What is 30 supposed to look like?

[Careworker685]

The amount of times I've heard "you don't look early 30s", and no, it's not a 'boast' before some posters become enraged that someone's been told they look younger than their age and they haven't.
It just makes me wonder what people are thinking, is there really a dramatic shift between 20s and 30s? Maybe a couple more lines, but you can get those lines in your 20s too.
It just baffles me, it's either social niceties or people just opening their mouth without thinking.
Honestly think some people are stuck several decades back where 30 year olds got perms and elasticated waistbands.

Think you're over thinking this. Every age is a point in time on a constant maturing process whose effects are subtle and gradual, differences don't have to be obvious to be seen. You look younger than you are, no major analysis needed I wouldn't have thought.

I looked like a teen mother when k had my son aged 29. I really did.
Life soon put that right.

I agree with you. I'm 51 and look much like others my age I think. But not like people somehow expect a 51yr old to look. So I'm told I don't look my age.
Um... yes I do, it's just that 51 ISN'T OLD!

I recently met with some old friends I hadn’t seen in 10 years. We’re all early 30s now and honestly, none of us looked much different than 10 years ago.

Some thirty somethings look really young now. Thinking of some of the little mix girls, Gemma Atkinson, Nikki Sanderson, Jorgie Porter and Tina O'Brien. Not sure why but people tend to look younger for a lot longer now.

I look youngish for my age (not a humble brag, I'm just relatively line free as I don't love the sun) and get similar still now I'm in my early 40s.
I've pointed out before to young people who seem amazed that, at my advanced age, I don't have a grey perm and a walking stick that my contemporaries are the likes of Holly Willoughby, Anne Hathaway or Kim Kardashian. A lot of people seem to have a fixed image of what ages look like, that usually have little bearing on what actual people look like at that age.

I think the changes don't occur with the zeros but with the 5s. So up to 25 you could look as young as a 19 year old depending on your lifestyle. Up to 35, not much difference to late 20s and so on.
30s sounds a different life stage to 20s though, so I think maybe people subconsciously expect an older look than many early 30s people have.

Honestly, among my friends the big changes came with menopause.
So not til late 40s and 50s. At this age the changes after a spell
Of absence can be surprising. 20's and 30s nah!

I think a lot of it is based on media. We're used to 30 year olds playing 20 year olds, and 40 year olds playing 30 year olds.