday photos. I think i look reasonable but then look at the photos and all I see is a fat squat old woman.

I comfort myself by thinking that my looks may be going but I've still got a good brain. Although that may be next :(.

It's the jowls and wobbly double chin that I'm most self concious about. My hair is thinning as well. Wah!

My hair is still fabulous with hardly any grey even at 45. My hair looks much younger then my face - which is probably a schock for young chaps driving by thinking, nice hair, not bad legs - then they get a look at the face and nearly crash their van.

I am still amazed at these posts...especially when a poster describes the downfall of their face in detail and then you read on and they are 33!

I don't think I had aged at all in my mid-30s, and even now, not much.

I still think much of is attitude, but I also wonder if some of it is down to diet and sun damage. I am Nordic and it seems to me that some of us don't perhaps age so quickly...lack of sunlight? Our diets are generally healthier too.

Probably too much booze and fags and sun! I have quite a few Chinese friends the same age as me and they look amazing - bitches!

Best advice i ever had was:

'look after your forehead. it's what's holding your face up'.

Start now if you don't already

Even better advice is have a fringe cut and stop feeling sad.

I feel good about the way I look, BUT I have to minimise my alcohol intake, and drink plenty of water and get enough sleep. Not always easy with small children....

I like the way I've aged so far (I'm 30) and think I look good for my age - ie I'm not comparing myself to 20 year olds!

I told DH I reckoned I was prettier and had better skin than I did ten years ago and he made this face and said errr no.... At least he's honest.

Basically I think as you get older you have to eat well and get enough rest. And not smoke. And not have endless late nights. Or it will catch up with you.

I think it was Lucille S. Harper who said "Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician". Couldn't have put it better myself.

I was a far from pretty child - puppy fat, crooked teeth. A growth spurt and braces apparently sorted me out, and I kind of grew into my face. I remember my great uncle saying to me at my great-grandmother's funeral when I was about 15 "My word, you've blossomed!" cheers for that!

I was quite attractive from being about 16 up to about two years ago, and, had I been single, could probably have pulled, if not the best looking bloke in a bar, maybe his slightly less good-looking mate. I've just hit 38 (or did 38 hit me?) and I can't remember the last time I got wolf-whistled or beeped at. This makes me feel a bit sad.

I fully intend to get Botox as soon as funds allow!

And I don't get second looks or wolf whistles from boys in their teens and early 20s anymore.

But I DO get checked out by handsome men in suits in their 40s+

And that's fine by me!!

feelingmellow......I know exactly what you mean, those bloody hairdressers mirrors. It's no wonder I don't like going, they're so unforgiving, and then she brushes the hair right off the face exposing my wrinkled forehead aghhh.

Oh yes, my poor English skin is finally showing the damage that the Australian sun has done to it. WHY DIDN'T I LISTEN!!??
Taking up surfing has also not helped my skin, but it has done absolute wonders for my state of mind. The more I surf the older I look and the less I give a shit.
Getting pregnant and therefore being unable to treat myself to an occasional botox jab isn't helping either and I'm sure it's going to take a lot longer to get my body back into shape that it did last time (6 years ago).
The only thing that seems to work for me at the mo is a bit of coconut oil which gives my skin a little bit of that dewy look. It's really not enough though.

I like that advice Chicken

My face doesn't hang off my forehead. It hangs off my cheekbones. Or, as Edina in AbFab put it "my whole body hangs off these cheekbones!"

And, bloody hell, you shouldnt be worried about looking old at 30! That's no age!

very true thebodyloveschocolate, I never thought of myself as a looker - I'm alright but my face is a bit of an acquired taste I think.

As a teen I used to feel shit about not getting much attention from men in the street, but now I'm starting to see the long-term benefits... you can't miss what you never had.

Is botox really worth it?

utterly shit - utterly utterly shit

44 - 3 kids, 2 sections, fucked abdominals - when I was 26 I had a 23 inch waist and I looked good - now I am saggy and baggy and lined

I am fit and healthy and active but I hate mirrors with a passion

I actually think I reached my peak at about 42.

After looking consistently far younger than my chronological age for years, my looks suddenly declined in my mid thirties. I was too stressed, a bit plump, and lost my fashion mojo.

I then met who is now my DH and the surge in happiness encouraged me to buy lovely new clothes, also I found out I had hypothyroidism and got treated for that..and now despite not being on my thirties, I look pretty good. The neck skin is papery and my hands and forehead have some sun spots, but I'm taking Christy Turlington as inspiration. If you check her Instagram (ie not photoshopped), she is wrinkly but still gorgeous, in an appropriate way for her age.

I don't care that much about looking younger - I just want to look great as a middle age woman!

Just glad I was able to run for the bus yesterday without collapsing in a heap once I got on board. I may be obese but my gym attendance is paying off.

up to about 38 i looked ten years younger, was quite smugly happy about this, as I'd gone through ill health, a nasty divorce at 36, but somehow regained my looks and a bit of my figure after dd.

today i am 45 and the slide has been quite a shock in the past few years.

lack of sleep and stress, and i feel baggy faces, jowly, hairy.

it makes me a bit sad to think oh fuck i am getting older. but some days i wake up and think 'oh'i don't look as old today.

I like those mornings.

I was feeling this a lot the other day when I caught sight of myself in a shop window - wonder if it's the time of year as the summer tan starts to fade...

'look after your forehead. it's what's holding your face up'.
or grow a big fat fringe.