Does anybody prefer how they look now they're older?

[Gooooo]

According to media/society everybody in their 20s is effortlessly beautiful and walks around with an undeniable glow, men constantly staring at them wherever they go.
I really dislike how only youth is supposed to equate to beauty and how society worships it so much.
I was looking at pictures of myself in my 20s this morning and I look like a football, my face is unbelievably round. You don't notice it until you look back at old pictures, now in my 30s my face has lost this subcutaneous fat and it looks a lot slimmer. I also had very severe chin acne in my 20s which has now cleared, I've had braces too.
Is anyone else feeling that they look better with age as opposed to the opposite?

I once went out with a bloke who told me I’d grow into my looks and be a stunning older woman (think Nigella, a lot of nose and eyebrows at 25). I was insulted at the time but now I sort of see what he meant. The current challenge is not to outgrow them 😂

Exactly this. And if we could decouple how we feel about the way we look from how blokes feel about the way we look (a lot of which is self-interested) we would all feel a lot better about ourselves.

I am lucky (at almost 50) to have good skin, hair and teeth but my weight is another story!
In my 20s I thought I was fat, I was only a 10/12

Yes, me. I was an reasonably pretty 20 something in the 90s, but my curly hair and hourglass body shape were at odds with the asthetic of the day and I was never considered stunning. In fact my 38" hips and 24" waist earned me the label of 'chubby'!
In my 50s, those same measurements are suddenly considered desirable and I'm regarded as having a 'great figure', which if you're told often enough does effect your own perception.
Facially, im older, obviously, but i prefer my face now to the round undefined younger one. I also genuinely don't understand what people mean about the 'glow of youth', which in the absence of the skincare options available to me today, I certainly didn't have, and am more 'glowy' now.
I can also afford better hair care which helps a lot.
Lastly, I do think the bar gets lower as you get older. When you're young you're surrounded by other young people so need to be something pretty special to stand out. In middle age, a good figure, hair and presentation is often all it takes for you to be considered 'very attractive'.

I looked best in my 20s I was pretty and toned. Then bit tired, softer and with dull grey skin in my late 20s/30s. I was just so tired.
At 40 I’m feel I’m through that, and I’m feeling more like me of old. I’m glad I had my children relatively young. I’m looking forward to this decade.

I look at photos of me in my 20s and think how gorgeous I was, and how I just shrugged it off. But I have much nicer teeth now 😬

I was pretty but really hit my stride in my early forties. 45 this year and still scrub up alright, albeit care much less.

hmm. I think my early 30s were probably my "peak" in terms of looks.

I think many women look better in their 30s and early 40s than they did in their younger years. Clearly some of that is bad/ dates fashion, but I think many women have a confidence when they are a bit older which really looks good on them.

I know right ???

I don't think getting older has to mean being smelly ...I mean what the fuck

"I find it really depressing when people come onto these sorts of threads and say "I used to get wolf-whistled" or "I feel invisible" and that they miss it. But what they are actually "missing" is being leered at by blokes who enjoy making them feel like prey. Yuck"

This sums it up from pp

In some ways I look better now (early 40s) - I also had a very chubby face when I was younger, now it's thinner and more defined, I just wish I had the firm skin to go with it! I dress much better and generally feel a lot more confident. I was thinner in my twenties though, and do miss that, only by a stone or so, but it did make a real difference. Just wish I didn't look so tired!

Yes, but I'm only 30. Ask me in 20 years, then I think I will be more reliable with my answer (or maybe after I have my baby in few months😂). But looking at graduation pictures, my face was also terribly round (I wasn't fatter, it's my face having "puppy fat"). Now it's slimmer, I can also afford hairdresser and have nice blonde balayage, had lip fillers done twice so I think this makes a lot of difference. I look horrible with my natural colour, it's too dark and my lips are very small. I also had acne and acne scars.

No.

I looked so much nicer in my 20s and 30s - I'm now late 40s

My confidence is through the floor because of old I look. And this has made me not bother with my appearance as I don't like how I look anyway.

Dye my own hair, don't always bother with makeup, can't be bothered to go clothes shopping as I hate my menopause tummy.

Absolutely hate how I look now and very rarely look in mirrors. And I was actually quite attractive once!

I'm 38 and not as good looking as I was. However, I peaked in my early 30s. Definitely looked better then than in my 20s. Slimmer, more toned, better hair and skin, better dressed, better made up. If it matters, I had the male attention and photographer requests to prove it.

I'm not a troll now and I still try to look after myself (fucking stubborn lockdown weight), but I've had two kids...

I've always looked much younger than my age which irritated me when younger! I felt my most attractive mid to late 20s when I also felt the most confident. I'm lucky to have never lost the figure I had (not that it is that amazing, but means I still look girlish). No one believed I was in my 30s or 40s when I was. Only mid 50s when I started to get upset by lines on my face and more crepey skin elsewhere.

People in their 20s, women particularly, tend to look too young and unformed to me now! Plenty of women are very attractive in their 40s and 50s. 30s is nothing!

It's very interesting you say this!

When I was in my 20s, I read a Chinese horoscope that said I'd be most attractive around my menopause.
I thought it was bollocks (I mean, it is) but turns out, it's true!!

I was gorgeous in my teens / 20s. But didn't feel it at the time. Constantly moaning how I was fat and ugly...silly girl. I really wasn't.

I'm now 3 stone heavier, but have better skin, know what suits me, have more money to buy better quality stuff and haircuts, am fitter (ironically, despite the weight gain) and have bags more confidence.

I also seem to be much more attractive to blokes and have more attention now than I ever have done.
The 30s were sleep-deprived and I looked mostly awful but the 40s are turning out to be a lovely surprise!!

This is it! I feel more invisible to them and that's a good thing, I hated it and what kind of man sleazes at much younger women? Not a man you'd want attention from surely?
But I am now far more visible to the general population.

This is it OP, I'm glad I don't have that kind of attention and now see the old men who look at teenagers and feel 🤢 Men like that think women peak at 25. If I'm invisible to them then fuck yeah!

I'm 38 and look far better than when I was younger, I was a chubby awkward faced teen with a weird figure. I grew into my face and found my "look" and confidence.

At 43 I still look good in just what my mother gave me but I was a real stunner in my 20’s - I would , quite literally, turn heads. I had some interest from a few modelling agencies but nothing came of it and by then university and medical training was taking all my time and energy. I did do a swimwear shoot for a well known brand though. That was fun. The next day I was cleaning up poo and puke. 😑

No. I look like Keith Richard.

Yes! So glad that horrible stage is over.

See I don't agree with 'nothing can beat the beauty of 20s'

I think there is a beauty of youth. I see it in teens. They are just beautiful because they have this blossoming fresh start of life beauty. But as for actual good looking-ness, I think different people shine at different ages.
A lot of people look their best in their 20s as they have fast metabolisms and are slim. As we get older, we have the looks we deserve rather than just due to youth. Many people I know are so much fitter and healthier living than in their 20s

I love how I look now in late 30s

I just can't get my hair right.

Naturally dark hair doesn't suit my skin. Light brown hair makes me invisible. Blonde hair turns brassy looks awful against my black eyebrows.
Sandy blonde hair is difficult to keep up with and ruins my hair!

I wish my dark glossy hair suited my skin tone. But it makes my skin tone look grey and unwell. I always get asked if I'm OK.

Interesting thoughts on here, I was effortlessly lovely until my mid 40s, meno struck and things changed a bit, 60 now and still look 'good', I mean, I look my age, don't 'tweak' as such but am well groomed, have money for designer/expensive clothes etc, I have never felt invisible but I do get a very different sort of attention now, I get a lot of compliments from women, young and old, and I now seem to attract a much better class of man (not that that's my yardstick for taking care of myself) Im very happily married but often I am chatted up, for want of a better expression, by younger professional types, makes such a welcome change from the pervy old gits and desperate boys I used to have to shake off.