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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Or is everyone better looking these days?

75 replies

Wishfulmakeupping · 01/10/2014 10:11

I'm talking about regular people not film stars etc (I would say the opposite there)

Anyway scrolling through my facebook (I know I know!) I thought to myself a lot of people I know are unusually good looking and beautiful. Probably more so than in real life.
Is this just fakery? There is a lot of tan and lashes going on
Or good selfie techniques?
Not sure but suddenly everyone's become a 10 (I'm a solid 5 still) whats going on?!

OP posts:

ApocalypseNowt · 01/10/2014 10:12

I've found the older I get, the more attractive everyone else becomes. I think it's more how you view people tbh.

peasandlove · 01/10/2014 10:15

People are spending more money on their looks Eg tans nails eyelashes hair. And then there are filters on pics that blur and smooth what's left

Vintagejazz · 01/10/2014 10:16

I am amazed at how stunning looking most young girls are nowadays. Then I wonder did people think that about me and my friends when we were teens/early twenties.

I think people have access now to better skin and hair products and higher quality make up. On the flip side I do think that there's a kind of generic look amongst young people nowadays - long straight blond hair, fake tan, etc. Years ago really good looking people stood out and use had something individual about their prettiness.

Vintagejazz · 01/10/2014 10:16

'usually' not 'use'.

Wishyouwould · 01/10/2014 10:17

I was with a friend last week and she showed me an app she uses on her phone to enhance her appearance before she posts it online. I was

I think also people put they best photos on. But I see your point. Lots of attractive ladies on my News Feed too!

treaclesoda · 01/10/2014 10:17

I do notice teenage girls looking so good these days, compared to when I was one myself.

But actually I've come to the conclusion that it could be my age. I'm almost 40, and I'm (obviously! ) much more mature than I was 20 years ago and I can see the beauty in people, not the beauty that is sold to us by the fashion industry, but the beauty of having a lovely smile, sparkly eyes etc.

When you know people, and you like them, they become more physically beautiful to you, because you see them as a whole person. Conversely I know some people who might outwardly have stereotypically 'good looks' but their unpleasant personalities drain them of all beauty, and no matter how lovely their hair etc they don't look nice to me.

So, I think it's an age thing

littlemslazybones · 01/10/2014 10:18

Maybe your eyesight is deteriorating as you get older?

Missunreasonable · 01/10/2014 10:18

I don't know; there are some aesthetically hideous people on my facebook list.

Perd · 01/10/2014 10:18

I know what you mean.

I cannot thing of a single friend of my 15 year old DDs who is not good looking. They're all very individual, and dress quite casually, but they all look lovely.

When I was 15 my friends and I were a funny looking lot. Although I guess the 1990s fashions didn't really help things...

freshlysharpenedpencils · 01/10/2014 10:19

Also people are much more skilled now at taking photos, editing photos, posing for photos. I look really good in a photo...on my iPhone...with a flash.... if it's taken from high above. Whereas, in my day someone would take a photo of you - a one time chance! and you'd look like shit - and that was the reality.

peasandlove · 01/10/2014 10:20

The girls these days have celebrities they follow who are using all the fakery. There wasn't really fake tan and hair extensions etc when I was young. Fake nails perhaps

Vintagejazz · 01/10/2014 10:23

Actually when I look back at photographs of women in the forties and fifties I usually think they are very good looking as well. And also usually very elegant.

feckitall · 01/10/2014 10:23

Clothes and hairstyles help. As a youngster and I'm not THAT old, I had hand me down clothes, including adult ones cut down! hair was cut by DGM.
Then add on make up/hair products etc, Dental care...

That said, any interest in any of it would have been rebuffed by DGM.

I was an unattractive teen...not much better now

SaucyJack · 01/10/2014 10:23

I think a lot of it is down to the anti-ageing culture that we're currently in.

I know a lot of people hate the beauty industry and it's age fascism, but personally as a 30-something who isn't ready to lay down and die in the middle of Per Una, I quite like that it's seen as normal these days to "still" be taking care of your appearance once you're over the age of 25. And also, there are so many more things to help stay looking young than Pond's cold cream available.

ApocalypseNowt · 01/10/2014 10:26

as a 30-something who isn't ready to lay down and die in the middle of Per Una

I have a brilliant mental image in my head thanks to this. Keeps making me do a silly giggle out loud. I am sat by myself.

wanderingcloud · 01/10/2014 10:31

I'm of the opinion that Facebook isn't an accurate reflection of the general attractiveness of the public. I work with teenagers, in real life they are as varied now as they ever have been. The advent of digital photography means people are becoming more shrewd and selective about what they share. You can take 50+ pictures until you get the lighting, angle etc just right. You can enhance pictures really easily on a mobile device before sharing. It's not reality, it's augmented, selected snapshots of reality.

Ladyfoxglove · 01/10/2014 10:32

People make a lot more effort now than they used to.

Years ago (when I was a girl in the 80s!) hardly any girls or women went to a lot of trouble with their appearance (I did as I was insecure and was laughed at for it) but other women would always approach me quietly and ask what products I used etc..

I don't think that people are necessarily better looking, they're just more groomed than they used to be.

Like others have said though, I see lots of stunning girls around these days and you can tell that they've made a huge effort. Society values good looks in women (more so than in men).

MsVestibule · 01/10/2014 10:33

I remember a woman in her mid-40s saying this exact thing to me in the early 90s! So it must be an age thing. Or perhaps skin products and makeup were better then than when she was growing up, too.

Ladyfoxglove · 01/10/2014 10:35

Yes MsVestibule never underestimate the power and beauty of young skin. You only realise this once you begin to lose 'the bloom' in your thirties.

Castlemilk · 01/10/2014 10:37

Lots of artificial help, I think!

Even - maybe especially - hair products. Take a look at the old Top of The Pops episodes from the 70s and even 80s - the hair! The fuzz! It's totally changed. Even the stars - their hair looks in such terrible condition compared to even your bog standard person on the news today.

Vintagejazz · 01/10/2014 10:38

I also think young people are under much more pressure to look good nowadays. When I was a teenager we really only wore make up if we were going out for the night and use of fake tan was confined to a bit on our legs in the Summer. Fake nails and hair straighteners were unheard of and there was no way your parents would pay for you to have expensive highlights.
As a result we usually looked well scrubbed and frizzy haired

LaurieFairyCake · 01/10/2014 10:39

Majority of young women wear make up now and groom more.

When I was at school in the 80's almost no one wore make up, even the teachers only occasionally wore lipstick.

Make up was orange pan stick and hardly subtle.

Everyone looks gorgeous in the 40s/50s because the clothes and hair accessories were very elegant - the quality of the picture isn't good enough to see whether their faces have even skin tone.

Vintagejazz · 01/10/2014 10:45

Actually when I look back on photographs of myself when younger I often find myself thinking 'Gosh I didn't realise I was so pretty', so there's definitely an age factor as well.

BumpNGrind · 01/10/2014 10:45

I find that far fewer teenagers these days have acne compared to when I was in school, maybe it's better diet or make up but it's funny how it just seems to have disappeared from teenagers today.

LaurieFairyCake · 01/10/2014 10:46

Agree it's an age thing, I think young women are incredibly beautiful.

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