Those Younger...
Posted by TheGriff71@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 63 comments
I was born the beginning of 71. I've been noticing a lot lately that there are more then expected younger folks that actually look older then I do. I find this odd. I know, I know. It was the hose water, yadda yadda. I always thought I looked my age. I'm not fully gray. My beard is about 70% and my hair is maybe 40%.
Has anyone else noticed this too?
Strong_Medium_6646@reddit
Nearly 61 and someone thought I was in my mid 40s last week, but I feel like I look around 50 in reality.
IKnowAllSeven@reddit
Why is Reddit full of old people who look young?
Empty-Relation-3284@reddit
I guarantee you look older than you think you do. I get it, though, it’s weird to be the same age as old people.
troisarbres@reddit
At 48 I was carded buying a pack of smokes for my boyfriend (he's since quit).
'76 and have a little grey in my light brown hair but my hairdresser said it looks like highlights!
MaximumJones@reddit
Reality check, when people tell you that you look "so much younger" they are flat out lying to try to be polite to you.
Do_U_Scratch@reddit
53 born in ‘73 my full head of hair has no grey. There’s some salt n peppering on my chin but most of my beard matches my hair.
I remember when my parents hit their 50s and they seemed so much older than the guy looking back at me in the mirror every day. Maybe we came up in ways that generally prevent unnecessary worrying? I certainly feel significantly younger than the number on my drivers license.
Mama_Dumpling@reddit
We, unfortunately, have had our aging stunted by the chemicals we were exposed to. Lead, asbestos, CFCs, mercury, DDT, agent orange, plastics, creepy chemicals in cigarettes. I am joking but really we are lucky to be alive.
TheGriff71@reddit (OP)
You're not wrong at all! And maybe it was the weird combination of those chemicals that has done it. They'll dig us up in 200 years and find we still look the same.
WillDupage@reddit
I get what you’re saying. I’m a ‘71 baby myself and I don’t kid myself: I look my age. (I like to think “well maintained and in decent shape with a full head of hair”.) One of my coworkers was talking to me a few weeks ago and we’ve each thought we were the same age but for different reasons. It turns out he’s 8 years younger. To me, he looks a rough mid 50s: bald, overweight VanHalen fan. He thought I was his age or younger because I’ve been in this industry 20 years. He was surprised to find out I had a decade+ career in a completely unrelated field and did the math and figured out I’m older. It’s not that I look 46, it’s really that he looks 54.
TheGriff71@reddit (OP)
That's what I'm saying. I think I look my age. But younger people, not all, seem to look older then expected. I know genetics and all that, but even so.
Solid-Bee-1613@reddit
51f , someone last week said how old are you 38? Lol, told them not even close but thank you. 😆
ablebody_95@reddit
I was born in 80 and there was a dude at the store that looked like he was easily in his late 50s. He was buying some NyQuil which requires an ID. Clerk could see he was of age so just asked him for his birthdate. . . July 1985. Dude was 5 years younger than me.
TheGriff71@reddit (OP)
Yeah, it's that kind of surprise. It's not always. When it does happen, I'm always stunned.
SparksWood71@reddit
One thing I have learned is pretty universal as people age, is that everyone thinks they look younger than they do.
TheGriff71@reddit (OP)
I agree. I work with a fella, tall, thin, bald and a white beard. By his look I'd have put him in his early 60s. He's 2 weeks younger then me. I didn't say it, but I was very surprised.
Antique-Brilliant535@reddit
People older than you might say you look young, but younger people never do.
xamott@reddit
Meh, on this thread, on this sub, that’s a sideways insult
SparksWood71@reddit
Nevertheless
Moontoya@reddit
My colleagues in their 20s guesstimated my age to be late 30s early 40s
hatched n escaped in '74 - my fathers pushing 80 and still has a full head of hair tahts only now more grey than black or white (beards all white now - my grandfather had a full head of hair when he died at 83.
genetics is weiiiiird
blackpony04@reddit
With hair, I am a clone of my grandfather. When he passed at nearly 88, he had the greatest mop of bright white hair. I lost my Dad at 60, but I currently look just like he did at my age, so I'm sure he would have had the same hair as my dad.
Adventurous_Bad_3421@reddit
Everyone thinks they look younger than they actually do to other people. The old trope of someone showing up to their high school reunion and balking at how old everyone looks exists for a reason. You still see the younger version of yourself in the mirror. But you still notice how much everyone else is aging.
TheGriff71@reddit (OP)
I would have agreed with that even 10 years ago. Now. The lines show the years.
Fast-Benders@reddit
I think I look my age, but younger people look older to me than their age. I’ve seen some Gen Z look like 40. It’s not just genetics. Something environmental is going on.
blackpony04@reddit
I'm nearly 56 and have been told I can pass for early 40s. But I have a baby face that haunted me in my youth until I had a glow up in my 40s. I also was very blessed with a full head of hair that still has very little gray in it. It probably also helps that I never smoked, rarely drink, and still avoid the sun like the plague.
My 5 year younger wife jokingly makes me keep a stubble beard that is mostly gray now just so I don't look younger than her.
House_Junkie@reddit
1976 here. Half my beard is grey when I grow it out and all the hair on both sides of my head is white/grey. Luckily, I keep the sides short and blended and still shave every day in the military so dont look too bad :)
brownmtn@reddit
I was born in 77. My beard is like 95% white at this point, but my hair is only maybe 5% gray. So if I shave, I still look young. If I don't, I look 75 years older.
radioactivecat@reddit
‘75 here. The only grey is in my beard, and I’ve had parents of my kid’s friends say “oh but you’re younger than me”.
Has to be the hose water.
FawnLeib0witz@reddit
Every time this topic comes up, everyone claimes that they look 20 years younger than they are.
No you don't.
markov-271828@reddit
I look a very nature 40… lol
temerairevm@reddit
By the time you hit your 50s genetics and lifestyle habits can both catch up with you. There just starts to be more variation in how people look.
Bubbly_Following7930@reddit
No
Inner-Salt-2688@reddit
I gotta say 1 thing though, I've had customers I have interactions with, sometimes they will blurt out thier age. I just had 1 that said she was 80 yrs old! 80? She was a very spry 80 didn't look over 65! I woulda never guessed 80 tbh
West-Cabinet-2169@reddit
Daily moisturiser
Flux_Inverter@reddit
People age at different paces. At a class reunion some classmates looked 10 years older than me. I talked to a guy at a park last week who looked 35-40 and turns out he was 60. Though, he acted 35 or younger.
The older we get the harder it is to tell people's ages.
Head_Trick_9932@reddit
Acting 35 at 65 isn’t much of a flex to me lol
Flux_Inverter@reddit
It is not a flex. My guess is he was trying to fit in with the Millennials. Perhaps his way of being in denial about his age and trying to hang out with the "cool" kids. He was steeped in social media and trying to fit in with that culture.
GboyFlex@reddit
Also born in 71, I think I look younger than my compatriots but I could just be delusional. For what it's worth I don't drink or smoke, no hard drugs and avoid the sun like a vampire because I'm so pale. I posted my pic a few yrs ago on Reddit and I can pass for 30's, it's whatever.
Young122915@reddit
‘79 & i am carded often
rundabrun@reddit
I am sure you look great, but when I worked at Trader Joes, it was policy to card up to 60.
Young122915@reddit
I meant at dinner when we go out, every time. But also all the time at TJs. My son’s best friend works there and told us that as well!
rundabrun@reddit
Oh, I see. I wasn't doubting your youthful looks. 😊
Inkdman73@reddit
It’s all about how you carry yourself- how you dress- act- I think back as a kid at family holiday parties and how aunts and uncles were 50 and looked so old and still do in photos-
xamott@reddit
It’s a lot more than that. It is 1,000 times more than that. I’m 52 and look 40. Because I work my ass off at it every day and have for 25 years. And some hair dye, GLP, Botox, and HA filler. There’s a lot more to looking truly young that “how you feel” and all that. Also I’m a super-nerd and never got much sun - sun makes everyone look old.
Head_Trick_9932@reddit
lol you work your ass off with GLP, filler and Botox?!🤣
Commies-Fan@reddit
You definitely dont look younger. You look like all the other weirdos that waste money on procedures.
rundabrun@reddit
Are you this charming in person?
Unlikely-Ad3675@reddit
Don’t say that. You don’t know what he looks like. I, however know his twin brother Tomax who is a handsome fellow. Hail Cobra!
dstarpro@reddit
Grrl bye
rundabrun@reddit
People have different genetics. Age based expectations of appearance are cultural myths, not facts.
That being said, I literally was having this conversation today. That in my 30s, I started seeing older people, and realized I was probably older than them. Now in my 50s, when I meet someone my age, I always think they are older. I don’t see myself the way people expect at my age, but that's in my mind.
dropthemasq@reddit
No fucks are natural Botox.
OkAccountant8077@reddit
Your genes play a big factor. I started going gray in my early 30s and was completely gray by my mid 40s. My brother started losing his hair in his early 30s. And yet, my dad always looked at least 10 years younger into his mid 70s when his health started to fail and he was a heavy smoker for 30 years (no lung cancer, but a lot of other things). While excessive smoking and drinking (and it doesn't matter what you smoke) and sun exposure also are big factors, a lot of it can just be the genetic lottery.
autofill-name@reddit
Drinking seems to make a difference
Catnip_75@reddit
And smokers will age quicker too
Fair_Midnight_6267@reddit
For better, or worse?
autofill-name@reddit
Worse!
Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit
1972 here. Nobody ever believes me that I'm over 50. Either that or they're just being polite.
Impressive-Health670@reddit
I had a friend who was already going grey by the time we were 13, at this age now I only have about a dozen greys.
I don’t think it’s the color of the hair that ages people as much as the style, the clothes, and whether or not they took care of their skin. You can tell who skipped the sunscreen with each passing year.
Plantron1@reddit
A friend of mine had a full beard and the full “bay” baldness by 13. We thought it was amazing he could buy us beer.
Impressive-Health670@reddit
Ha I could see how that would come in handy, my friend was a girl and she hated it. Having to color your greys before prom is no fun!
Plantron1@reddit
That’s terrible for her. My Ex started going grey @14.
Once we picked up a wedding band at a pawnshop and a worlds #1 dad we had beer on demand 😂
Quirky_Commission_56@reddit
I was born in ‘75 and still look like I’m in my 40s but that’s mostly because I wore sunblock religiously my entire life because I burn to a crisp without it. I have two silver patches on either side of my head that I keep shaved so they really sparkle in the sunlight and wear almost exclusively all black clothes (with combat boots in the fall and black yoga mat sandals in the summer).
Zadyria_Gelm@reddit
Flintstone Vitamins FTW!
Evening-Crazy-3528@reddit
Everyone ages differently.
I’m 58, and I’m told I look like I’m in my early- to mid-40s. I have HS classmates who look like they’re in their late 60s.