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!

I was, very, and was happy enough with the way I looked. I don't recognise the middle aged me in the mirror.

Yeah. Harassment ruined my life though. Couldn’t live in peace from 12 to about 38.

Not much harassment now (early 40s) and am still referred to as beautiful. I have extra weight but it doesn’t bother my male friends.

Yes always been considered pretty and I find I’m often still noticed and remembered now even in my 30’s despite being overweight since my early teens.

I think as well as being conventionally pretty I have quite a ‘striking’ look with long ginger hair, very pale skin and large breasts.

I wasn't conventionally attractive until I was 17. I was born with quite severe facial disfigurements and finally had a number of surgeries to correct them at this age.

I became very beautiful almost overnight. However, I was still stuck in my 'old' frame of mind and didn't actually think I was attractive at all. I looked in the mirror and I saw ugliness. I was diagnosed with Body Dismorphic Disorder eventually, which is apparently quite common after significant corrective surgery.

It's only now when I look back at photos I realise how stunning I became. I just didn't see it in the mirror at the time, sadly.

I'm currently not very attractive. Weight gain, stress and the aging process haven't been kind. But I'm working hard to get back to where I was.

No, I was and never have been 'pretty'. In fact when I was around 10/11 I remember the younger brother of a friend of mine saying how ugly I was. He was probably about 6/7 and said it unthinkingly in the way that young children do, not to be unkind but in a brutally honest way. I suppose in my late teens/early 20s I looked more attractive. I had a reasonably good figure and lovely hair. I'm now mid-40s and have aged dramatically in the last 4/5 years. But I don't feel particularly bereft for something I never really had

I looked good from 18-32. I had dd at 33 and everything went downhill from there.

ive never not had confidence as ive always been very gobby and take no shit but i used to be paranoid about my ache which only came on my face and neck and ive never liked the feeling of makeup so i couldnt cover it up

i hit puberty early and had my first bra at 10 which was was a 38DD(they seemed to come over night)and was 5ft 8(yes at 10)

by 12 i was 5ft 11, size 12 on top 10 bottom with 35 inch legs and a 38F cup and flat belly so hour glass figure really,i was even getting in to night clubs but i never drank

i also had thick jet black hair down to my bum with a spiral perm(remember them, 90s girls?)with very pale skin and big brown eyes

i used to get a lot of attention some wanted majority unwanted but i was gobby enough to tell them to f off

but like i said i had bad lumpy acne due to severe PCOS(found that out at 17) that lasted from 12 to 31(38 now)i also had thick body hair(still have that)

i got to 31 and it just seemed to go away , now im still 5ft 11 a 35 inch leg but a 44J/K(depends on brand)still got long jet black hair as thats my natural color but im now a size 26-28 top and a 22 bottom

ive never drank, smoked, taken drugs and use/used lush facial products for years and do/did regular diy facials and i think its paid off as people do say i dont look a few years off 40

ive been in a happy relationship since i was 18(my only ever) and we have ben together 20 years soon and 2 massive pregnancy and big babies later my partners attention and love for me hasn't changed 1 bit

Nope, I was ugly. I had the opposite experience to OP. I didn't think I was pretty back then, but I thought in the right light on a good hair day, I looked ok. Now looking back at photos I just cringe at how ugly and awkward I looked.

I was definitely thinner (anorexia) but nowhere near as pretty as now (cocky, but by god have I earned the right to be!!)

Not particularly no.

I did and do have a good sense of humour and always got on well with the opposite sex . Had a cracking figure though.

I was pretty but I had a phenomenally bad haircut. I wish someone had told me! I wasn't unconfident though; and despite my awful hair I had loads of boyfriends.

Better hair now, better clothes. But fatter.

Yes, OP, I was pretty and like you, wish I had known that I was.

I am horribly unphotogenic. My face looks double fat. Dh/dc swears its not how i really look. They seem genuinely puzzled too.

One funny thing that i discovered is that if I take a selfie in our powder room mirror, I look much better. DS says that a selfie in the mirror is what we really look like.

We never really see ourselves as we look to others when we look in the mirror.

I hope and pray that I do not look in life like I do when I accidentally hit the selfie button on my phone! All the kind personality in the world won't help me then!

I knew I was pretty as I worked as a model and was told often enough by both men and women. I’m a confident type that finds men generally quite irritating.

Agree with the poster above about harassment, all women can be harassed but it was constant till I hit about 50.

I'm not sure whether I was pretty or not, but I know I have become more beautiful as I have aged. My grey streak, sunken eyes, frown lines and laugh lines are all well earned, and they sit well on me. I'm not saying age sits well on everyone, or even that they should think it does, but it seems to be working for me.

No. I've always lost the beauty contest as the back end of the bus beat me.

Yes. Just didn't know it.

When I was very young I was very overweight but lost loads in my late teens/early twenties. I was slim and pretty then and I wish I’d have known it at the time!!

I could have been stunning throughout most of my youth, but was always deliberately kept looking plain and downright ugly by my mother.

Ugly haircut until I refused to have it cut and grew the fringe out and allowed the (dirty) blonde curls to flourish.
Cheap clothes, often second-hand until way into my teens. Wasn't allowed earrings until I was 15, wasn't allowed to colour my hair and could not develop a dress sense.

As a result I started experimenting with looks when most had found their style in my early 20s and didn't really know what suited me until about 25.

I'm now quite good-looking for my age (mid-30s) due to confidence and style more than anything, but know it won't last too long until age catches up. Trying to make the most of it.

This is very interesting!

I was a chubby kid but had an unusual look ( very dark hair, pale skin and bright blue eyes ) and was considered pretty in my teens even though I was still chubby.

I remember being heartbroken when I was around 14 as the boy I was "in love with" said that he thought I was lovely but I would be gorgeous if I wasn't fat. What a prick!

I recently found photos of my first adult passport at 18 to go to Paris on a French A level trip and then photos of me on said trip.

I can honestly say that I look better now at 41. I am still overweight, a size 18 and despite smoking since I was 15 I have bloody good skin and know how to play to my strengths and work on my weaknesses.

A couple of 16yr old ds's friends called me a MILF which made me howl with laughter and feel sick at the same time, if that's even possible.

I have a million times more confidence at this age and definitely don't feel like I'm invisible yet. Pretty is a subjective word though. I've been described as pretty and I've been described as striking. I don't really care to be honest because I'm finally happy with me and thats all that matters :)

I am 45 and a size 14 but feel more attractive than I did when I was younger. I am definitely not when seeing photos but despite being a size 10-12 with a lovely figure when young I spent every minute feeling fat. Such a stupid waste of energy!

Nope! I’ve got a funny mouth with small teeth so it looks like I’m toothless on most pictures! Didn’t stop me getting a good husband, job, boyfriends (in my youth!) etc.

I regret how fat I thought I was though

I remember my sister saying to me once when I was about 15. I am so proud of you, your my pretty little sister. My sister was attractive too. She was very clever as well,me not so. I think it was her way of saying well at least your pretty. Now at 54 I have a few wrinkles. My teeth aren’t so white and my hair thinner now but my DD says I’m beautiful and I still get attention from the opposite sex. I am also 2 stone heavier too.

I look at pre-DD photos of myself and I was far more attractive than I am now

...and that was only 2 years ago!

“‘Catherine grows quite a good-looking girl, — she is almost pretty today,’ were words which caught her ears now and then; and how welcome were the sounds! To look almost pretty, is an acquisition of higher delight to a girl who has been looking plain the first fifteen years of her life, than a beauty from the cradle can ever receive.”

[Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen]

I felt really ugly as a teen because i wasnt popular in school. When i left school and went to college i got a lot of attention there and when out with friends that i didnt know how to deal with (i avoided it rather than relished in it) and older men seemed to be interested as well if not more than people my age. I soon learnt to be wary though and was told of a 'sweepstake' in the local pub to see who could date me first (heave). Im sure the size 8 figure and funky hair do helped a lot... the figure has since balooned!! Just to be clear, when i learnt of the bets, i got the bloke i knew i was seeing but they didnt to place a bet and we ended up with 150quid! We went on a nice date with it. Hes now my husband woop