I have always looked older than my years. I started going out to night clubs at 14 (and been going ever since!).
I was smoking and drinking at 10. By the time I had quit at 18, I had already aquired quite a bit of ‘character’ to my face. I was always a big girl and was guessed grown at 13 and 14.
Now when I am hanging out with my best friend, who looks 19 but is 34, I am often guessed as her mom.
I look about 10 years younger than my actual age, so I’m told. It’s probably a combination of staying out of the sun, keeping my hair short enough that the gray at my temples doesn’t show and my natural “baby face” from being over weight.
On the other hand, I’m damn good at guessing peoples ages because of my job as a bouncer/doorman and am seldom off by more than a couple years if I take my time about it.
I’m just shy of 41 and am often thought of as being just into my 30’s.
Younger. Always younger. I blame it on my Asian genes!
Kidding aside, non-Asian people are usually shocked to hear my age. Asian people, not so much…
Yeah. I was out for dinner with a friend and his wife (who are in their 40s). The waiter had a conniption when I asked for a lemonade… which happened to be on their booze menu.
I wanted it virgin since I was driving home afterward, and that’s what I got.
A week later, friend tells me that the waiter had thought I was their daughter. Not just their daughter, but their UNDERAGE DAUGHTER. :eek:
I’m 31 this year. :smack:
I tend to get younger, but I think a lot of that is (honestly) being overweight. Makes the aging less obvious. One perk, a thousand downsides. I’m working on it.
That being said, my hair looks 35. The greys are getting thicker and thicker. It’s crappy genetics, though; my grandma was stark white at 30. I’m getting to the point where I really think that I should dye it, but I know that if I start, I can’t stop, because roots look ridiculous. Besides, who the hell am I trying to fool?
I’m 26, FTR. And, for the mindfuck, I started posting here when I was 17.
I’m 43, but people who don’t know that frequently guess that I’m several years younger. Which surprises the hell out of me since I’m a smoker (though not a heavy smoker), and I used to drink like a fish.
And it’s not just older people or people around my own age. When I was in my early 30s I got hit on by a 16-year-old girl who thought I was much younger. Granted, she was aware that I was quite a bit older than her, but she thought I was 25-26.
Though frankly, it surprises the hell out of me because I look in the mirror and think I look my age.
One of my classmates is 29, and a couple years ago she was on a flight with her mom, sitting in the exit row seat. A flight attendant asked them to move because they can’t allow passengers under 14 to operate the emergency exit.
One of my teachers in high school organized ecological/historical exploration trips to the Amazon and Australia. The summer after I graduated, I went with the group to Australia. My 31 year old 8th grade English teacher was on the trip too. At one point we ran into another group of American students, some of whom thought my English teacher and I were married because we argued about stuff. When I told them I was their age, they accused me of messing with them.
Now that I live in a college town, people assume I’m an undergrad. While waiting for a walk signal a few months ago, and older lady asked me if I shopped at the new County Market, because “all the kids shop there.” I’m 27, so I guess one could argue she wasn’t THAT far off.
One last thing: I find it interesting that I seem to get carded more if I have NOT shaved.:dubious:
Starting from age 13 or so, I looked older than I was. By age 15, people wouldn’t believe I was a minor. Haven’t aged muched since then, I guess, since a cousin I saw last fall for the first time in 15 years remarked on how I looked “just the same” and 25-year old female student asked me if I came “straight out of high school” (age 18 here). I’m 32. Generally, people consistently think I’m in my mid-twenties. Not once has anyone not expressed surprise upon hearing my real age.
Genes have nothing to do with it. I have the full spectrum of degenerative, hereditary diseases on both sides of the family, people maturing quick and dying in their 70’s from old age. My father is 60 and looks 75. But I don’t drink or smoke, I eat a very healthy omnivorous diet and excercise regularly.
I’ve been meaning to post a question related to this - it seems to me that there is a link between intelligence (or at least a leaning towards academic or “nerdy” pursuits) and looking younger than your age. I have no idea why this should be the case, though.
I’m regularly thought to be roughly 25 at work, though one lady recently told me that I looked like I was just out of high school :dubious:
I’ll be 32 next month.
I have always looked older than my actual age until recently. Now when I ask for senior discounts, I have to show ID.
The world is just wrong…
People are routinely shocked when I tell them I’m 20, since I apparently look 16/17. My brother gets mistaken for early-to-mid-20’s pretty often, when he’s actually 33.
I’ll be 24 in a couple weeks and I could easily pass for 16-17. I know I’ll appreciate it when I’m 35 and look 25 but it does make things difficult at work. Customers that come into our showroom often assume I’m the owner’s kid. Some of them look around like they’re expecting someone else to assist them - like I’m just a receptionist. I’ve had a few male customers that were just plain rude - asking to talk to a salesman and treating me like the only thing I know is how to do is file my nails.
well, 43 looks about right to me… but don’t be offended, that’s a good age!
The cops I talked to tonight were amazed that I was 40. They were younger, too, so they should have an accurate idea. Very flattering, except when one said that when he thought of 40 it was like his mom’s age.
I think I look pretty close to my age, but this is not an isolated incident.
I’ve told this story several times on this board, but I’ll tell it again cuz it still makes me chuckle.
I was at Safeco Field in Seattle, attending a Mariners/Yankees game with my younger sister. I spotted a pair of attractive young Japanese women in the aisle who were talking to a vendor. My sister caught me ogling and gave me a sharp elbow to my ribs along with a hissed, “They’re thirteen!!”
I informed her that Japanese women often look 13-14 well into their 20s. She didn’t believe me until, a few minutes later, the pair of lovelies walked past us on their way back to their seats, carrying the beers they’d just purchased from the vendor 
The last time I got carded I was 36.
And yes I realize lots of places card just about everyone but I have a fairly good idea about the tone of the difference. I’ve been on both sides.
And to be just a bit tangential my mom and I were in fact misaken for sisters. Don’t know if that was a compliment for mom or something depressing for me but as the grocery store clerk didn’t seem interested in picking up either one of us I think she was sincere.
Mom is 62 and could pass for 50 even in a good light. We have good genes.