to ask whether you were pretty when you were younger?

[Totur]

I look at photos of me and I was so pretty when young but I had zero confidence.
I'm stuck now being old and miserable. I wish I had enjoyed or known that I was actually quite pretty.

Even now, my confidence in dealing with people is tied up with how I think I look in the mirror.
I think I was actually pretty but wasted all my youth thinking I was Ozzy Osbourne in the female form!

Pretty and I had a decent size 10 figure, I wish I was as fat and ugly as I thought I was then.

I was stunning, but didn't like and couldn't handle the attention. Men walking into walls, cars stopping, being followed, being stared at, chatted up by weirdos, not making friends, etc. I was and am still to a point, unhappy

Not really, occasionally in the right light. I did though have a lovely figure that I didn't appreciate, neither did my X. Lovely husband thinks I'm beautiful inside and out, its a fine feeling knowing that.

No. I look exactly the same now as i did in my teens/20s. Literally no different. People refuse to believe i have kids old enough to have left school.

Yes but I am now overweight and my skin hasn’t done too well, it’s finally clear but has melasma so I end up wearing too much make up to cover it
I look younger than I am but no one tries to chat me up probably because I am overweight (14/16) and often dress for comfort with fairly messy hair. When I dress up up like for a work do people are always weirdly shocked. Chubby face no lines but body wrecked by kids!

Yes I was

From as young as I can remember I was told how pretty o was and was always made a fuss of

Obviously you that sort of attention changed. I was always aware I was attractive I was confident in the way I looked and accepted my body wasn’t perfect (of course didn’t appreciate what a good figure I had as too focused on the not so good parts) but I lacked inner confidence and also felt i didn’t have much to offer apart from looks - that is the down fall when you are constantly told how good looking you are

I am ok now need to lose weight and I do miss being happy with how I look but I am a far more confident person and not so self absorbed with I look which isn’t an attractive quality at all

Not particularly, definitely more so now.

I wish I had lost weight / discovered skincare / grown into my looks / felt more confident 10 years ago though!

I seemed to have phases where I was pretty . Young child-yes. Older child- no. Early teen- no. Uni student- goddess
I now sometimes feel attractive but the camera says otherwise. Occasionally I see a snap of myself now and think I'm attractive but they are few and far between.

I looked like a toe until I was about 22

I’m now knocking on 30’s door and yes, I’ve always been on the chunky side (generally a size 16 but have been a 12 and a 20!) but I have a decent face, nice shiny dark hair and straight teeth. I scrub up alright with make up and the general consensus is that I look about 24, which is nice and proves that the fortune I spend on anti-ageing skincare is worth it

My mum is 54 and looks much younger than that with lovely skin and very few grey hairs. I look like her so I’m hoping for those genes!

I was very pretty when I was younger. Turned heads in the street. Strangers would fall over themselves to help me, carry things for me etc. It had its downsides though, I experienced a lot of harassment at school, at university and in the workplace. Also women would often make up their minds to hate me before they had gotten to know me and people underestimated my intelligence because of how I looked. I'm in my mid 30's now and although I still get told I'm pretty on occasion I feel that having two DC and being completely nackered all the time has aged me and my body isn't what it was.
I'm not that bothered though as I know DH loves me for me and I don't want or need attention from men who aren't him. I certainly don't miss the constant street harassment.

I think im prettier now. I get better with age!

Yes, I was, very much so. I'm not now.

No

No, not at all. The teenage years were particularly grim. It's a bit rubbish being a girl / young woman and not pretty. I always felt that the capital young women got from their looks far outweighed any capital they got from being smart or funny or kind. I'm now old and relieved to find that this changes with age, mainly I think because the lines between who is and isn't attractive become blurred. Everyone just sort of looks middle aged and OK. At my age, good looks seem more to do with how well you look after yourself than whether you've been gifted genetically fantastic bone structure.

Very pretty from early age about 6 then late to puberty so thought I wasn’t attractive due to being really skinny.
Being different didn’t help but I do remember my parents friends telling me that I was beautiful.
I’m now mid forties and think I really bloomed in my late twenties early thirties.
I’m now happy with the way I look as I still have nice face and figure.

I was fat and awkward. I'm better looking in my 30s!

I'm 23 and feel my looks are fading already, I look back at photos from a few years ago and wonder why the bloody hell I thought I wasnt skinny enough.

The only thing I have going for me now is massive boobs and mediocre makeup skills

Nope. Always had a decent figure though. Never been bothered tbh. I do wonder if I'll be a decent looking old lady.

No

I always thought I was ugly as hell.
I was a spectacularly ugly teen. Frizzball hair, awful plastic NHS glasses, huge feet, the knobbliest knees and a face full of acne.
Between 17-30 I was completely beautiful. And I never realised.

I'm ugly as hell again now.

and had my fair share of admirers. So what is the fair share of admirers? Speaking as one who didn't have any. I have a feeling that those who talk about "having their fair share of admirers" actually had more than their fair share.

I was pretty when young. But with no confidence and no "it" I didn't feel pretty and nor, it seems, did my peers find me pretty. But looking back I understand the elderly teacher who tried to get me to tie my hair back with the words "all young girls are pretty".

Nope, and was bullied rather for it in my teens.
However, days spent hiding in the library working eventually led me to my current career (academic) which is pretty darn fulfilling.
I'm enjoying my mid-30s and encroaching wrinkles and grey hair. They feel like a leveller of sorts.

No not at all pretty but makeup helps a great deal. Was exceptionally skinny when it was fashionable to be a bit chunkier, I longed to put weight on and have boobs, I got my wish. I am not photogenic at all

I think I’m prettier, although much fatter, now. I am definitely more confident and happier at 48.