Kind of a lame thread, but… As the title reads, I’ve got some questions about wrinkles. I ask because my mom was visiting this weekend and kept smoothing my brow whenever I’d frown, saying, “overly, you’ve already got laugh lines. Do you want frown lines, too? You’ll have to get Botox before you’re 40! You’d better watch it or your husband will think he married a pug.” She’s been saying this or some variation of it to me since I can remember. Same for my grandmother and my sister - my family (largely women) all seem to be obsessed with wrinkles and how to avoid them.
So, here are my questions:
If you’ve got wrinkles, does it bother you? And if so, why?
When did you first get wrinkles?
What’s your age now?
Do wrinkles on the opposite sex bother you or do you even notice them?
If wrinkles on yourself don’t bother you, are there any cosmetic signs of age that you think would?
Here are my answers:
It sounds terribly Pollyanna-ish, but I like my laugh lines, dammit. Having them means I’ve laughed enough to stamp it into my face. And the teeny little lines I’m developing around my eyes are mostly from squinting into the sun, which means a) I’ve spent a lot of time outside and b) I should probably wear sunglasses more often, which I do. I’m starting to get little frown lines, too, but I don’t notice them unless I’m looking for them.
I started noticing wrinkles developing when I turned 31.
I’m 33.
Wrinkles on men don’t bother me at all. My husband has some, though he’s far darker than I am, so they’re less noticeable. Either way, I don’t mind, and I seriously doubt I will when he gets older and gets more of them.
I think what would bother me far more than getting wrinkles is getting spider and varicose veins. Women in my family tend to have lumpy, bumpy legs from their veins, something I’m vain (heh) enough to want to avoid, though I doubt I’ll be able to for long. But I’m sure my opinion might change as I get older.
I’ve noticed in the last six months or so I have laugh lines around my eyes (I’m 42) I told Ivylad I wasn’t going to smile anymore because it showed my wrinkles. He quite rightly rolled his eyes at me.
I think it’s a part of aging gracefully. Take care of your skin, use moisturizer at night, and enjoy life. And tell your mom to back the hell off. Unless she wants to pay for your Botox, she can keep her opinions to herself.
Are there actually people out there who honestly and for real try to arrange their faces so as not to get wrinkly someday? overly, I know she’s your mom and she loves you and junk, but fer feck’s sake, just laugh and frown and squint and make faces and don’t give it another thought.
The only thing that bothers me about the lines on my face is when a zit plops itself right on one. Seriously, once you’ve got wrinkles, shouldn’t you get a free pass from acne?
I may be biased, because the women in my family (including me) do not look our age. We look younger. I’m 55 and look to be early to mid 40’s. However, yes, I do have lines and do not mind at all. I believe in growing old(er) gracefully. I don’t have any interest in botox (which is a poison) or a face lift which … well, just look at Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers, who have both had way too many of them. I fail to understand this insane desire to always look young.
With age, theoretically, comes wisdom, it’s said. Well, then, my wisdom tells me to embrace my wrinkles, and my non-perky breasts and all the other flaws that make me, me.
Thankfully, mom never told me not to frown or whatever. I don’t know about telling her to piss off, I always let whomever “advise” me and then did what was right for me. Still do, actually.
I’m 50 and don’t show any wrinkles yet. I don’t think they’ll bother me but we’ll see. Since I was old enough to be attracted to women I’ve thought that wrinkles are very sexy.
I just turned 43 and am just starting to get the parentheses around my mouth. Because of a car accident when I was young that severed many of the nerves in my forehead and chin, I don’t have wrinkles in those areas. Also no laugh lines yet. I do have a line between my eyebrows that was predetermined early in my childhood by my constantly furrowing them into what my dad used to call the thinking dimple.
I don’t mind wrinkles on men. Good thing since the boyfriend is quite crinkley, though oddly only on his face. His body is freakishly smooth and hairless. He’s like a weird Kramer / Seinfeld combo!
I will soon be 79 and have no wrinkles(unless I laugh). To me wrinkles mean you have lived long enought to have them, same as grey hair, I am glad I didn’t die at 24 when I had no grey hairs or wrinkles. It is said when the brain learns new things a new wrinkle is added (and maybe the face shows the wisdom as well) looks like I have a lot to learn yet!
The frown line kind’a bothers me because dagnabit, it makes me look like I’m kind’a frowning even when I’m not Not much else in the way of wrinkles in the house, although my cheeks are starting to droop like my paternal grandma’s did (mine did it when I was little too); my maternals took a long time to get wrinkly but I remember Abuelita as having had a web of wrinkles except on her cheekbones since I was little (looking at pics, the kind of look I remember had taken hold when she was about 50). The wrinkles on my neck don’t bother me.
Late 30s
41
I do notice them but they don’t bother me. Mind you, I’ve been known to find a facial burn scar absolutely fascinating…
Well, I imagine I’m going to howl like a banshee when I start needing reading glasses - but these decades glass-less (thanks to Lasik) have still been a blessing. Oh, and I do my best (within being a couch potato) to avoid growing to my mother’s size.
In general I think of wrinkles as being sort of like a tree’s rings, a sign that you’ve lived.
I’m 64, and the only wrinkles I have are two “frown” lines that I’ve had since my mid-30s. Aside from people thinking I’m angry or upset, I don’t mind them.
I see people in their late 40s who look older than I do . . . more wrinkles and grayer hair. People generally think I’m 10-15 years younger than I am.
You should tell her that I think she is a harridan and will soon be telling your husband about them and then demanding to know why he stays with you. She is playing out her own stupid fears at your expense. Said from experience with a harridan mother in law.
I know, right? There are tons of commercials with some celebrity or another telling us how we must fight fine lines and under-eye crepe-ing or whatever with some magical potion or another.
I’m like “under eye crepe-ing? I’m still using Stridex for god’s sake!”
I’m 38. I’ve recently noticed a crease at the top of my nose. I like it.
Eh. I come from a family of look-young-ers, and other than the frownie lines between the brows which I’ve always had,and a deeper nasal labial fold (from the nose to the corner of the mouth), I’m pretty wrinkle free, if you don’t look too close. The texture of one’s skin changes with age, of course, it gets crepey and looser. But I say if you moisturize, wear subtle flattering makeup, have nice hair, and SMILE, you can still live a fullfilling life! I’m 50 something. The one thing that really bothers me is the crepey looseness under the chin - turkey neck is starting!
Feh, I’m 52 and I spackle on wrinkle cream every day. My crows feet and laugh lines don’t bother me much (due to the wrinkle cream); what does bug me is the turkey neck. I slather potions and salves on my neck area to no avail. I didn’t realize how much the turkey neck bothered me until I saw PAID PROGRAMMING that spoke to me. “Just buy this widjet; olden woman; and go to town on the up and down motions with it! It works wonders!”
I then realized that the women demonstrating the widjet looked like they were senior hookers-in-training. Anyone else see this infomercial?
I have just decided to age naturally, without all the Blow-Job-Jane-Fonda-Workouts.
Not much else in the way of wrinkles in the house, although my cheeks are starting to droop like my paternal grandma’s did (mine did it when I was little too); my maternals took a long time to get wrinkly but I remember Abuelita as having had a web of wrinkles except on her cheekbones since I was little (looking at pics, the kind of look I remember had taken hold when she was about 50). The wrinkles on my neck don’t bother me.