Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Looking old beyond her years

64 replies

Toooldat19 · 01/12/2019 11:19

NC for this as I am looking for advice for Dd.

Dd is only 19 but looks a lot older.

Everyone she meets thinks she is nearer 35.

She has always looked older.

Even as a 6 month old, facially she looked like she was ready for school.
Since leaving school she now looks at least 10 years older than her classmates.

It is giving her a complex and she is now worried that at 22 she could end up looking like a 45 year old.

She doesn’t smoke or drink

Is there anything that makes you look younger. She doesn’t have any wrinkles she just looks like a well preserved woman in her mid 30s

OP posts:
Musicforsnorks · 01/12/2019 13:22

Tell her to sit back with some popcorn and enjoy how this thread unfolds.

Itsashame · 01/12/2019 13:33

People really think she looks 35 and she’s 19? That’s quite extreme. Who would say that though? Have people actually said that to her? Confused

Inforthelonghaul · 01/12/2019 13:43

Does she have an older manner or dress sense? Is her hair and makeup making her stand out? Look at what her peers are doing differently. She might just be one of those people who will still look 35 when she’s 50.

DonPablo · 01/12/2019 13:44

She needs slug eyebrows.

KnickerBockerAndrew · 01/12/2019 13:45

I was like this. At 12, I could easily pass for 20. Once I hit my late 20s, it levelled out and I didn't look older than my peers anymore.
Consider whether you'd make such a big deal out of it if she had a big nose or a scar. Looks really do not matter.

Letseatgrandma · 01/12/2019 13:45

Even as a 6 month old, facially she looked like she was ready for school.

Sorry, but this thread is bizarre. I have met a lot of babies and haven’t met any that look nearly 5. Can you post a picture of her at 6 months? Cover the eyes to make it anonymous.

BennyTheBall · 01/12/2019 13:48

What?

Not possible, I'm afraid.

Gardai · 01/12/2019 13:51

A 6 month baby looking like she should be at school ?
I need photos now.

CountFosco · 01/12/2019 14:01

Who on earth told a 19 yo they look 35?

I would assume (not having met her) that she might be doing the following things that could make her look older: heavy makeup, dressing 'old' for her age (so e.g. smarter than you'd expect a teenager to be), how she carries herself/talks etc.

Spitsandspots · 01/12/2019 14:02

I once worked with a woman in her early 20’s. She looked older than my 40 year old face. I think it was mostly to do with her expressions & mannerisms. She also had blonde highlights which, in certain light, looked grey which didn’t help.

Would a different cut/colour make her look differently?

Waytooearly · 01/12/2019 14:02

I totally had this!

Waytooearly · 01/12/2019 14:05

Sorry posted too soon. I was one of those teens who looked older. People always thought I was 30. Something about being tall, and having a quiet reserved manner, and dressing conservatively.

Waytooearly · 01/12/2019 14:06

I'm 48 now and people think Im younger. Tell her not to worry.

AutumnRose1 · 01/12/2019 14:08

“ A 6 month baby looking like she should be at school ?
I need photos now.”

Me too!

HostessTrolley · 01/12/2019 14:15

How is her sleep?

My 19 year old Dd (former anorexia sufferer now in recovery) looks much older when she’s not drinking very well and is dehydrated. Her skin looks old and loses youthfulness.

ChocoholicsAsylum · 01/12/2019 14:17

Maybe shes got that aging medical condition...

Chilledout11 · 01/12/2019 14:49

I think this is a bit of a mean thread. Just tell her she is gorgeous. Why would you make a big deal of it. Surely a haircut and on trend clothes would be more beneficial than agreeing with her worries

Toooldat19 · 01/12/2019 14:52

Re the looking older when she was 6 months old.

I took her out to a place where there were lots of other 6 month olds and they mostly were all bald or had whispy hair and the ones with a full head of hair had round baby faces.
Dd had long thick hair and a thinner face and just looked years older than her peers.

She is very mature. Is in full time work and has been promoted to manager of her department.

People do say she doesn’t act like other teenagers.
She is also quite tall.
Her dress sense is definitely that of a teenager.

She has been very conscious that apart from not being id’eed when they have a think 25 policy for years a few people recently have said things to her thinking that she was their age and when she had pointed out she is still only a teen have looked genuinely shocked

She has been asked out a couple of times guys she has met through work.

The first time she was 18 and the guy was in his 40s. He apologised profusely and said he thought she was definitely 30 something
Another time was by someone in his 70s
By the conversations he has had with her she thinks that he thinks she is definitely in her 30s.

It was a few people who were new to the company and someone asked them (presumably as a joke) how old they thought Dd was. They thought she around 35
All were stunned when they found out she was a teen.

I have told her to not to worry and it will all even out in the end but she is getting quite upset about it

OP posts:
PippiDeLena · 01/12/2019 15:21

Does she have very dry skin and that's what's aging her? Does she have a Can-I-Speak-To-The-Manager haircut and wear gilets? I just can't imagine how a 19 year old could look so much older.

astralweaks · 01/12/2019 15:24

A manager of her Department? Not bad for a teenager. Must be because she looks so old...

Toooldat19 · 01/12/2019 16:12

PippiDeLena

Not really dry skin or her haircut or even the clothes she wears.

I think she does act a lot older and speaks to managers as an equal.

She also works sometimes all day Saturday and Sunday in different jobs.

I sometimes think she is over tired.

OP posts:
MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 01/12/2019 16:14

Well I never!

thefattestchip · 01/12/2019 16:18

Is her face very thin? Is there anything that could plump up her skin?

Jodie77 · 01/12/2019 16:23

IME the people I knew who looked 35 at 19/20 just carried on looking 35 for years.

Gardai · 01/12/2019 16:27

How long was her hair at 6 months old to look like a school kid ?
Baby pic needed.