I used to - people often thought my husband was my father - but when I hit forty it all changed. Now twenty years on I definitely look my age.
My sister, though, thought she could pass for 25 at 45. She couldn’t, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her.
Of course she did.
Of course. Nobody wants to be the one to tell her. Every now and then you’ll run across the brutally honest-type who just give it to you straight; but they are few and far between.
LOL, no-everybody gets carded for that. Nice try though.
Thanks to Facebook, I have seen lots of pictures of women my age from high school. I think most of us all look to be about the same age. A few look quite a bit younger, a few a lot older. I think I fall right in the middle, therefore I think I look my age.
I do get people who find out how old I am, saying things like, “Oh, wow, I thought you were younger than that!” when they are younger than me. People older than my never seem to think I look young for my age. I don’t think it’s how I look, really. I think it’s my attitude in life and the fact that I’m actually a fun person to be around and not some stodgy, middle-aged housewife.
About 4 years ago people thought I looked about 8 years younger. Now I usually get thought of as being about 4 years younger. So I’m catching up. Put some weight on the last few years so thats probably some of it. I work with someone I went to high school with. People usually think he is ten years older. But that probably has more to do with him and not me.
I got carded at the pub when I was 30 (legal drinking age here is 18). Not once or twice either. Many times at different establishments. As the regular bouncers got to know me at my local, they thought it was a great joke to show my I.D. to the new guys and watch their jaws drop.
At 32, some customers thought I was a university student.
My 21 year old co-worker was incredulous when she found out I was 34. She kept saying she thought I was about 23. That’s actually the estimate I heard most often at 34.
One of my customers, an older lady I had a great rapport with, tut-tutted and told me I was too young to have a baby when she found out I was pregnant - and again, was astonished to find out I was 34 (and that it was my second baby).
The health nurse commented about me being a “young mum” at my son’s recent checkup. Now I’m over 35, I’d actually be classed “advanced maternal age” if I had another baby.
I think two of my unhealthy lifestyle factors have contributed. I don’t spend a lot of time outdoors and I’m a little chubby. I honestly believe a little extra weight in the face pads out some of the wrinkles and can make you appear younger (although lots of extra weight can make you look older), and I have avoided the sun damage suffered by my fitter, sportier peers with healthier outdoors lifestyles. I can’t discount genes as factor either, as my mum looks younger than her age.
“We have a disproportionately high opinion of ourselves, which is nice. A large majority of the public think they are more fair-minded, less prejudiced, more intelligent and more skilled at driving than the average person, when of course only half of us can be better than the median.” Ben Goldacre, Bad Science
The driving one is easy to test, in my experience, because if you ask people that they’re more likely to give a straight answer than if you ask, “do you think you’re smarter than average,” which is more likely to trigger false modesty. I remember the statistic given back in driver’s training as 7 out of 10 drivers think they’re better than average. Of course, you have to look for a representational group. If your peers all drive for a living, then yeah, they’re probably better than average drivers.
Asking people here, like this, about their self-opinion is going to be biased by self-selection, I think. A reader may be more likely to read and respond to the thread if he or she gets complimented on their appearance. Somebody who looks like shit and knows it may be more likely to skip the thread. I reckon that a more interesting-- if potentially painful-- exercise would be to select people who think they look young and then start a new thread called “Guess my age” complete with poll and pic of the subject holding a recent newspaper.
As for me, I look my age. I may have been a bit of a baby-face in my 20s or 30s, but my hair’s gone grey, I wear reading glasses, and I’ve cultivated a respectable suburban gut. I’m a worse than average driver because I don’t drive. I’m also averagely prejudiced and think fairness is over-rated. However, I am certain that I’m smarter than average-- just like everybody else.
Usually, people seem to think I’m older than I am. But I’m a dude my mid-20s, so the mistake isn’t insulting (yet). If anything, it confers a bit of additional respect. So, in terms of self-flattery, my case still fits the OP.
Well I just thought the anonymity of the internet might spur some otherwise hesitant-to-speak people to divulge their thoughts. But you may be right.
I know I do. All of my adult life people have been surprised to learn my age because I “look ten years younger”; used to drive me nuts, I really got tired of it. I was also blessed with a childishly high pitched voice. I’m 61 now, and for the past few years I reportedly have looked only five years younger.
Both my parents were the same way. Dad rather suddenly began to look his age in his mid 60’s; Mom and her brother still look pretty damn good for mid 80’s.
I think I do look my age, especially since I stopped coloring my hair and there are silver bits among the dark chestnut. Others have tried to pick the glitter out of my hair, and one asked me where I get the “frosted” highlights done (they don’t look like highlights IMO). While I do agree that people guessing someone else’s age are being nice when they guess younger, it’s hard to fake the jaw-drop when they’re really surprised. Still, I think it’s more because others my age maybe just look like hell, and I just don’t look so much like hell.
I’m in my 40s, and I think I look middle-aged, for the most part. However, I don’t have any wrinkles yet (I guess because the sun never touches my face), and I dye the grey out of my hair, so I think that cuts off a few years. My own perception is that I could pass for mid 30s on a good day.
When folks occasionally assume I’m younger, I suspect they do so because I have a goofy sense of humor, rather than a particularly young appearance. I suspect overall attitude has a great effect on one’s appearance. Well, attitude and careful application of makeup.
I don’t know whether I look younger than most women my age, but I know I often get mistaken for much younger; this has happened since I was in my mid-20s.
I spent this past weekend with some people from a club I belong to; one of them asked me how old I was, because the timing I mentioned for some of the stories I told didn’t match the age she was pegging me at. She was off by 10 years. So far the record is held by someone who was off by 12.
Many people don’t look at my neck (where my age does show), only at my face (beauty cream ladies are still trying to sell me the creams intended for “women around 30”; I’m 44). It’s even worse if they realize I have a tiny amount of white hairs among the dark brown. Actually, just the fact that I refuse to go bottle-blonde (as so many of my former classmates have) is enough to take years off.
Do I look at the bottle-blond ones and think “OMG, she looks old!” No, she looks my age. But due to the “women in their 40s are all bottle blonde”, any of us whose hair is dark (even if it’s dyed) match a younger stereotype.
My grandmother is 98. She can easily pass for early 80s, but only with her daughters nearby… both of which are in their 70s and look better than many women in their 50s.
I definitely used to. Life has aged me considerably more in the past 3 years than the 24 that preceded them, though. I’ve got way too many gray hairs for someone on this side of 30! Although I’ve got great skin and no wrinkles to speak of… yet… I’m sure that will change in the next 10 years. My family just does not age gracefully. My aunt and uncle both look at least 15 years older than they are. My mom is a young-looking 50, though.
I’ve seen other posts of yours and…I think I really like you.
When laying out of school, I drank Colt 45. In a can. (Usually at the laudromat.)
I think you’re the one discovering Townes Van Zandt. Try Father John Misty.
And, Ambivilad, why be so ornry when people are trying to “go along?”
I have few wrinkles even tho I’m in my 60s. That’s my two cents.
I’m 58, I have no gray hair (good genetics, not bottle assist) and no appreciable facial wrinkles, altho I’m sure the extra weight I carry is partly responsible. I’m not insane enough to think I look like a young 'un, but I doubt that people think I’m as old as old as I am. Goodness knows, I don’t act it… 
What I find amusing - my husband is 55, and he started going gray a number of years ago. His beard is almost completely white. When we’ve gone out to eat, he’s often been offered a senior discount. That’s payback for him giving me crap about being older. 
I have only been mistaken for someone younger than my age outside of Korea. I think I look like most other 30-year-old Korean women (although my mother did pass on her good skin genes; very nice of her).
When I taught college in the US I was often mistaken for a student (this was about three years ago).
ETA: I have a cousin in college and she REALLY looks like a teenager. My boyfriend was absolutely shocked to see her driving her dad’s car. “She can’t be old enough to have a license?” “She’s 23.”
I think I look younger than most other people my age. Obesity, oily skin and genetics (well, I suppose the first two are genetics as well) work in my favor, despite years as a smoker (ex, now.) Mom tells me that all the women in my dad’s family (whom I take after) look much younger than their years until they turn 50, when they turn into mummies overnight.
You tell me whether or not that’s accurate: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9460062@N07/7202195086/in/photostream
Ok, as for my opinion, I think I’m slowly beginning to catch up. I’m in my early 40s now, and I’m just beginning to get a few small fine lines (between the brows, around the mouth).
You don’t say your age, but I’m going to guess 40-43ish?