Just wondering, what's the maximum number of years younger you think it's possible to look in real life?

[HepburnKNotA]

I'm just pondering this in my idle moments (clearly I have too many!!)

Without actual 'work', obviously.

It's just that I often see people claiming (and I have no basis to disbelieve them!!) they are eg 35 but look 25.

HONESTLY, if I think about my very lovely and gorgeous friends, all roughly aged 35-50 and all very different women, NONE of us look any more than roughly 5 years younger than our actual ages.

I'm 43, and I take very VERY good care of my skin inside and out, and I think probably most people take me for about 38/39, no younger.

One stunning friend who is 50 and looks absolutely amazing, and does a lot of non-surgical stuff - honestly she still looks about 45, no younger.

This is absolutely not a criticism of ANYONE for getting older (I mean, what the fuck else are we meant to do) or of anyone for doing whatever they can/want to look younger. I'm just ever so intrigued as here I am eating avocado and using retinol and sunscreen and never smoking and never sunbathing... and I hear people saying they look a good 10 years younger than they really are.

SHOULD I BE DOING MORE???!!!

Really I just want to look well, and rested, and not puffy and grey. I see no way I could look 33 right now. Apart from literal time-travel.

You do look like you’re in your 30s @Auldspinster!

I'm no real looker but people sometimes do a double take when I tell them my age. I'm 40 next year but a lot of people mistake me for 10 or so years younger.

It's genetics - I am petite - not skinny with a round face and oily skin. All the women on DM's side look roughly 10 or so years younger than they are. I do look after my skin to a certain extent but not like some people do.

I saw something with with Heather Graham the other day, it thoroughly confused me because she looked exactly the same a she did ten/fifteen years ago, so much so that i thought it was a younger actress who looked just like her! She’s close to fifty but looks in her thirties. And unlike Jenifer Anniston she doesn’t look pumped full of fillers.

Paul Rudd looks the same as he did yrs ago

Going to sound boasty here but just wanting to join in. I can say, hand on heart I look about 15 years younger than my early 50s actually age. I'm small. Quite a lot of muscle mass but small. I think most women lose muscle mass so even though they are slim they look older as it becomes scrawny. Lift weights. It helps. Always had a round face which has now slimmed but still has youthful fullness. I'm a mixture of races and that definitely is a massive part of it. Caucasian skin generally seems to age poorly compared to Far Eastern and black skin. Teeny bit of crows feet just starting when I laugh and I've noticed my naso labial lines are just starting to define in some lights. No neck weirdness yet. People say I look under 40 and I know I do and I'm not going to pretend I don't 🤣. I know where it's going though. I'm going to end up small and Yoda-like. That's what the women in my family end up looking like.

There's a woman at the school gate who I assumed was about 35, but knowing the age of her elder children must be fifty. I have no idea about her beauty regime. She is of West African descent, and IMVHO and generalizing wildly, black skin seems to age better.

And to answer people who ask how I know how old people think I am, it's situations like where they didn't realise I was dc mum. Dc are in their 20s. The genuine shock brings in the comments. Or when they think I am Dc friend rather than parent. Or when I'm signing in at some medical examination and they see my age. Or when people younger than me are talking to me about things they think I don't know and it comes out that they thought I was younger than them. Or a hundred other incidents like these.

All so interesting... I think it may be true about oily skin and about different ethnicities ageing very differently.

Fundamentally I’m coming to the conclusion it’s just very unusual to look very much younger than your actual age: I was just looking now at pics of Lisa Faulkner who I’m surprised to read is 47... she looks AMAZING for 47 (amazing generally tbf) but imvho she doesn’t look any younger than about 42... but maybe that’s just because I know how old she is now!!! If I’d not known her age I would probably be saying she must be about 40 and she looks good for 40!!

Black and Asian skin does age better.
I have met a number of black women who easily look ten or more years younger than their age.

I get asked for ID everytime I buy something on the challenge 25 in supermarkets, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Aldi all over the Christmas period. I am 40 in a couple of months and I do nothing special to my face, wash it with soap and apply Aveeno cream twice a day and never wear make up as it gives me eczema. I also don't smoke or drink and I think that probably makes the difference. I would post a photo but I have a virus and look rough lol.

People do often say that they think I am mid forties whilst I am actually 57. I think it's because I have very few wrinkles (never, smoked or sunbathed and am overweight which pads out face). I also dress and behave in a fairly young way I think if there is such a thing . Oh and color hair so greys arent so evident.

I was surprised to learn recently that Gwen Stefani is 50!! I follow her on Instagram and she certainly doesn’t look it.

I’m 38 and sometimes get people react when I mention my age and comment I only look late 20s. When I am shopping with my grandmother she often gets mistaken as my mum as she looks a lot younger

Guess my age. I can take it... 😂 This was unfiltered, no make up, but Ive just lost 2 stone so I'm quite happy about that.

I’d put you at 40 Maybe 43 at a push @dartmoorchef

Gwen Stefani easily looks 50. She has had way too much work done and it is so aging. Her hair has that over processed, dry look that happens when you've been dying it way too long.

I don’t think Gwen Stefano looks... any age... She looks weirdly ageless, and I don’t mean that in a very good way. gosh what a shame that such a stunning woman has succumbed to what looks like an awful lot of work.

@DartmoorChef it's hard to say when you have a cap covering your face.

@Auldspinster you look amazing - I really think you look about 30-35.

I am very petite and it was a pain when I was younger as I never got into night clubs and I was not taken seriously at work. My DM always said "you'll be happy about this when you are 40" and I said, well I hope I won't want to go to night clubs at 40!!!!

It is genetic, my DM looked years younger and my DF was like Dorian Gray!!! Also, attitude, if you keep up to date with what is going on you will seem younger. My DF had loads of friends who were years younger than him and it kept him young.

I've not read through all the posts but I remember the girl who plays Sarah in Coronation Street playing a pupil in a school drama. Waterloo Road maybe?
She is in her 30s.
She is always someone I think of looking young for their age by a remarkable amount of years!

Jennifer Anniston has always looked about 40, that's why it looks like she hasn't aged. She probably looks 50 now.

Once someone's over about 25 I find it really hard to guess their age. There are lots of people who I think could be anywhere from 35 to 55. I don't think you can ever say an adult looks x age to the nearest year because there's so much variation. I find age guessing impossible!

@DartmoorChef congrats on your weight loss - I think you look 40, hope you don't come back and say you are 25!!!

I think Gwen Stefani looks great,,and always has done.

@ClientListQueen - I think you look 25.

I'd rather look older and skinnier than younger and fatter, if those are the options. I don't think age is anything to be ashamed of, at all.

I find it hard to guess peoples ages. Photos in particular have make-up, lighting, filters good angles. I also find people look young until you put them with real young people and suddenly the look older!Genetics is a huge factor as are drinking and smoking. I also think people dont age gradually. I think they look the same for ages and then suddenly age a lot in one year, then plateu again. Particulary around big life changes or illness.