First and foremost, this is not an ego or a vanity thread. I make no secret of my age and I expect some who read this already know how old I am. Never in my life have I lied about my age (OK, not since I could no longer pass for young enough to get a child’s ticket to the movies.) And when asked, I don’t play the “How old do you think I am?” game…
But based on some things that have happened to me in recent years, I’m really curious to know how old I look to others. So if you could respond with your age as well as your estimate of my age based on the photos alone, I would appreciate it. A range rather than a specific number would be OK, as long as the range isn’t “somewhere between 22 and death” - while accurate, it’s not of much value.
The reason I ask for your age is to see if that colors one’s perceptions - do teens routinely see me as lots older while folks closer to my age have more accurate guesses?
There are two photos here, taken a few weeks ago at my niece’s wedding. FWIW, I don’t color my hair and I don’t wear makeup (which should be obvious from the photos.)
And please make your guess before reading this: I was born January 1954 - making me 61.
sandra_nz, the dress is part of what prompted this thread. (It came from Dress Barn.)
My husband is nearly 3 years younger than I am, but his beard is nearly white and what hair remains on his head is more gray than brown. For years, he’s been automatically given a senior discount at certain restaurants, but I’ve never been offered one. However, when I was buying the dress in the pic, the clerk asked about my age and said that the particular day I was shopping was Senior Discount Day, and I got an extra 10% off!
I don’t know if it’s because I look so youthful <snerk> or because so many women seem to get their panties in a knot about being asked their age, but it’s never been brought up to me before. I really need to remember to ask about discounts from now on. Some places give them for 55+, some 60+, and most of the rest are 65+ but you have to ask. There’s the catch - remembering.
**Essured **- I’m awful at guessing ages also. Even looking back at photos from my younger days or of my daughter growing up, unless there’s a clue in the pic, I can’t say with certainty how old any of the photo subjects are.
So most people are within a decade and no one has gone over. I guess good, clean living has paid off. And genetics… I wonder if I’d used photos where I wasn’t smiling if it would have affected the guesses. Hmmmmm, another experiment for another time.
I look back at old family pics, and I see my mom and my maternal grandmother both went gray and were somewhat wrinkled in their 40s, whereas my dad hardly had any gray or lines when he died at 72, and his mother, while her hair was very thin (like mine) doesn’t appear to have had much gray either (hard to tell in B&W photos.)
I find that people, when guessing the age of someone over 25, tend to guess younger than the person’s actual age, because they don’t want to sound unflattering by accidentally guessing older. I find that when people guess my age, they tend to go younger than I actually am (and I’m only 30.)
I myself am terrible at guessing ages, so I almost never do it.
And genetics… I wonder if I’d used photos where I wasn’t smiling if it would have affected the guesses. Hmmmmm, another experiment for another time.