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.

It’s all down to your genes.

I am 68 and look much younger. I’ve never been overweight and for most of my adult life I weighed 7stone 3pounds, or less. My friends were the same. We were very slim compared to today’s population. That was the norm. We didn’t all smoke, far from it. We didn’t eat processed foods and certainly didn’t have takeaways, etc.

That said I don’t know why why the OP thinks people in photos of the 70’s/80’s look older than today. I wonder if fashions and makeup in the 70’s do make younger people think people looked older then. Trust me… they didn’t.

I dressed in Biba clothes and used their makeup… the fashions were great then.

of course some people appear old. I have a couple of friends who have always looked ‘old’ and unsurprisingly their outlook is old too. I don’t feel my age and dress in the way that I wish… certainly haven’t developed an older woman style.

I think having a hard life really does age you. Some of the people I was at school with and stayed in our home town where work is very hard to find and there's a lot of poverty, honestly I'd put them in their 50s now (not 30s) if I didn't know otherwise. People's lives were generally harder in a lot of ways in the early and mid 20th century.

I wonder if more ethnic diversity is contributing too - more of us now will have one or more parents, grandparents, or great grandparents who aren't white and I think that can make a difference with ageing.

I think aging can accelerate quickly. I just saw a picture of myself this time last year. I looked great. I’d had a baby, lived through COVID, gone back to work, lost the baby weight.

Now, I’m peri-menopausal, whacked the weight back on, got through a marriage crisis, averted divorce (for now), had a health scare. And now I look & feel fucking terrible. I’m 47.

I would say a shift away from manufacturing and industrial/ manual labour towards more office based, tertiary sector jobs is probably a factor.

Botox and more flattering camera filters. Even if you don't use filters you'll delete pics where you look old and only keep or share pics where flattering light makes you look good- 70s ladies couldn't edit which photos were made public of them

womans lib

women no longer all grow up poisoning their skin plastering it in "beauty products". It is no longer universally expected, and the damage they do is more recognised

Inside jobs as well as better sunscreen

The use of SPF

• Better diet
• Lower rates of smoking
• Sunbathing isn’t as popular
• Increased use of SPF and higher SPF ratings (plus better quality SPF filters)
• Better skincare technology like retinol (proven to reduce photoaging)
• Cosmetic procedures like Botox, fillers, laser etc

I think people nowadays look much younger. I don’t think it’s necessarily that their skin is better.
I was watching a documentary from the 60s and they interviewed a woman who was mid 40s at most, but dressed like she was 70 and wore awful glasses. She had completely wrinkle free and lovely skin. But just looked really old so you didn’t notice it.

People are indoors more

Better diet (?)

I do think fewer people have harder lives these days

Higher body weight on average must have an effect too- thinner people look more wrinkled.

That’s a good point, hair and fashion much younger. Health is much better too so a 40 year old now looks and is perceived very differently to a 40 year old in 1950.

Also we have better access to fruit and vegetables. Again, as a child we didn't have berries and nectarines type of fruit to hand. We were lucky to have an apple or maybe a banana every now and then

^^

Fair enough, but if you were having plenty of veg as a child then you don't need berries and bananas

Agree with everyone else:
More use of SPF/less oil (!)
Old photos are bad quality, often faded and yellowed and not as clear/in focus
Less smoking (#1)
Better diets
Latterly (especially with social media) people are by and large more obsessed with their appearance and appearing young, eg ring lights for online meetings
Better skincare ingredients, more options available and access to skincare info

Smoking. Which far fewer people do nowadays, whatever Sunak thinks!

I was a child in the fifties and we had excellent access to fruit and vegetables, because greengrocers were everywhere. We had fruit every day - apples, bananas and citrus in winter and berries, apricots, plums, peaches, grapes in season; strawberries and raspberries from our garden, as well as fruit farms and shops.
It won't have been true for people living in extreme poverty, but I would say that most people had a reasonably healthy diet of fresh food without additives.
I think skin care has improved, but I am not convinced that the people I see now look very different from the people I saw 60+ years ago, apart from the fact that now they are much larger!

While cigarette smoke is going to be a massive factor (and those who didn’t smoke would work in smoke filled offices and drink in smoky pubs etc), there’s also other air pollutants. More people have real fires with the muck from that in the household air. Car and factory air pollution was much more normal. I remember my mum talking about going to Stockport and seeing the black town hall being cleaned and her friends all being shocked at its white colour. https://images.app.goo.gl/oRGTyAum7urGqt6r5

The “pea soupers” of London etc. it was normal for most people to grown up breathing dirty air.

People are fatter. I gained 2 stone and my crows feet have disappeared 😂 .

Maybe less outdoor work?
My mum is one of 3 sisters. The one 1 year younger died aged 63. Alcohol and cigarettes. The one 3 years younger heavy smoker and too thin looks in her 70s whereas my mum who has never smoked and looked after herself looks at least 5 to 8 years younger.

No wrinkles in a balloon as my dad says.

Sunscreen awareness, not smoking and generally more advanced skincare. I also agree with a PP that lots have botox and filler. Even if you dabbled with botox earlier on in life, but not now I think you might still have an advantage.

Smoking for sure

I also think hairstyles can be massively aging. I know you're talking specifically about skin but my Nan at 52 had the hair in curlers, set every week and thick glasses - the overall look was so old. 52 year olds now look like that generation at 40 - skincare/sun/smoking/makeup quality and application, all improved, and they look so much younger all round.

Even those who don’t aim to wear moisturiser, if they put on SPF regularly that often contains moisturiser.

My point is that I specifically notice their skin is better than in the past hair, dress etc aside.