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.

I get it a lot too…especially when people find out how old my kids are they say “ooh you must have started early!” (I was 30 when I had my first 😂)

I used to get a bit embarrassed and didn’t know what to say but now I’ve started telling anyone who asks that I was a child bride.

I also openly admit to my Botox use (if asked about my age directly)

The human body has some very distinct jumps in terms of ageing. The next one for you is also considered one of the most dramatic - 40-45. So you probably won’t have this for too much longer. After that the next ones are 60 and 75.

I get told the same thing. I’m 50, and I often get told ‘“wow, you don’t look FIFTY!!” As though it’s some bad thing to look 50. Or even worse “oh my gosh, you look AMAAAAZING for FIFTY!!” Which I find particularly rude.

I usually say something along the lines of “oh I get told that quite a lot, I’m trying not to thank people for saying it as I don’t think it’s a compliment to look younger is it it’s just a fact”

If I’m feeling particularly salty I’ll say something like, “younger people are generally not as wise as me, so why would it be a compliment to look stupider than I am?”
but I’m trying to get out of that habit as although I don’t think anyone’s taken offence (I do say it quite jovially, not how it looks written down) I worry about the sensitivities of younger people and one day I’ll offend someone! 😂

Your dentist thought your 20 year old son was your 8 year old son's dad? Eh?!And that a woman in her mid 40s was too young to have a 20 year old? Again eh?

I would be very reluctant to let this person near my teeth with a drill to be honest, if he thinks a 20 year old is the father of an 8 year old, and a 44 year old woman 'doesn't look old enough' to be the mother of a 20 year old.

Also genuinely wondering why you took your 20 year old son to the dentist with your 8 year old son. Why did he need to be there?

I have a baby face and I accept that. My sister who is three years younger than me looks her age, and she does look older than me.

Like several others on here, I have HSD (I don’t meet the criteria for EDS by one point) and when people tell me I look young for my age, I tell them I’ll trade them the HSD and the pain and the fatigue that comes with it to look my age! That shuts them up fast.

A lot of baby faces on here. 👶

Yes, it's quite an odd story. Medical practitioners rarely have time for this sort of thing.

Your sister "looks her age"?
Well, that means absolutely nothing if you read this thread!

OP; you're only 35. You are young.
If you're bored or frustrated by people's reactions, just ignore them or find new friends.

It's quite the epidemic. They all hate it.
Although getting a child fare on public transport at age 47 has got to be a bonus.

My cousin who is a doctor used to jokingly act like I was a freak show for looking so young and that I should be studied scientifically. But funnily enough last year I was told I was hypermobile which I’m now hearing can make people look younger ! So maybe they were onto something 😂

I had always just thought it was purely a family thing since both the men and women in my family look quite young until they start to properly age at like 65+