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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What age do you think your looks started to fade ?

472 replies

LardLizard · 14/02/2018 23:30

I think I still look pretty great at forty, don’t think my skin looks forty at all
So I’m wondering when will I really notice it ? Know it’s different for everyone
I’m think maybe after 50 now ?

OP posts:
DarthNigel · 15/02/2018 07:14
  1. I look back at pictures of me two years ago and I look really young. I look at myself now and I look...old. Been a terrible two years though to be fair...stress is definitely massively ageing!
Headofthehive55 · 15/02/2018 07:15

I looked fine until I had chemo. And lost my hair. Now I'm always in a cold sweat - and my hair returned - grey Shock

brizzledrizzle · 15/02/2018 07:17

50s here and I'd say mine have faded a long time ago now.

However, I don't give a damn. I am what I am and I'm still the same person who has the same things to offer and if people want to judge me on my looks then they can fuck right off as they are not people I'm interested in (though I might secretly hope they wake up looking like the arse end of a bin lorry the next day)

I didn't feel like when I noticed though, especially when I stopping looking in the mirror and seeing my mother but saw my grandmother instead Wink

muffyduffster · 15/02/2018 07:18

I always looked young, got IDed when I was 35 a few times... had a baby at 37 a year ago and I feel like I've been sapped of my youth! But that's probably the sleep thing. My mum (had her kids in her 20s and still looks young) sent me a pic the other day to illustrate the point, thanks Mum HmmGrin

Somersetter · 15/02/2018 07:18

I agree with a pp who said looks don't fade, they evolve.

It's a natural process, a progression. I loved my great aunt and grandmother's white hair and wrinkles. They wouldn't have looked better with hair dye and Botox.

Isadora666 · 15/02/2018 07:18

I'm 37 and noticed a couple of years ago I'd definitely lost that baby faced youthful look. I always looked really young for my age but have started to look my age now.

TheDailyMailIsADisgustingRag · 15/02/2018 07:19

My mum looked amazing at 50. She still looked pretty good when she died at 59.

TheDailyMailIsADisgustingRag · 15/02/2018 07:20

I’ve never been that pretty, so I doubt I’ll notice losing my looks Grin!

goodbyeeee · 15/02/2018 07:22

From the day DC1 was born 7 years ago. My dark circles and paper thin wrinkly skin around my eyes are now a permanent feature.

MiniTheMinx · 15/02/2018 07:23

I'm 45, I've only really noticed I'm aging in the last 3 months or so. Stressful job, 15hr shifts with teenagers, anti-social hrs, up at 5am, sometimes with less than 4 hrs sleep, finishing at 11pm. I'm exhausted and it shows now.

No lines, but my face is sagging a bit, which I think makes me look far older than if I had a few lines. I'm researching fillers. I'm vain. The figure looks fab, better than in my twenties, but I'd swap that for my younger face. I was never "pretty" too dark, im mixed heritage, and not an English rose. Pale skin but very dark hair/eyes. However in my thinner face my eyes look huge! Perhaps I should just be grateful Confused

Cadence70 · 15/02/2018 07:26

I'm 47 and look better now than I ever have, no wrinkles just all apart from number elevens that I'm considering botox for
I've never looked after my skin, don't take my make up off, use soap and water, and any cheap moisturiser and I smoke
The only thing I have done correctly all my life is stay out of the sun and I'm convinced that is the key, I've never liked hot weather and have never ever sunbathed, which is why I have skin like a peach instead of a raisin 😀

JanetStWalker · 15/02/2018 07:34

I agree doobigetta I think pretty fades fast but good bone structure and striking features will last.

This is so true. I remember being told at 36 that I was a 'handsome woman'. I was suitably mortified at the time but now I'm in my 40s I finally see some merit in having strong, well defined features.

I'm losing collagen hand over fist though. Sad

Oliversmumsarmy · 15/02/2018 07:34
  1. No wrinkles even though I am nearly 60 but more of a slight slippage almost over night at 35, then it slipped sone more a few years later then some more and now it has turned into an avalanche.

Looked up how to deal with jowels and the before pictures are what I would wish for.

I don't think facial exercises are going to cut it. Think the only answer is surgery.

Dr took a look at one eyelid and said if it slips any more I will have difficulty opening my eye.

Oblomov18 · 15/02/2018 07:35

Late 40's. I look old.
Most of you live a very different kind of life to me, clearly. I was never a 'stunner', no one ever really noticed me. I haven't had any fillers or Botox. I've had hooded eyes for as long as I can remember. I've got 11's between my eyes now.
Can't see how any 'maintenance' is going to change that!

blinkineckmum · 15/02/2018 07:35
  1. When I had kids. Lack of sleep!
Imverypleasedtomeetyou · 15/02/2018 07:36

For me it wasn't an age it was a lifestyle change that made a difference.

Up until I was 40, I had a career I loved, have always slept like the dead and would often get 8 hours sleep a night, had plenty of free time to relax, put a lot of effort I'm to eating healthily and went to the gym and enjoyed long walks...you get the picture. Then I had two children in 17 months, became a SAHM, first child is still an horrendous sleeper at almost three, don't have time to go to the gym....and I'm convinced I've aged 10 years in just 3!

Amummyatlast · 15/02/2018 07:38

I'm mid 30s and I have noticed that the colour has gone from my face. However I did get ID'd the other night, so at least it's not noticeable in the dark.

Falconhoof1 · 15/02/2018 07:40

I looked great at 40. 47 but and it takes a lot more effort to look even a bit nice.

AJPTaylor · 15/02/2018 07:50

Depends on
Genetics -it must help to have cheekbones to start.
Where you started from. Friends with the whole blond hair/blue eyes/pale skin strugled earlier
If you havr looks to lose. I was never pretty but my looks have mellowed into nearer average as i have aged

whiskyowl · 15/02/2018 07:53

Wait, have we time travelled back to the 1950s?

There are tons and tons of beautiful older women. And I don't just mean those with facelifts to look younger. It's attitudes like those expressed in the opening post, that associate youth and beauty, that are the problem. We need to celebrate beauty at all ages.

DownstairsMixUp · 15/02/2018 07:55

I'm 30 still look ok.my mum reckons she started looking old when she hit 40, she said it was like a light switch! I'm hoping I have another ten years! As well

shaggedthruahedgebackwards · 15/02/2018 07:55

I'm 43 and don't think I look too bad but it takes a lot more effort now!

I wasn't a classic 'pretty girl' so didn't really view myself as being attractive in my teens /20s

I would say I blossomed in my 30s and became more confident in general

I've got lines around my eyes and a largs crease in between my eyes but they don't bother me too much. Luckily my jaw and neck are still firm and no under eye bags.

meredintofpandiculation · 15/02/2018 07:56

Jaw sag was established by 40s, but I'd have said menopause. Hair started greying in 50s, bristles on chin, neck still great, but I can push the skin in the crook of my elbows and it doesn't bounce back. Face looks older, but I can lose 10years by smiling.

BayLeaves · 15/02/2018 07:58

This reminds me, I’ve had the displeasure of browsing through a super misogynistic awful Reddit group where the men all hate women and believe we only exist for shagging. The consensus there is that women over 30 are completely worthless as their looks have faded and they are more likely to trap you into a relationship/family life Hmm

It’s a shame that our culture values the youthful look so much in women. Otherwise we wouldn’t say our looks “fade” by a certain age, we’d say women look more elegant and refined etc with age. Men get to look more “rugged” and “mature” with age - beauty standards are not fair!