What age did you start really noticing signs of ageing? And, any tips to make it slightly less depressing?

[Trickymoments]

I'm 41 & would say that when I had my 40th birthday it was like the ageing switch was turned on!

I have always looked young for my age and my dh says I still do but I
don't feel as confident about my looks anymore. My skin is drier & occasionally spotty and I can see jowels and a turkey neck appearing!
Also the one or two grey hairs i had appear to be breeding!

I am conscious I need to make more effort to exercise too now but fitting that in is a juggle.

Any other 40+ year olds feeling similar?
I realise it's an inevitable natural process but it always seemed such a way off!

Yup, 60 in a few weeks.

I'm getting quite bored with all this not looking your age business and I'd like to get back to just having some fun with my appearance. For example, my hands are getting quite knarly but you know what, I quite like them - they look interesting and I've started wearing chunky rings to show them off.

I'd say 25 when I first started getting grey hairs. :(

Elspeth Wow, your knowledge of under-eye concealer astounds me. I am very impressed

I might give the Clarins one a go first and see how I get on. What's the texture like? My Benefit Lemonaid is pressed but can be a bit claggy. Not sure how to explain.

First grey hair at 27. Arthritis at 63. Took medical/physio advice and carry on - can walk 20 miles a day in the hills, go swimming several times a week (strokes adapted to prevent aggravation of condition) and treat age as a state of mind. And my hair colour is out of a bottle.

It's much more emollient. All pen ones are more like thick liquid.

I have heard the Lemon Aid is claggy alright. But if you want to stick with Benefit they do have that other one that gets good reviews - the Erase Paste. I've never tried it though. I did hear that the Medium shade is actually more shadow correcting than the Light shade.

Avoid the Bobbi Brown salmon & peach correctors. Settle in fine lines. I didn't even finish it.

Elspeth Brilliant. Thanks so much. Off to spend some money on my eye bags over the weekend then

I find a massive dose of "fuck it this is who I am" really helps to feel better.

Beware the world out there is trying to manipulate you to feel really shitty about the natural aging process, and hopes to exploit your weakness and insecurity about your looks, for financial gain.

I find a good moisturizer fills in the wrinkles. Exfoliate. Fake tan.

Loads of water. Veg. Don't smoke. Little caffeine. Low sugar. Stay out of the sun. Fresh air. No alcohol. Sleep.

A flattering hairstyle.

For me, I look better slimmer, so eating right. Salmon, spinach, nuts, eggs.

So basically, a nun.

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This helps too

Agree with Panda. The beauty industry rakes in a shitload of money by making us feel shit. Fuck them.

And it doesn't mean you can't still be interested in your appearance. I like the way Vivienne Westwood uses her age to look as distinctive as she did in the punk heyday.

Really noticed it when I turned 50, I look at when i was in my 40's and I look fairly youthful. Now I try not to look...

I am very conscious now of showing my knees as the are very wrinkly, and I do keep my upper arms covered as although I am tall and fairly slim I don't think it is a very pretty sight for others. i wear long Next denim knee shorts a lot in Summer.

Apart from this I like to buy clothes and have just placed a sale order for Boden. I'm 58 and i still wear things like Next cigarette jeans, just bought some sale ones actually, I'm not quite ready for beige cardis yet but definitely make the most of your 40's with shorter skirts etc. as I definitely couldn't wear them now.

I'm 35. In the last year or so I've noticed my face looks really gaunt, the skin around my knees has gone all wrinkled and my hands look "older".

I am trying not to feel too depressed about it as I know in 20 years I'll look back and think I look good now! But it's hard.

I know I'm going against the grain here but I freakin' love getting older. I'm 41 now and have my lovely family and career. Yes I've had to start wearing a little make up when I go out, but small price to pay!

I am doing ok for the minute. Am 46, gave up smoking and don't really drink alcohol. Lots of water and pilates for about a year now has stopped or even reversed the slight downward spiral I was noticing.

However, where are my eyelashes? They have gone, plus, my stomach is flatish but WIDER. What to do about that? As in, my old skirts etc don't fit. I am tall and slim though apart from that.

Seriously, are there any natural false eyelashes? I find wearing no makeup, or not much. makes people say I look younger than I am.

I have a fairly young face (round, Asian) but due to weightloss my neck looks old. It's really affecting my confidence so much I think I'm sabotaging myself. I need to lose more weight but this really affects me. However I should remind myself better to have turkey neck than to have a heart attack.

Also, this year, my undereye started to show aging by losing plumpness.

I've had grey hairs since my twenties so discount that, but the real ageing stuff hit at around the 50 mark.Eyesight deteriorated almost overnight, weight gain round my middle, liver spots and wrinkly hands, horrible crepey neck and aching joints. And,horror of horrors, white pubes!

I'm 36 and always looked much younger than my years but grey hairs and wrinkles are already upon me. The decline has started!

I need to be a stone heavier for my ideal weight now (55) than in my 30s. With the loss of collagen, lose too much fat and your face collapses!

I spent 10 years avoiding summer skirts because of broken Veins. Then I thought sod it, fake tanned and wear what I like.

Agree that less makeup usually better than more. Dying and plucking my eyebrows is a big help. I'm often told By people that they think I'm younger but I think it's mainly down to not dressing too old and a positive, interested approach to life. If you smile, you always look better!

I'm 50 now.
My skin is good, no real wrinkles to speak off but I do get dehydration lines if I don't drink enough water.
I use henna not dye (since Easter) and it has made my hair much softer and a more natural colour.

I need to lose weight round my middle (Diabetes in the family) but I suffer from IBS type symptoms (divertcilutis).

I get hot flushes and intense fatigue from menopause.

Yesterday, I found a white eyebrow hair
Hell In A HandCart.

After I had my child I became invisible. I was 33. So I assume I suddenly aged.
I was considered a "stunner" before.
However, the White, coarse hairs, excess body and facial hair. Fat around the middle, sweating, smelling different, grumpiness, brown blotches, jowls, wrinkles, gained their stride since I turned 40. I'm now 43 and dread the menopause. Feels like I'm on the edge of a cliff and the only way is down. When I get down, I will be old lady. I will never get my youth back and not accepting that.

I seemed to do ok until the menopause. I had my last period aged 51, and within 2 years I had aged about ten. Whereas before I looked relatively youthful for my age, I lost any remaining bit of glow, developed jowls and a crepey neck, liver spots and dry, dull hair. Last week I noticed the skin on my upper lids is drooping.

My friend cheered me up though, she told me that the reason I look younger than her is that I have enough fat to fill out any wrinkles in my face

What I hate most of all is the middle-aged spread. The weight seems to pile on overnight, and is incredibly hard to shift.

God, I amglad that for some reason my mind is kind about my body

Am 45, I look fine for 45, I am not "invisible" as I am 6ft and move with attitude (in my mind I say: I'm an Amazon, deal with it world!")

I like being 45, despite wrinkles and stuff

The only thing I don't like is my old-lady little pot belly

But generally my mind refuses to feel bad about ageing, I feel grateful!

Maybe a cancer scare (bog standard breast lump) helped give me perspective.

Looks are just looks.

I don't choose my friends for looks, neither do they.

Love yourself.

Remember:

You are a child of the universe
No less than the trees and the stars
You have a right to be here
(Quote from Desiderata)

Ok, maybe I should go to bed now

I have always looked younger than I actually am, I am 47 now and new folk who meet me say they thought I was mid thirties. Not doing too badly with wrinkles and only about 6 grey hairs. I have friends ten years younger whom I look younger than.

That being said, I really do hate the thought of me aging, and am sure that one day I will wake up and all of a sudden I am looking my age. Sounds shallow but I really hate the knowledge that one day I will be old, wrinkly, grey and invisible.

I'm starting to notice now, I think having lost a fair bit of weight at the same time it is starting to sag was perhaps a bad move! I'm 36 and have definitely started to look my age. But I also think I look the best I ever have, cause I am taking care of myself. I'm slimmer and fitter and more confident. I don't really care about lines etc.

I was watching "Younger" earlier and one of the cast said, "people age in spurts". Maybe that's true. I swear, six months ago, I was always mistaken by my classmates to be their age - 20s. And now, I'm all of a sudden being called "ma'am".