People saying you look young for your age

[Percypiggz]

It's not a brag of any sort, I've no interest in looking younger, I just want to look well. I'm 35 so still relatively young, and anyway I much prefer how I look now to how I did at 25.

The issue is I now get embarrassed when people find out my age- I don't go round sharing it but people are curious and eventually ask how old you are, colleagues, partners' friends etc.

Im so bored of the same reaction- "You're 35??!! No, stop!!! Omg I thought you were 25!!! Omg!!!'

I know a lot of people would love this and take it as a huge compliment but I'm genuinely not interested- I'm not saying every single person does but I've heard this many times over the years.

What am I meant to answer- thanks, I know? I just smile politely and laugh it off. My partner's friend's wife who is only a year older said to me "Oh you're really young aren't you." And I told her I was a year younger than her.

I think people have this idea in their head that people in their 30s should have lots of wrinkles and look weathered- probably thinking of films and TV shows in the 90s when 30s tended to look much older.

Does anyone else have this and it's unwanted? How do you deal with it? I had a friend who I'd known for 10 years and who I'd done a Masters with 10 years ago so quite obviously had to be at least 21 back then.
She said 'Omg you're in your 30s??? You look amazing!!' Despite me knowing her for over a decade, how old was i going to be really?
I feel embarrassed now about people knowing my age because I've no idea how to react.

That's what I've found, plus the vodka doesn't help.

I am nearly 38 and I think I look my age. However most of the girls I play on a sports team with were genuinely surprised when I revealed my age. I am about 10- 15 years older than most of them and they thought I was a similar age as them. I don't think they were saying it just to be nice , I just smiled and said thanks. I find any sort of compliment embarrassing but I don't get annoyed by it. I know one day those sort of compliments will stop!

Shark jumped…

This. No person 3 years off their 50s is getting charged a child's fare on the bus!

Right! I feel some people - mainly men - have a vested interest in making this great divide between the appearances of women in their early 20s vs 30s women when it’s really so individual.

And tbh younger looking doesn’t mean looking better.

Many of my friends who people say look their age look better than “young looking” me 😂 they are very well put together and sophisticated.

This. It's really not difficult or deep. I still get people thinking I'm younger than I am and I'm retired. I find it quite nice.

Stealth brag.

Get over yourself.

Yep. Extreme example - see this picture of Sean Connery and Thomas Brodie Sangster at the same age of early 30s.

That's an amazing contrast. TBS looks younger than most do in their early 30s but SC looks about 50 in that photo which is unfortunate in your early 30s!!!

I get this all the time. I am 50 and got asked for ID in Morrisons a few weeks ago. I recently became a granny and feel like I don't want to mention it because I then feel embarrassed by the look of shock on people's faces. When I became a mum, everyone thought I was my baby's older sister. It made me feel really sad actually. This isn't a boast - looking young doesn't equate to being attractive!

We're in a society which values youth. Women, in particular spend a lot of money on Botox, fillers, anti wrinkle cream and surgery. Youth is equated with beauty, so you're being a little disingenuous to claim it's not flattering.

I have this issue and absolutely hate it. I feel there’s a total mismatch between my age and how I come across. It doesn’t help that I’m little, have a smile that is more like a grin and have baby features. At work, I often avoid saying how old my children are (uni age) as it freaks people out.

I got it throughout my life but never really thought to be embarrassed by sharing my age. I think you need to figure out why it making you so uncomfortable.
I am 42 and my hairdresser told me she thought I was 27. That was funny - the woman has seen me in full salon light! But still not as funny as an 18 year old who thought I was in my early 30s and nearly fell off his chair when found out I was the same age as his dad.
I categorically don't think I look 27 or 30 although I don't dress conservatively (my mum is very elegant and doesn't pass an opportunity to criticise my refusal to dress "for my age") and have a quirky haircut, athletic body, plus really good genetics. And I guess it just doesn't compute for some people.
But I take it as a compliment and move on with my life. I suggest you do the same because you still have good 20 years of this.

Nothing ages a woman faster than talking about the garden, birds, cups of tea, M&S, parking problems, and batch cooking.

Seriously. Just talk about yur hobbies and theyll not make that mistake again!

I'm a similar age and always think I'm young until the actual youth talk about young people things 😆

If you get this image reference, you get what I mean!

What's the worst that could happen? They scream and collapse? Just power through, I'm sure they'll cope.

It doesn't happen to me so clearly I look my age or old for my age. But if I was you I'd just say "aw yeah I've got a baby face" and laugh. You're making a very big deal over a compliment.

It used to happen to me, but not anymore. I’ve had a hard life. 😂

Enjoy it while it lasts.

nothing ages a woman quicker than talking about how people think they look so much younger (clue, you are then advertising you are older). But we all look our age - we are the age we are and look how we look ergo we look our age. But of course people of any age can look very different from each other. Embrace yourself at every age, your looks don’t have an ‘age’.

Theres a reddit sub I recently wasted a bit of time on, for people who look much older or younger than their age. Maybe you can find solidarity and tips!

Lol.

I get it a lot. I'm 44 and when I tell people I've got a 20 year old son they say I don't look old enough (with genuine shock). It got a bit silly last week when I took my 8 year old for tooth extraction and my oldest came with us. We walked in the room and the staff were like "oh you've got dad with you as well" when my son walked in after me. I corrected them saying he's his brother and they were really shocked

They might beat her up for stealth boasting.

They don't freak out. They're vaguely interested. Maybe. You sound utterly obsessed by your own looks, maybe they're just freaked out by you, in general.

True. Or faint because they're so overwhelmed by her youthfulness.