What clothing, make up, or hair style makes you look older?

[Mackerz]

I’m 40 and my mum has just told me that I’m at the age where I should have a cropped hair cut. I personally think this will add about 20 years on to me. I have dark brown hair, wavy, below shoulders and I have some lighter highlights around my face and parting. I wear it down and wavy, straightened with a bit of a kick at the ends or tied back in a loose bun at the nape of my neck with some of the front falling out. I’m lucky that it’s still thick and I keep it well conditioned.

I like to follow trends but adapt them to my age, so for example I will wear mini skirts but I’ll wear them with tights and boots.

Are there any things that people think are a dead giveaway for age - clothes, makeup or hair?

FarAwaySheep I love that book if that’s where your name is from. This is the near sheep I’d bring the page up really close to dc. Made them laugh. If not ignore

I don't think anyone's been snide.

I agree it's the 'how' as well as the 'what'- (although some items would just never help with looking younger).

I used to wear vintage clothes in my 20's but now they just make me look vintage!

Oh, I don't know that book! Username was a homage to Father Ted. "These sheep are small. Those sheep are far away."

Yes, I think there's definitely a difference in what I can wear in my 40s as opposed to my 20s (fashions aside).

I really like boho/hippyish/vaguely alternative things, and it really annoys me how much of it makes me look like a sad old try-hard these days.

OTOH, I think that kind of look in your 60s and 70s can be brilliant. There just seems to be this strange awkward phase in the middle years where it doesn't work at all.

Home made type jewellery you bought from a craft stall. Ditto Celtic jewellery.

Technical wear when you aren't climbing a hill/mountain.

Boot cut jeans not done in an ironic way.

Choppy short hair cut.

Haven't under eyeliner.

Anything from Seasalt or Joules or Boden. Nothing wrong with them as such but no one in their 20s would wear anything from there (dd aged 16 gasps in horror whenever I suggest we look there) so just by choosing to wear it anyone looks older.

Tunics with leggings. Straight leg jeans that bunch around the top of ankles (when the current trend is to have a gap between the shoe and the bottom of the jean - which I think personally is crazy because who wants cold legs but hey...).

Too much matte make up. Too much pink make up.

Lots of things really. And I say all this fairly lightheartedly because I am 39 and caught between the “young” and “old” in style and beauty. I can spend hours putting stuff in an online basket in H and M or Asos only to tip it all out again and end up browsing Lands End and Cotton Traders because it’s bloody well comfortable and fits in with my walking / rural lifestyle.

Pretty bitchy thread and more than an element of stealth boasting re looking 'so well preserved compared to people I grew up with'.

Some people look great in large necklaces, tunics, short hair. Others pull off the co-ordinated look. Some people on here are actually behind the fashion curve with their comments re wide legs/bootcuts.

If you are 40 you are going to look 40 no matter what you wear or how long your hair is. Instead of focussing on looking younger how about wearing what makes you happy and feels like an expression of yourself and change the adolescent 'tribe' mindset?

I think happy people are the most attractive. Constantly comparing yourself to others and denigrating people to make yourself feel better is not a positive path to be on.

It is worrying just how much time and attention women give to looking younger rather than embracing /celebrating the age they are.

Op- you want to keep your long hair- then why are you questioning it. Nobody really gives a rat's arse how long it is.

I am 48 and bought a leather mini skirt this week

Will I be banished to S&B purgatory?

I err between mumsy and mutton, I think

DH invariably tells me I look pretty (bless him!) even in Joules dresses

I'm not sure it's about looking young as such - more about looking current. Looking as if you haven't just given up on your appearance and gone for the first thing in the shop with an elasticated waist, or stuff that's a clone of what you wore 20 years ago.

I think it's got harder for me to shop as time has gone by. I don't want the disposable super-young quick-turnover fashion pieces. I don't want the fleeces and hiking boots well I do but I try to keep them for actual hiking . And my figure makes me look for more forgiving clothes, which complicates it further. It's hard to evolve a style at the moment.

I'm quite happy to look 47, but I want it to be a reasonably stylish and modern 47.

I think hair can be ageing, if you’ve got thick lustrous hair long hair can look good but thin, wispy hair that often looks unwashed looks better shorter as it looks thicker imo.

Dark lipstick can also look ageing and I’ll probably get flamed for this but there is nothing worse than seeing ageing women wearing clothing suitable for their teenage children (mini skirts and the like).

A little bit of make up can really go a long way, and skincare can make you glow so investing in good skin care is your first step I think.

Short hair makes you look older. Even Meg Ryan, the queen of short hair, has grown hers longer as she aged. Short hair requires a young tight jawline.

I have had very long, naturally curly hair all my life. That is until one month ago. I got it all chopped off for the first time. I am now rockin a very curly bob. All mixed layers and a full fringe. Kind of like the singer LP but slightly longer. I have never had so many compliments! I feel fresher and younger. Go for the chop and change. It's only hair and will grow back. You may like the new you x

bobby sorry I was being silly when I was commenting on your post, not insulting.

op definitely criticised you though. Totally swerved by you though. I guess you don’t care to judge/comment on me. Unlike your mum “friends”.

I think the colour beige is ageing (unless the wearer is most definitely young) if it's not sharpened up with black or a black print or black accessories of some sort.

@Atalune

Sorry totally mis-interpreted that then!
You were right about my lack of knowledge of fashion though

@FarAwaySheep

Exactly the point of the thread. I want to look like a stylish 40 year old, not either a trying too hard to look younger or frumpy. There is nothing wrong with wanting to look stylish. This is the style and beauty section FGS!

I love my short hair. I'm 36 fwiw.

I don't think there is an age limit for long hair, but I do think women are told they are only attractive and sexy if they have long, long hair. Plenty of women don't suit it, or don't have hair in very good condition, but I think the fear of not looking pretty means they stick doggedly to their long hair. Fine if they genuinely like it and suit it that way of course, but I think there is this notion that short hair is ageing or makes women look ugly, so long hair is an absolute must, which I find archaic and a bit tacky.

Heavy make up doesn't suit me any more. I used to love wearing a fuck tonne of black eyeliner. It was my go-to for nights out. Now, I need to go really easy on eye make up and anything powdery. Don't want that thing where it all settles into lines and looks a mess.

Floral prints age me I think, unless I really think through how to style it, so I now just don't bother.

I don't dye my hair and I don't think I ever will. The block black hair dye mentioned up thread is ghastly on most people.

Tbh though, I think most women I see manage to look great no matter what their age. When I used to work in some vair fancy restaurants, we would see lots of very wealthy, glam people coming in. Most women looked fab. Yes, the odd frozen botox face, but generally lovely. Some of the older men though...yikes. I think it's that they've never had to consider their looks the way women do. Then they suddenly feel old and throw everything they've got at their appearance, without really knowing what they are doing; unnatural looking hair colour, loads of fillers and botox, crazily orange tans etc. This is obviously just a snapshot of what I noticed and only a very specific demographic, but I always found it interesting. The men also flirted like mad, (even with short haired moi ), while their much better looking wives studiously ignored them. Was a bit horrible tbh.

Fairy my dd likes Boden and had things from their in her teens/early 20s. Looked great on her.

However you are right as these makes are aimed at a particular age group😊

Ooh @AthollPlace I just had to google 'Meg Ryan now'! Very interesting.

@PaulHollywoodsleftbollockhair You didn't need to comment on the OP's thread if it so offends you.

There was a thread like this about 10 years ago and black ankle boots were christened mum boots and we were all told to wear skinnies and knee high brown boots.

Round and round. It is apparently aging or mumsy if it is a year off trend .

I think I definitely look younger with shorter hair, though it's not grey yet (late 40s). Though I am getting some lovely jowls and wrinkles, a short pixie seems to make my eyes look bigger and draws attention away from the jowls, but if my hair is longer it kind of hangs around and emphasises them.

However it's true that it's not seen as attractive generally, but I've always had short hair and managed to pull :o

This is an interesting thread and pretty sporting.

Totally missing the point of the thread but @FarAwaySheep, they were cows, not sheep

I think it's more about not updating your look from 10+ years ago. So the super thin eyebrows that were fashionable when you were mid-20s are now only found on 40+ woman, therefore look 'aging

Unfortunately we plucked them all away in the 1980s so this is kind of unavoidable