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Original poster

To think people looked and felt better back in the old days vs now?

357 replies

wildernesswild · 09/08/2022 10:51

Currently watching videos of Olivia Newton-John (rest in peace Flowers) and I always notice people born years and years ago, maybe in the 60s/70s/80s look amazing then and now, no fakeness, I'm always told by my grandparents nobody really back in the day was majorly obese or had any mental health issues. Even the men groomed themselves and dressed amazingly.

What do we think contributes to our issues these days? Is it social media, processed food, unrealistic standards? I'd love to hear everyone's opinion

OP posts:
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7
girlfrien · 09/08/2022 11:05

Tattoos weren't around back then so people's skin deffo looked better

JosephineMaynardd · 09/08/2022 11:06

Too much time on our hands. End up lazy.

Lastqueenofscotland2 · 09/08/2022 11:06

I don’t think using videos of incredibly wealthy people is a particularly good indicator of the health of a general population…

DreamingofItaly2023 · 09/08/2022 11:07

The 80s wasn’t that long ago, I’m only 33! 😭

Maireas · 09/08/2022 11:09

You should have grown up in the 60s and 70s when there was more pollution and everyone smoked everywhere. I must have passively smoked about 20 fags a day before I was 12.
Oh, and the first time I had food that wasn't deep fried or shallow fried in lard was quite a revelation.

MakeadealwithGod · 09/08/2022 11:09

I thought that when I saw the pictures of Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta today. People don’t look like that any more.

SaintHelena · 09/08/2022 11:11

I was late teens twenties then. We did all look pretty good, no hugely overweight people - however, had there been a chance of nose job, fillers etc I'm sure I'd have gone for it as I didn't think I looked good.

Thighdentitycrisis · 09/08/2022 11:11

Most people wore glasses as contact lenses didn’t exist and had bad teeth!

DreamingofItaly2023 · 09/08/2022 11:13

I think clothes probably make a difference too. All the teenagers I see around now are either in tracksuits or leggings and a crop top. People will tend to look better in more formal clothes imo.

Original poster
wildernesswild · 09/08/2022 11:13

DreamingofItaly2023 · 09/08/2022 11:07

The 80s wasn’t that long ago, I’m only 33! 😭

I don't mean it was! I was born in 97. I'm meaning people as in teenagers, young adults and adults looked so much fresher and better in the 80s! 🤣 not babies!

OP posts:
pinkyredrose · 09/08/2022 11:13

I'm always told by my grandparents nobody really back in the day was majorly obese or had any mental health issues

They may have had blinkered views, people didn't travel as much or as far then.

Howeverdoyouneedme · 09/08/2022 11:13

Olivia was a good looking, slim woman so maybe it’s skewed. However, I do think a lot of young people would look ‘fresher’ without the make up fashions there are at the moment. Plus, young people seem heavier now, and that looks unhealthy.

BeanieTeen · 09/08/2022 11:14

I don’t see that at all. I have no doubt that people felt better and may have been healthier in some ways - but whenever I see old pictures of people in their thirties and forties they dress and look like they’re in their fifties and sixties already.

Maireas · 09/08/2022 11:15

Believe me, people had bad teeth and acne back then...none of my friends looked like Olivia Newton John, a diet of sausage and chips and growing up in an industrial town didn't help.

LadyApplejack · 09/08/2022 11:15

I'm not old enough to remember but I follow vintage accounts on Insta, and they often put up candid pics of groups of high school students, people on the beach etc - based on these I'd definitely agree. People look slimmer, better-dressed and much more smiley. Probably various reasons but I do think physical laziness/inactivity is an issue these days.

MarshaMelrose · 09/08/2022 11:16

I always notice people born years and years ago, maybe in the 60s/70s/80s

Are you trying to be insulting? You make us sound ancient.

Most people wore glasses as contact lenses didn’t exist and had bad teeth!

I was born in the 60s and had contact lenses at school. They most certainly did exist. And I had nice teeth thank you.

BatshitCrazyWoman · 09/08/2022 11:17

Thighdentitycrisis · 09/08/2022 11:11

Most people wore glasses as contact lenses didn’t exist and had bad teeth!

I've been wearing contact lenses for 42 years!

Mushroo · 09/08/2022 11:18

I’m not sure that’s true. If you look at old school pictures from the 60s / 70s the kids look at lot older than their years.

it’s also stark that in poor areas, kids are very very thin which I think happens less nowadays.

of course wealthier people will have looked better!

Mushroo · 09/08/2022 11:20

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Arbesque · 09/08/2022 11:21

Olivia Newton John was exceptionally pretty.

Teenagers in the 70s and 80s didn't have access to the range of skin care and hair care products they do now. Many young people had greasy or frizzy hair and bad skin. We also didn't have access to online make up tutorials or the wide range of clothes shops that are on every high street now.

People were in general, slimmer I agree. There wasn't as much processed food around and people didn't snack as much between meals.

10HailMarys · 09/08/2022 11:21

I'm always told by my grandparents nobody really back in the day was majorly obese or had any mental health issues.

They're talking bollocks. Lots of people had mental health issues and while the obesity rate was lower, people still had weight problems. GPs used to hand out Valium for anxiety and amphetamines for weight gain like bloody Smarties in those days, particularly to women. The diet industry when I was a kid in the 80s was horrific - literal starvation diets for women.

Also, LOL at 'no fakeness' - they used to literally pull women's faces back with tapes at photoshoots in the 1960s, not to mention all the hairpieces, false lashes, padded bras, girdles, endless hours with curling irons, etc etc. Facelifts, nose jobs etc were all pretty common in the 80s too.

Rosehugger · 09/08/2022 11:21

I don't agree. Loads of people drank and smoked in the 1970s and looked distinctly lumpy and old if not as heavy generally as today. People in their 40s looked much older than I do now, particular in terms of wrinkles. Smoking makes you very wrinkly. There are probably more extremes at either end now - loads of people very overweight but also loads of people who are extremely fit and athletic/strong looking, also well up into old age.

ONJ has always been completely gorgeous and something of an outlier.

PeskyRooks · 09/08/2022 11:22

I don't see it. Plenty of people around me in the 70s and 80s had mental health problems or were obese or were scruffy or dirty! In fact clothing was expensive then compared to now so everyone I knew wore hand me downs or had over sized clothes they had to grow in to or trousers with the hens let down!

People probably looked more smiley in photos because you got your photo taken less often you only had so many photos on your film and developing then was expensive.

Arnaquer · 09/08/2022 11:23

People were more active then and are less processed food.
I grew up in the 70s and walked or cycled everywhere. We didn't snack and fast food was a birthday treat. Whenever I see old episodes of TOTP from the 70s and 80s and people were much slimmer then.