# How does one look young? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 4, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377 "2012-08-04T02:14:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/1 "2012-08-04T02:14:51Z")
Sly Stallone. Arnold (to an extent). Chuck Norris (to a huge extent). How exactly does one look so young in his or her 60s, or 70s, in Norris’ case? Don’t tell me Photoshop :dubious:. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/2 "2012-08-04T02:16:44Z")
Good choice of parents. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/3 "2012-08-04T02:17:21Z")
Drugs. Human growth hormone, to be specific (there are probably others as well but this is the only one I know of that any of those celebs publicly admits to). ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/4 "2012-08-04T02:19:04Z")
(a) Choose a profession in which health and good looks will get you paid. (b) Hire a nutritionist and exercise coach. © Profit! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/5 "2012-08-04T02:20:14Z")
Since I doubt there’s a definitive answer to this, let’s move this over to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/6 "2012-08-04T02:24:05Z")
Their is a definitive answer to this. Do things that keep your levels of endorfins at an elevated level. Some of the methods for doing this can be a bit weird but it works. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/7 "2012-08-04T02:25:14Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Good choice of parents. This counts for a lot. Both of my parents looked much younger than their ages, and so do my brother and I. Of course, we also inherited diabetes, defective heart valves, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, bad teeth, cataracts, knee problems, chronic depression and a tendency to being overweight . . . but at least we look young. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/8 "2012-08-04T02:28:17Z")
Hair dye takes off about 20 years. I dunno if I would consider them “young-looking” though. Their faces look surgically stretched and unnatural, like a wax statue at Toussads. One thing I did notice though is that I often notice a person’s age when their neck tendons start sticking out, and I don’t know how those stars you mention hide those. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/9 "2012-08-04T02:31:41Z")
Plastic surgery. Makeup. Lots of exercise. Botox. Chemical peels. Wigs, weaves, and toupees. Selective camera angles. Vaseline on the lens. They look awful without that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/10 "2012-08-04T02:48:09Z")
Apart from the stars listed above, I know a person in real life. He’s 62. A year ago, I would have believed it if he told me he were in his mid-30s. This is someone I regularly interact with. Even up close, I wouldn’t have blinked an eye if he told me he were 34. I say a year ago because only recently did I see his college diploma with the digits 1972 stamped upon it. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/11 "2012-08-04T02:48:46Z")
I think plenty of sleep included with the other things mentioned… But I dont think those people look young “off camera.” Sly looks like a plastic surgery disaster. Arnold does indeed look his age. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/12 "2012-08-04T03:08:43Z")
Not losing your hair or getting fat goes a long way. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/13 "2012-08-04T03:12:29Z")
I am almost thirty years old and a father, yet if I shave closely and don’t watch my hair and clothes I can easily be mistaken for a high school student. Looking young is a curse! ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/14 "2012-08-04T04:08:13Z")
> [@grude](#): > > I am almost thirty years old and a father, yet if I shave closely and don’t watch my hair and clothes I can easily be mistaken for a high school student. > > Looking young is a curse! Why? How, in any way, does the former prove the latter? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/15 "2012-08-04T04:10:27Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Why? How, in any way, does the former prove the latter? 😕 He’s either being sarcastic, or he doesn’t like being treated like a teenager. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/16 "2012-08-04T04:18:03Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > he doesn’t like being treated like a teenager. Thats it. I get people telling me in a sympathetic tone all the time oh well just wait, when you’re fifty you’ll like looking 25 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/17 "2012-08-04T04:27:25Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > He’s either being sarcastic, or he doesn’t like being treated like a teenager. nm ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/18 "2012-08-04T06:57:43Z")
It just helps to BE young, while you still can. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/19 "2012-08-04T12:32:43Z")
> [@IceQube](#): > > Apart from the stars listed above, I know a person in real life. He’s 62. > > A year ago, I would have believed it if he told me he were in his mid-30s. > > This is someone I regularly interact with. Even up close, I wouldn’t have blinked an eye if he told me he were 34. > > I say a year ago because only recently did I see his college diploma with the digits 1972 stamped upon it. Approaching my 50th birthday, I asked various coworkers and students to guess my age. I got various figures between early 40’s and late 20’s. One key for me is religiously using sunscreen while out in the sun, tho I also have the genes on my side too apparently (grandmother and great-grandmother on my birth mother’s side both lived to 99-former died 2 months ago in fact-and my birth mother herself looks fantastic for a woman in her early 70’s). Clean living also helps I’d guess. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377/20 "2012-08-04T14:41:31Z")
Genes, having good skin, dying hair, and especially for men, keeping body fat low (which if done over a lifetime, keeps skin tighter, especially on the face). Dermatological and surgical procedures which are totally affordable for the famous can do just as much as having good genes and skin. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-look-young/630377.md?page=2)