# People sure do age differently. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 4, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035 "2013-03-04T19:27:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/21 "2013-03-05T02:23:44Z")
> [@jools](#): > > Yeah I have that gene also and I’m very happy about it, but at the same time I’m worried that it might catch up with me one of these days. > > We people mention how I don’t look my age, I always “blame” my weight as I’m keeping my wrinkles filled up so they’re not as visible! 🙂 Jools, you look at least 10, possibly 15 years younger than your real age. Must be the Stella! ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/22 "2013-03-05T02:32:51Z")
People always guess my age correctly but tell me I look young for my age.😕 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/23 "2013-03-05T03:49:14Z")
Just For Men (in Just Five Minutes) takes 20 years off my apparent age. My hair has turned snow white. At least I still have hair. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/24 "2013-03-05T03:58:27Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > People always guess my age correctly but tell me I look young for my age.😕 That’s called “being polite”. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/25 "2013-03-05T04:42:20Z")
When I was a kid, 40 year olds looked quite a particular way, and that’s what I associate that age with in my head. Most people I see at that age do look considerably younger now than I remember them doing when I was young. Except for me. I’ve been going grey since I was 20, and going bald since I was 30, and just lately have started putting on weight. I look precisely the age I am, 43, as measured by my childhood memories. And it sucks. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/26 "2013-03-05T05:23:12Z")
People age at different rates, for sure. When I moved to Chicago, I was 23. My supervisor was known for being taciturn, but he and I got along well and chatted all the time. He was heavy-set, wore old-school black frame glasses, hair was going to gray. My team asked once how come we got along so well and their jaws dropped when I said we’d graduated high school together! He truly looked 40-something already. It did explain to everyone why his wife was so young - they were actually the same age. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/27 "2013-03-05T10:16:25Z")
Yes, they certainly do, which is why I’d never want plastic surgery. I want to know what I’d look like _really!_ I’m fat and old but unwrinkled & ungray enough that people sometimes ask me my age, like How do you do it? I think most of my “battle scars” are on the inside, even though today at Lowe’s my younger son asked me if I wanted to use one of those basket scooters. I told him I was too young and good-looking for that. (Though it would have helped.) FWIW The first time I noticed ageing was in my feet, when I was seventeen. They’d started getting wrinkly. I think it works it’s way up. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/28 "2013-03-05T10:29:43Z")
I think I’m okay with looking my age or older. I have a friend in her twenties who looks like she’s about 12. It really held her back when she was looking for jobs because nobody believed that she had the experience she (rightly) claimed to have. I look forward to having wrinkles when I’m old, though I have to admit, my ancestors aren’t an especially wrinkly people. Some check-out employee called me ‘‘Miss’’ the other day. Miss! It’s been so long… ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/29 "2013-03-05T11:38:20Z")
As much as everyone likes to think they’re at their best when they are young, I think some faces and bodies don’t suit us until we’ve added some years. A friend of mine has known me since our mid-20s and she always talks about the spike in interest about me among her friends when we got into our 30s, and looking at old pics I seemed to finally conquer my gawkiness by then. I haven’t seen the friend mentioned above since the early 90s when he and his wife moved away. I often wonder if, now that we’re actually _in_ our 40s, he looks the same and if people think he looks younger simply because he hasn’t changed in all these years. ETA: Holy crap, I Googled him and found, of all things, a mugshot. He looks disgruntled (he was kept overnight in FL for something) but otherwise the same as when we were in our 20s. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/30 "2013-03-05T11:48:47Z")
Someone on the phone told me I sound 26. What does 26 sound like? And how does it differ from 25 or 27? 26 was weirdly specific 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/31 "2013-03-05T12:59:07Z")
My dad suffers from a curse - for much of his life, he looked almost identical to Richard Gere. Not much of a curse, you may think, except for two things: (1) people won’t shut up about it, and (2) my dad fucking hates Richard Gere. Now, Gere and my dad are the same age, so for a long time they aged at basically the same rate. Dad’s taller and bigger around the shoulders (and admittedly, also around the midsection), but for most of their adult lives they could have passed as twins. Until the Oscars last week, when I saw Gere come onstage as part of a Chicago cast reunion. I called my dad the following day. Me: Hey, Dad - I saw Richard Gere last night on the Oscars. Dad: Yeah? Me: He looks at least 10 years older than you. Maybe 15. Dad: I love you so much. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/32 "2013-03-05T13:46:18Z")
Genetics plays a role, but it’s not the only thing. Eating properly, getting enough rest, and not abusing your body with excessive alcohol, smoking, etc. helps anyone look younger. Not frying yourself under UV rays helps. That said, sometimes it’s bad life experience - severe illness, accident, some sort of extended trauma, and the like can add years. My spouse looks much older than me, and I can’t help but think his medical problems are a factor there. People often mistake me for being 10-15 years younger than I am. No grey hair (yet) and lack of extensive wrinkling account for some of that. Keeping somewhat fit so I don’t walk like an old lady helps. But I do have minor arthritis and sometimes it shows, I don’t get down and up off the floor as easily as I used to (but I still do it, because if you don’t use it you really do lose it). My dad up until recently could pass for 20 years young - lack of grey hair again - but recently his appearance has started to catch up with his age (still looks 70’s rather than 80’s though). It’s not that we all have baby faces, it’s just that we seem to hold up better than average. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/33 "2013-03-05T13:58:13Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > I’m turning 40 this month. Last night I was at Ikea and had to grab a handcart to pick up some shelving. Did you know how smooth those rights are? After a couple kicks I sailed from one end of the warehouse to the other. Apparently I got a dirty look from someone in their 50s who thought that my behavior wasn’t appropriate. (Hey, no one was near my line of transgress.) Age is really just a number and isn’t indicative of much. Yeah, I turned 40 in September, and people give me the strangest looks in the grocery parking lot when I ride the carts downhill to the cart corral or my vehicle. I apparently got the “ages gracefully” gene- I don’t look like I’m in my 20s anymore (had that problem from about 16 through about 35), but I don’t look nearly so chewed up and spit out as some other 40 year olds I’ve seen. I have some mild crow’s feet, and a very few gray hairs, but other than that, I have the majority of my hair, and from more than about a foot or two away, it looks uniformly brown. My dad was much like me; he’s the same age to the day as Tom Selleck, except that somewhere in his late 50s, his hair turned white, and he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Now, he seems to be a particularly decrepit 68, although I suppose white hair and mobility issues at 68 aren’t really that rare when I think about it. ---
**Author:** ![BottledBlondJeanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/0ea827/32.png) [@BottledBlondJeanie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BottledBlondJeanie)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/34 "2013-03-05T13:59:12Z")
Don’t most people think they look younger than they are? Certainly, I believe I do, but I’m not sure it’s true. Oily, pale non-sundamaged skin and Retin A help with any wrinkling, and I’m not embarrassed that I get a teeny bit of botox between the brows every 8 months or so. Originally got my insurance to pay for it to help with migraines, but now it’s just cosmetic. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/35 "2013-03-05T14:07:06Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > Not a lot you can do about gray hair and balding, but there is plenty you can do about keeping your skin young looking. For example, don’t smoke, don’t suntan, maintain a stable weight… Egads, I would look 12! ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/36 "2013-03-05T14:14:29Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > Ugh shut up all you young lookers. I got my first wrinkle when I was about 20 ☹ I started smoking cigarettes at about 9, so it goes without saying that I have always looked older than my age. I quit at 18, but too late. I thought I had to have misheard him. When I was 24, I was at a corner store and gave the cashier a fake 10 dollar bill (I didn’t know, long story). He called the police, and as I stood there I heard him tell the police in his thick Arabic accent, “Yes, yes, she is right here. Yes, black female, about 40, 45 years old.” I was only 24! He guessed me nearly twice my age! And people have been guessing me as my best friend’s mom all our lives. She looks especially young, though. I don’t know…between the smoking and drinking in my youth, always carrying extra weight and spending tons of time in the sun, acne, bad teeth…sigh. I look every year of my 38 and then some. On the upside, I \*feel \*young and free and happy. So there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/37 "2013-03-05T14:20:07Z")
I think easily the hardest part of being so blessed is partnering. It was for me anyway! It was totally humiliating when I was 19 and 15yr olds were trying to chat me up. Or 26 and the only boys wanting to pursue you are in their teens. An older man? Yeah, good luck with that! As mentioned up thread, my husband has been mistaken for my Dad on more than one occasion. I found it extremely annoying when I was young and dating. Not so much now that I am in my 50’s. and if they are not shocked to learn my age, they are stunned to find out I have a child about to turn 40! That always shuts them up, you can almost see them doing the math in their heads!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/38 "2013-03-05T14:22:32Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I think easily the hardest part of being so blessed is partnering. It was for me anyway! It was totally humiliating when I was 19 and 15yr olds were trying to chat me up. Or 26 and the only boys wanting to pursue you are in their teens. An older man? Yeah, good luck with that! My sister in law has this problem and it cracks me up. We go to the store, and all the lil’ thugs on the corner try to hit on her like she’s a young girl. She’s a 48 year old pastor’s wife. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/39 "2013-03-05T14:28:44Z")
I’m 54, and still don’t need reading glasses. Have the same weight I had in my twenties. I get around every bit as good as I did in my twenties, with no pains or arthritis of any kind. I’ve got quite a bit of gray hair though, and it has thinned some. Not much in the way of wrinkles, and of course you have to be careful with compliments, because like another said, most are just being polite. Honestly, I feel better than I look, and probably could only pass for somebody in their mid to upper forties. The only thing I have ever had was acid reflux which bothered me for 22 years of my life, but during the last 13 months, that has gone into remission, thank goodness. I’ve never been in more perfect health. Just never cared for smoking, did very little drinking, I do plenty of running, try to eat the right foods, and get into building projects for fun to keep me busy since my regular job only keeps me busy about 12 hours or so out of the month, but gives me plenty of income. I’ve been very, very lucky thus far. As another said, I feel young and happy too, that means a lot more to me than looking young even. ---
**Author:** ![jools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@jools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jools)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035/40 "2013-03-05T14:55:46Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Jools, you look at least 10, possibly 15 years younger than your real age. Must be the Stella! Thank you very much **Leaffan** yeah could be the Stella or the Guinness or maybe even the vodka 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-sure-do-age-differently/652035.md?page=3)