To say that women often look better as they age!

[Goodnightchristopherrobin]

I keep hearing that men get better with age! Society seem to promote this belief and at the same time, suggest that women get worse with age!

AIBU to challenge this? At almost 40, I have DC that sleep, disposable income to spend on skin care, treatments, clothes and hair! I have time for a proper exercise routine. I definitely look better now than at 30.

So where does this ridiculous saying come from? AIBU to suggest it is absolutely untrue and lots of women do actually get better with age

I looked fabulous at 23-24. Now I have the money to spend on myself but there's only so much money will sort out! I don't look my age (apparently) but look as good as I can for my age that's the best I can hope for.

There's a lot of self-deception, too, IME. I laugh every time I hear another 50-year-old saying, 'I look like my daughter!' 'I look 21' 'I get mistaken for my daughter all the time.' No, you don't. Really. It's pathetic and smacks of jealousy. I have a dear friend from Vietnam and she really doesn't look 50. But she doesn't look 21, either, or as young as her daughters.

I was looking on Facebook recently at women I knew from school but have lost touch with...It was so depressing. I remember the cool, pretty gang who had boys hanging off their every word. They all look so frumpy and average now.

I think some posters are confusing looking old with looking good for your age .
I look better in my mid 50s than I did in my mid 30s ...not younger looking , better looking .

I have a picture of me taken when I was 26. I was great them. Great hair, youthful face, great body. Compare that to the 45 year old me.....Jesus there is no comparison. Women kid ourselves we look better. We don’t. We may be more confident in our skin but we don’t look better. Unless of course you are comparing now against some 80’s permed 18 year old wearing shoulder pads.

I was very pretty in my teens / 20’s, but I had no confidence and didn’t appreciate my looks then. In my 40’s I had much more confidence and looked good. Now early 50’s and I would look much better if I lost 2st.

I looked my best at 24-30. I look horrible now.

I looked best from 25-32, then having kids kicked in and i would say 35 - 50 was a lost 15 years. Now at 55 I would say I look ten times better than I did at 45, but if course not as beautiful and youthful as I did at say age 28. And I'm quite happy with that. Don't want to look 28 because I'm not 28! But very happy to be a well groomed 55 year old with weight back to pre-kids, than the frazzled plump 45 year old with 3 young kids that I was.

Thanks to FB timehop a picture from 2009 popped up when I was 21, I was pretty, in shape and had lovely long wavy hair. Fast forward 10 years and 2 kids my face is fat, like a hamster that stores nuts in its pouches. I'm a size 12, my hair is thinning and I'm a million times less confident. All in all, I look like pit bull chewing a wasp these days.

I think there is a difference in how men view older women and how women view our contemporaries. I have a number of friends in their 40s and 50s (and one who has recently turned 60) who I think are beautiful. They are confident, intelligent, funny, witty, elegant, well dressed, etc. Most look their age or maybe a little younger but they are full of that confidence and personality that older women radiate which makes them lovely. I think that is appealing to other women (not in a sex way, but in an admiration / desire for friendship way) but not so much to men in a sexy way.

Not the most coherent explanation, but I think it’s how I think of many of my girlfriends. I don’t fancy them but I think they are beautiful in their own skin.

I notice that often, women look their best just before they hit the age where fertility drastically reduces. I have a theory that perhaps women's beauty goes into overdrive during this time as it's the last chance to reproduce? Hmm.

There’s a photo of me at 34 that looks better than every photo in my teens and most in my 20s!

I still get plenty of admiring glances but from men who are older than (and I'm old)! So fairly ancient men hahaha

That should have said, Men who are older than ME

Sounds from your OP that it's to do with how much time you have for yourself. I had children older so had all that time for polish and exercise in my early to mid 30s and looked fab. I look frazzled and far from polished now in my late 30s but I'm hoping to regain some of that when I pass the toddler years. I've seen some friends come out the other side who look amazing now with slightly older children. And a few enviable ones who managed to look pulled together throughout, but that hasn't been my experience and being a mum to a small child has aged me (hopefully temporarily).

I know that I look better now at 37 than I did at 25. Back then I was slightly overweight and had appalling skin due to hormonal acne which I hadn't managed to clear up at that point. I had an appalling diet, drank Diet Coke my the gallon and lived on conveniences foods like pot noodles.I rarely exercised and was generally very awkward and Unconfident.

I look better now because I now exercise regularly, eat a healthy balanced diet, drink only water and feel better about myself in general. I don't look younger, just healthier and happier. My skin back then had a weird yellow sallow look which it no longer has.

@Benjispruce has got it! We all look better once the eyesight goes. A natural filter.

I don't think so. I do think women can look really great now for longer, but once they hit a certain age I don't think so. Ageing is hard on women.
Not all men of course, but in the whole I do think men age better

I agree with @roisinagusniamh - looking younger doesn’t always mean looking better. Take Judi Dench for example - she was pretty when she was young but she is BEAUTIFUL now. Yes, she looks older but she absolutely looks better. I think the same is true for lots of my friends. They don’t look like young women any more but a lot of them definitely do look better - they just seem to have grown into their looks somehow. In contrast a lot of my male friends have been treated less kindly by the ageing process.

Still waiting for that upswing ;) I'm sure I'll shine at 40!

Women in their 40s and 50s have had more time to work out what suits them, and that's what can make them look better than younger women.