Why do you think most people have younger looking skin these days than in the past?

[dianamoonyan]

Looking at pictures of actresses and family from the 70's and 80s it is noticable that women (and men) often looked older than people of a similar age now. I am not talking about them having old fashioned hairstyles, hair dye or clothing but the actually quality of the skin and facial contours.

I know that today some women have botox or filler but most women and men do not, I don't and yet my skin at 47 is still pretty much as it was when I was younger (plump, no lines, sagging or discolouration) as is that of my husband and many of my friends and colleagues. I do think that looking your age is more than just what your skin is like but in this post I am referring strictly to skin ageing quality.

I am just wondering what people think the main reason for people actually looking younger or at least having much less aged skin is outside of cosmetic surgery or injections, which if anything I think are more popular in much younger people and seem to be pro-ageing on them. It doesn't seem popular at all in most women my age in real life.

Is it down to better diets, less pollution, people not smoking, use of SPF or other topical skincare, improvements and availability of HRT, better diets, less stress, less drinking, people having less children than in the past?

When I go back even further I do notice that my parents generation look younger than say their parents at the same age and this is again not just down to hair colouring or styles but how the skin actually looks, Obviously that generation saw 2 world wars and the stress must have been massive.

You might be surprised at the number of people who do use botox and fillers. It's a LOT. But not everyone admits it.

I think new skincare has a lot to do with it - retinol, tret etc.

Smoking gives you wrinkles, in the past nearly everyone smoked

@frumpalertt That might be the case in some places but not really in my circles tretinoin yes some do use that and some have had micro-current but I only know one woman in my age range who uses injectables.

@PoseasRadicalActuallyMisogynistic I think this is a big one, also second hand smoke was a big culprit.

At 47 most people are starting to get lines and starts of sagging. Your friends are either an exceptional anomaly or their faces have changed so slowly you haven’t registered the changes!

There have been threads here before about ‘when did you start to age’ and by far the most common response is mid 40s ( not surprising, start of peri menopause for woman). So if you know a group of people that age and none of them are showing signs of age, then your friends are an outlier, not the norm.

Smoking, poor diet, generally lower standard of living, a combination of all sorts of things I suppose!
I have good skin for my age and I claim it's because I drink a lot of water and stay out of the sun... But who knows. It might also have something to do with the expensive creams I've been slathering on since the age of 27!

Smoking.

@Wheresmypal Perhaps, but looking at photos of them in the past and now their is no real change in most and the skin still looks "young" as opposed to the kind of texture women in their 40's used to get. I see similar in other men and women our age unless they have really done a lot of sun bathing or drinking / smoking when younger.

We also live in Scotland so literally no sun light up here.

There’s more knowledge around now about how harmful too much sunlight exposure and smoking is. My mother told me that during her youth, during birthday parties, there were bowls with cigarettes on the table for the guests right next to the bowls of crisps and other snacks so everyone could help themselves to it and my grandmother would go tanning in the garden on sunny days using no SPF whatsoever and slathering herself in salad oil to speed up the tanning proces.

@amberisola Yeah I think it is a combination of things and peoples appearance will vary a lot depending on lifestyle and genes but I think things are skewed in our favour these days.

Medical advances.Illnesses can be very aging.Lots of things that are now easily treated,with antibiotics for example,would really have taken a toll. People spend far less time outdoors, starting in childhood. The main cause of aging skin is exposure to UV. Better dentistry
Having teeth pulled changes face shape. Better diet. Decline in smoking.

It's smoking. A huge proportion of people smoked in the 50s and 60s, so they're mostly the ones whose skin looks old and wrinkly now they're in their 70s and 80s.

@LaBellina Yeah I have an aunt in her 60's now who lived in Australia for years and has a lot of sun damage, my mum is older but looks younger than her and my mum used to smoke while my aunt did not. The sun isn't kind to your skin at all.

At a guess, I'd say that lack of smoking, better dentistry and less malnutrition is doing most of the heavy lifting.

@Achdinnae Ah yes that was a big one I forgot, absolutely having teeth pulled can lead to bone loss in the face and can be very ageing indeed. My mum told me people used to get all their teeth out to save themselves any trouble with them!

Yeah but you could see the difference 20 years ago, before fillers were commonplace.

I haven’t really noticed it from 70s actor photos OP but I think it will be a combo of heavy makeup, stark lighting, sunbathing, smoking and booze.

In earlier generations it will be some of the above but mostly that life was fucking hard and nutrition not that great.

Speaking as a washed out blonde slightly older than you, I have very few wrinkles but I look a lot older after a heavy work period. I know this because people tell me😁

Smoking will be a huge factor. It was ubiquitous when people currently in their late 70s to 80s were young and the proportion of smokers smoking high tar brands without filters was also higher. Even if they didn’t smoke, their workplaces, pubs, cinemas and public transport were full of smoke.

I can usually tell a smoker post aged 40.

Its not just the cat’s bum lines around the mouth, there is an increased loss of elasticity generally.

Yes to far less smoking and far wider use of SPF.

Also perhaps people are a bit fatter. It makes a huge difference to your face if you have a bit of fat to plump everything up!

@DrMarshaFieldstone Perhaps not fatter as not really any of the people I am referencing are overweight but we certainly have never experienced a lack of food which is something my father did growing up very poor and certainly my grandparents generation did. So essentially we have never experienced being hungry or malnourished in our lives and as a result we have less issues with facial volume loss which I think is difficult to recover from once experienced.

I'm 40, I have a friend the same age.

I do no skincare at all. Not even moisturiser, I can't seem to find anything that doesn't bring me out in spots. I use lip balm, sometimes, that's it. I also don't wear makeup. I burn instantly so wear factor 30/50 in summer and cover up in the sun.

I have 11s, and some horizontal forehead lines. And my jaw is not quite as sharp as it was when I was 16! I don't think anyone but me would notice them.

My friend, smokes, drinks heavily (I do not drink, particularly, though used to before DC) and does not wear spf ever. I've no idea if she uses face creams etc.

She honestly looks 60. Shes spent 25 years squinting into the sun and cigarette smoke, and it shows.

Oh, and I have a chronic illness that really badly affected my nutrition for a lot of years, and had to be controlled with immune suppressants so that will have no doubt aged me a bit!

Go back 40/50 years and people weren’t so hot on sun cream. My parents are pale skinned and I would go on a hot holiday, starting on spf 6 moving down to spf 2 at the end of the two weeks. Go back even further and people didn’t use it at all, even use things like cooking oil to perfect their tans.

People also smoked more and even if they didn’t personally, they would often be passive smoking at home or out the house. I also think now, loads of people past a certain age have Botox, fillers and other treatments. People I’ve known for years who seem to be the last people ever to have work done, have had bits and bobs.

More information around skincare, diet, sun care and smoking.

I agree with your general thesis, OP, and with pp that the two biggest factors will be smoking and SPF.

Nevertheless I absolutely guarantee that you know more people with injectables than you think you do.

I think people look after themselves more these days.

Years ago people would think nothing of burning themselves to a crisp in the sun, smoking lots etc.

I also think that when we look at old photos of people they might look aged due to the fashions and hairstyles. I was looking at my mum and dad's wedding photos, they must have both been around 21 when they married. I'm not joking, they look about 40!

I also think mainly spf use and far less smoking