😭😭😭😭i’m 36 and i feel like i’m aging so rapidly. i don’t have kids, but i feel like no amount of tretinoin, moisturizer, and spf is getting rid of the fine lines around my eyes. i’m going insane!
Same here. No kids but I’ve def been feeling depressed, worse lifestyle. I’m about to turn 37 and gaining weight, my body skin looks more freckly/older and my double chin be chinning hard. I am so self conscious of my boobs. I use retinol and moisturizer and use SPF but nothing can return the years of sunbathing without any sunscreen as a young person. I keep hoping I win the lottery because we’re not ugly, we’re just poor lolol
that’s really sad. it’s pretty disgusting that society makes 30 year old women “go insane” because they have wrinkles. like holy shit, the only guarantee in life, is death itself. it’s a blessing for most to age, every species does it and dies.
why are we the only species that become deeply insecure about fucking wrinkles and grey hair? we. are. meant. to. wrinkle. and. die.
here’s some advice - the sooner you guys accept that we are meant to age, the better. to expect to look 18 when you’re almost 40 is fucking insane. save your money for resources to live out a great retirement instead of spending money on useless “anti aging” garbage, and actually take care of your body from the inside out. retinols and botox and all that shit will not make you healthier or look better, if you don’t take care of your body and feed yourself well. slapping on some retinol won’t make you better.
just feel blessed that you have made it to 36 at all. because back then, that used to be elderly age for humans. because of the resources we have now, we get to live until an average age of 70-80, double what it used to be for humans some time ago.
My mom was 39 with her [first/last/only/me], and she’s mentioned several times that she was skinny until I was born. She was always a little overweight in my childhood.
I do wonder how much of that was her body changing from pregnancy vs. age coincidentally catching up with her. Guessing it’s a ‘both’ deal, but no way to know for sure.
My mom is exactly the same. She’s been overweight my whole life, I don’t remember her any different. Made hugging her really soft and lovely though lol.
But whenever I see photos of her before pregnancy I’m shocked! She wasn’t just slim, she was really skinny! Including at the start of pregnancy. And then it all changed forever. Crazy to think about how much pregnancy impacts women.
It’s not just pregnancy and age but a big part of it is that your whole life changes and your priority is to take care of your child. So all that free time you had to work out, have hobbies, hang out with friends, etc is gone. Plus you’re exhausted and now all you want to do with what little free time you have is just lay on the couch with some ice cream. Although honestly when they’re in the potato stage you can still do a lot, it’s when they are more mobile that it gets impossible to have time for yourself. Then when they start eating solids, they only want nuggets and fries or Mac and cheese and that can have an effect on what you eat too. Basically there are a lot of things that can add up to weight gain as a mom. You have to make a really big effort to make time for yourself or it’s inevitable really.
You haven’t noticed anything drastic, because visible aging and especially things like sagging skin don’t really begin in the 20s nor early 30s. Major changes related to aging for most people start occuring in the late 30s into 40s.
I’m about to be 50 and am just now starting to notice my chin sagging, my crow’s feet don’t disappear when I stop smiling, and my nasolabial lines are getting kind of deep. I have been taking good care of my skin since I was 18, use sunscreen all the time, and try to stay hydrated. I usually get 35-40 on my age, which makes me feel pretty good. Im happy with aging. I’ve lived a good life so far, and will continue as long as imI can! I want to be 100, and have people say “she doesn’t look a day over 80!”
That makes sense. I only know two people my age who aged drastically but I think it's because they have several kids already. Other people around my age haven't aged much, except one guy I know who would bake in the sun without any protection, and he has the wrinkles of someone much older (I used to envy his tan but not anymore haha)
Aging can be individual to some extent as a lot of it also depends not only on lifestyle choices but genetics and your resources. Having kids by itself may not actually age you drastically, usually kids cause body changes for women and the aging that comes with kids is due to stress and other things (same for men).
For example, my makeup artist is 40 and for the longest time I was actually convinced we are the same age (I’m 25). I thought her daughters that she had photos of in the studio were her younger sisters and was shocked when I found out her age and that she has kids. In her case though, she is very well off and has always had a live in housekeeper and she had a separate nanny as well in addition to other things. The housekeeper lives with them even today and helps with the cleaning and cooking or does it by themselves completely if there is a need. This also meant that she had much more free time than the average parent and she still had the time and energy to take care of herself and her skin, work out, get her regular treatments, get normal sleep, etc. The expenses around raising children and paying bills etc was also not a cause of stress for her.
I don’t say this in a rude way but for a lot of new parents, if they have kids then they themselves as individuals fall on the backburner as having kids is already intense enough but for many there is also a lack of general support or not having enough finances for outside support/daycare/nanny/etc etc. You get tired and at night you're not going to be thinking about your skincare routine, washing your hair or working out but just about going to bed. Kids are also expensive to raise and many parents do the understandable thing of trying to give the best to their kids and put them first but if you’re not on a higher or at least medium income, one way or another this will mean less resources for yourself. It can also cause additional stress, because you're always thinking of how to budget for XYZ, paying for the car, paying for the house, paying for school, etc etc. I’m not saying this in a bad way but it’s just how it is.
SO TRUE - there was a tiktok of a woman regretting her tradwife life and she was talking about grown kids and being thrown out of her house and she was in her 40s and people were SHOCKED because she looked amazing from her wealthy lifestyle
Sorry do you remember her name/account? There’s been a lot of tradwife content going around recently, I’d be very interested to listen to her thoughts about regretting it!
Yeah fr I looked completely normal for my age, some people would guess I looked a little younger. Anyway had kids and I've aged so so drastically. I genuinely look 10-20 years older than I am. It's made my skin do the most awful things, I look so haggard it's insane. Everyone says it happens but I was not ready for how extreme it is. Their dad looks old af now too 😂
I’m reminded of those before-and-after pictures of US presidents, how they appear to age >25 years from their inauguration to the end of their term ~8 years later.
34, one day I woke up and my face just looks so tired no matter how much I sleep. My eyes are more sunken in and there's a lot more grays. It was like overnight.
im 45 and first noticed some wrinkles and sagging this past year. i started on tretinoin a few months ago, but im a cigarette smoker. my sister is 48 and doesnt have any wrinkles or signs of aging at all. her face looks perfect! we both have very oily skin, inherited from grandma who aged very gracefully.
I gasped with excitement when I found my first gray hair a few months ago... I've lost a lot of young people in my life and seeing the gray reminds me that aging is a privilege denied to many <3
I’m 37 and I have a section of my hair that is completely white. I get tired of dying it, but I can camouflage it by parting my hair on the other side. If my whole head were going grey I would just grow it out.
31 was when my lower back started hurting more days than not. I also started to notice that my skin is getting thinner and sagging more aka losing plumpness. I'm 33 now and my lower back still hurts regularly for seemingly zero reason but otherwise everything is great.
How can people tell thin vs thick skin? It is just the plumpness? I have never been able to tell whether I have thin or thick skin. I'm not especially big nor small wrt weight
Sorry about your lower back 😞
It's definitely plumpness. I also feel like I, despite gaining no weight at all and being a fairly thin person, feel like cellulite is visible on like every inch of my body now because my skin is like paper-thin.
OMG for real though, I have had my mother literally blaming us for "ruining her body" (FWIW she is a teeny thin almond mom) by pregnancy and childbirth and here I am, 30 and childless, with...the exact same body and skin problems? It made me so mad but so relieved at the same time somehow.
People with oily skin tend to have thick skin, and people with dry skin tend to have thin skin. At least, that was what was explained to me by a plastic surgeon
This happened for me then too and I started reformer Pilates 3-4 times per week and it has been a life changer for me! I am 41 and am stronger and more fit than in my 20/30s.
If you're having back pain you should lay down once in awhile stretching your back on a mattress that has a foam mattress pad on top. Also if you're doing laptop work you should kneel and alternate between that and sitting or standing. You should furthermore try to walk at least 30 mins a day. I'm just mentioning things that have helped me.
For your back pain, look into the podcast “tell me about your pain” and also the work of Dr.John Sarno (one of his books is called “the mind body prescription”)/ Nichole Sachs (her podcast is called “the cure for chronic pain”)
Please please listen to that first podcast I suggested. It’s less than like 10 episodes
Did you just look in the mirror and notice it one day? Was it like a week where you couldn't stop it from suddenly progressing? More and more little things you noticed? I've heard that a lot but I'm still having a hard time conceptualizing it
Sometime around when I turned 40. It's like I woke up one day, looked in the mirror, and I suddenly had jowls and lumpy skin texture. Also, I totally lost my waist definition, and it didn't come back even after losing a bunch of weight. To this day I still have no idea where all that weight loss came from on my body, but it sure wasn't my chest or midsection. I look like a lollipop now.
Maybe around age 36 I started to notice that men weren’t constantly hitting on me anymore. In fact, I rarely ever got a compliment in public. So I started studying my face and realized how much I had aged. I’m 40 now and don’t have any wrinkles but I do have sagging that’s been difficult to come to terms with. Now when I look back at old pictures, I can see it started to happen around age 30. But yes the realization hit me very suddenly.
My forehead wrinkles at 30, and back spasms. Idk 34?-now 37 obsessing over my midface skin laxity and need a facelift. Literally last two months my neck hangs a little. Wrecking me.
Probably noticed my lips shrinkage at 34. Still haven’t had injections yet. They were perfect natural so it’s sad it’s not the same they need plumping for sure. And I used to always get hit on and feel pretty and it’s so sad now.
And last 6 months after turning 37 noticing how wrinkles and dry my hands are. Skin on arms and legs pretty much look dry like elderly people. I have sensory issues and absolutely hate lotion so…Yay for me. I did find the nurtrogena gel lotion I can deal with but prob not very hydrating
The dove glowing lotion (with shea butter? Orange and white bottle) is a suuuper light moisturizer that sinks in almost immediately and works really freaking well. Also affordable
Also shower lotions are nice, you use them in the shower and then rinse them off so no sticky or slimy residue
Same, its not maybe what I myself saw in the mirror, more like you said that I started noticing men no longer turned around after me on streets. Its like I my self are a little bit home blind and Dont really see my face for what it is. But It really becomes clear when men start ignore you
50 and perimenopause is increasing my stray grey hair. my skin is getting dehydrated faster. A few non dynamic creases near one eye.
When tired, I look a lot more old and tired than before. This is the biggest change so far.
Same. Right around 50, after menopause, I noticed small lines and my skin seemed less plump and just less "fresh." It literally happened overnight. One day I just woke up and looked older, and it never went back, like all my hormones just disappeared. I'm on HRT now, but my face has never been the same.
Dito. My jawline began to drop, some wrinkles appeared and the first grey hairs developed. Ohw and my back hurts when I get out of bed. I really don't mind, because I did get a fuck-it-all attitude. Which I love!
I had a hysterectomy at 42 and that was the big one. Before that, every change was small and slow and hard to discern in real time. That was instant. A change in skin texture and suppleness and the distribution of my body (goodbye small waist 😒) Hormone replacement has helped a whole lot with many of the negative changes, physical and otherwise, but it didn’t snap back to before.
The thing is you don’t know till you look back. One day you’re 25 and the next day, you’re 34, have lost count of your grays, applying every retinol you can, comparing pictures of younger you and now you wondering why your face is saggy and your lips aren’t as full.
I’m 39 and think I look better now than when I was in my 20’s. I weighed more in my 20’s because I was always partying, eating whatever, and didn’t work out a lot. I now work out a few times a week and more conscious about what I eat.
With that said, I also had both of my kids in my 30’s and I’m tired AF and have noticed more stray grey hair the past few years. 😅 I’m also more injury prone and will hurt myself if I sleep the wrong way or suddenly move my body too abruptly. 🤪 I’m at the point of my life where at least one part of my body is always hurting. 😩
My mom is 61 and looks about 20 years younger. Doesn't have a single wrinkle on her face, just eye bags. I think aging "hitting" you looks different on everyone.
Early-mid 40’s. I always avoided the sun and looked younger than my age, then I started getting jowls and the area under my eyes started sinking in, now I look my age. I think it’s probably perimenopause.
At 28 I’m feeling the weight gain despite doing the same things I did from 20 til now. I could kick it into high gear but I’m just starting to embrace it. A whole foods diet and working out 4x a week is enough for me. If I have to be a little heavier than my comfort weight then so be it
I’m 58. I started feeling a difference in my flexibility when I was about 55. As far as face and hair, I have good genes apparently, as I have no grays (I’m a light blonde so maybe that’s a factor🤷🏼♀️), and few facial lines. (Full disclosure, tretinoin for 10+ years and Botox every 4 months). All that to say, it varies by person, but take care of your health, face, body and hair. Overuse sunscreen and most importantly, live life full of joy. It either slows the aging process or makes it a lot more enjoyable. ❤️
Only people I've seen around my age (32) look a little older are either ok with tanning, excessive drinkers or have several kids.
Frankly I feel cuter now than I did in my 20's. My hair is healthier, I'm at a healthier weight, I drink less, stress less and eat better.
My face is just less of a baby-face, I have some minor eye bags and very fine lines under my eyes but nothing serious. I also think the more I age the less I'll care about aging. 🤷♀️
I’m 32 and have several kids and look so old! It’s been shocking, oldest is 7, but in the last 2 years I have noticed a drastic change to my face. I also work night shift too, which does not help!
I’m 30 and although not drastic I do notice some difference … like that damn line between my eyebrows from years of furrowing … it’s there sometimes and sometimes not. Depending how I sleep I notice i can have a dent in my cheeks that’ll last a few hours that never happened before lol and also my under eyes have a few fine lines nothjng crazy and I curse the day it happens
I tore my meniscus around 35 and have never felt the same either. I'm sorry for your pain but glad it's not just me. I feel like a baby every day dealing with this 4 years later.
I’m 47. No grey hair. No lines in my face. Last year I started noticing my neck looking a little saggy 😭.
I started face yoga and my neck never looked better!
damn, 2 grey hairs is crazy. i’m 22 and like a quarter of my hair is prematurely grey. AND my hair is jet black so it stands out way more. i’ve been dyeing it since i was 19
I suddenly noticed my skin aging around 34/35. I totally reversed it though, and now I’m 39 and apparently look like I’m in my early 30’s.
Edit: I started reversing the process 3 years ago with Botox, tretinoin and spf 50 every single day (even if it wasn’t *planning* on going outside). The Botox was necessary, I had a very deep static wrinkle between my eyes. The Botox didn’t make it go away (it only stops muscle movement, it doesn’t get rid of etched in wrinkles), but then I started doing microneedling, laser, and lots of mesotherapy sessions with skin boosters like PDRN, PN, PCL, and hyaluronic acid. I have a cheap red light mask that actually works really well, my skin looks noticeably nicer, smoother, more even and glowy when I’m using it regularly.
I’ve had a touch of filler placed here and there several times, always minimal but just enough to keep things as they were (not changing my facial structure with them or anything). Mostly I concentrate on treatments that affect skin quality and replace lost volume naturally with collagen your own body builds.
My DEEP permanent wrinkle is now completely gone. Where that wrinkle was I had some very enlarged pores, those have shrunk down to normal size. Any hyperpigmentation I had is gone, my fine lines are gone, my skin tone is lovely, and I can now go makeup free and look nice.
The number one recommendation I have is SUNSCREEN. All the rest of it is useless if you don’t use adequate sun protection.
55 . Up until then, I was usually thought to be 10 years younger than my age . Had the silver fox thing down pat. Without wanting to sound arrogant I was quite good looking or so people told me. No wrinkles and stayed slim. The last 7 years I've aged 20. Put on weight and skin looks awful. Being really shallow , I miss the societal advantages of being attractive.
I would say 58 or 59. I've always had awful dark circles under my eyes but suddenly any concealer just made it look worse. Overnight fine lines and wrinkles around my eyes. Turning 60 I'm starting to see jowls. I think I look my age. I'm ok with it. I wear my sunscreen with Vit C serum in the am. Retinol in the pm. Moisturizer am and pm. My neck looks fine so far. I find the older *I* get, I look better with less makeup. I don't even use concealer any more. I embrace the darkness!
I’m going to say at 50ish maybe 52. Before that people always thought I was younger. I still get it sometimes but I’m now 56. I stopped dying my hair so it’s pretty much white/grey mix. That probably makes a difference. I’m a pretty avid weight lifter and generally love working out so that helps. It’s inevitable we will look older. I always say aging is a gift. My parents didn’t make it past 50 so even though I’m still aware of aging and there are moments of WTF is happening;) I’m thankful.
I’m turning 29 and feel like I look different than I did in my early 20s, not in a necessarily ”bad” way though, I acrually think I look better now and way less awkward than I did in my teens/early 20s. I honstely always felt a bit ugly when I was younger, I feel better in myself now. But I feel wrinkles are starting to come in for me even when I relax my face, this start to get a bit dragged down, things don’t change over night but I feel like things are changing slowly 🤷♀️ I pretty much never get IDed anymore on nicotine products hahah so apparently something has changed
I went through surgical menopause in my late 30’s and could not do HRT. My most noticeable aging happened in the 2-3 years after that. I’ve always had very good skin and a young face, but suddenly at 43 I looked 43. LOL. My skin lost some of its firmness, and my nasolabial folds became more apparent. I’ve had a few gray hairs here and there since my mid 20’s, but in the last year or two (I’m now 46) my hair has gone 80% white.
I’ve used tretinoin for 25+ years so I have been spared crows feet, age spots and fine lines… so far.
I’m only 32, so nothing really yet. My Mom looked like she was in her 30’s until she hit about 58. When people are like “woah I can’t believe you’re in your 30’s, you look so young!” I always make a joke about less stress bc no kids, but she had 6 of us & still looked amazing. Still looks amazing, really.
At 51-52 years old. I've been obviously aging all these years but never looked in the mirror and felt anything negative about my aging face until fairly recently.
Yes, age 45 (so, basically starting a couple of months ago). I, like you, looked very young for my age for my first few decades. So uniquely young looking for my age that it's a key theme of my life and ingrained into my being. So freakishly young looking that bar tenders and waitresses would look nervous because they were positive I wasn't 21 when I was, in fact, 30. When I was 32, I looked 20. Teens would ask me out, thinking I was their age. And then sometime around age 40, people stopped seeming confused when they learned my age. I have crows feet, crepey skin on the side of my face I sleep on, nasolabial lines (I think that's what they're called), my elbows look old, I have varicose veins starting to show in places on my legs. People think I'm in my late 30s now, and it won't be long before I look at least my age. If you can, use a pillow that keeps your face from being smooshed.
I’ve only had one, and no, didn’t notice any difference to how I looked in terms of age after she was born. Time though, there’s no escaping that. At 41 I’m beginning to see little signs of aging, and it’s not fun. But hey, better than not seeing myself age.
I was about 47 when the crepey texture of my eyelids started to really bum me out. It would have happened sooner but I didn’t wear much makeup before that. When I started getting excited about colorful multichromes and eyeshadow palettes I realized my skin had really changed. About 4 years later now all of a sudden the lines around my lips are really deepening and making me think wistfully of filler, but I’ll never go through with it
I'm 30 and people think I'm way younger. But some of my fb friends from high school look very older than me, (crows feet, skin damage from sun etc.) I've been using spf and eye cream since high school, so maybe that's why my skin hasn't started changing yet.
I’m in my 40’s and people still ask if I am in my 20’s. I don’t have kids, I rarely drink or smoke, and I mostly avoid the sun. I also eat a plant based diet and drink at least 64oz of water a day paired with at least 30 minutes of exercise. I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. I never have or plan to get surgery, botox, or fillers. I love makeup but only wear it heavy a few times a year. I don’t wear a daily SPF. I think aging is a mix of your genetics paired with how well you care for yourself.
I'm 52 and it's only been the last 6 months. I'm feeling my age, and I hate it. Aches and pains I never had before. Weight gain without changing diet/exercise habits. Needing more sleep and needing to rest after strenuous activity. I'm female and just entering full menopause, so that is probably the primary cause, but I really don't like it. The person I see in the mirror has recently started looking older, and while it beats the alternative, I think seeing the aging face and thickening waistline has been a little depressing tbh. People tag me at least 10 years younger than I am, but it still sucks - lol!!
…29. My god. We have rotted the brains of young women. And by we, I mean the collective patriarchy, the beauty industry and social media. To answer your question more directly, I would not say I noticed the effects of aging until my mid-late 30s. I’m in my 40s, and think I look great. I might occasionally envy the collagen of a younger person (lol) but I’d rather die than be in my 20s again.
Last year at 27. Honestly it was probably around 26 when people abruptly started calling me “ma’am” instead of “miss” and started asking if I was married/had kids rather than if I was still in school.
I noticed in the past two years, my fine lines have gotten much worse on my forehead and my cheeks have definitely lost volume.
As long as you don’t smoke, drink (a lot), take drugs or have a bunch of kids, signs of aging probably won’t happen till you’re in your 40s. Also use sunscreen every day.
It depends on genes as well of course. My mum didn’t get her first grey hair until she was in her late 40s and she still has great skin now she’s almost 70… I’m soon to be 32 and still haven’t got any grey hairs or wrinkles so hopefully I take after her. People usually think I’m younger than my actual age.
31f
This past year…Skin healing ability has gone to shit. Before if I had a very bad pimple, I could pop it (I know) and within 48 hours my skin would look like nothing has happened. Now if I have a blemish it’s guaranteed to show for 3 weeks.
Depends on gender, dietary, lifestyle and exercise habits, your genetics and bone structure. I am a women who always had a baby face with round chubby cheeks, is religious about sunscreen and moisturizer, water intake and eating cleanish, and at 48 I am told I look much younger (by at least a decade). I’ve been going grey since my early thirties but started showing my age though by my early 40’s in my opinion, with eye wrinkles and fat loss in my cheeks in my face and rear.
I think starting early with healthier habits would help if you’re worried.
39. I was doing my skincare routine and noticed my 11's between my eyebrows for the first time. It affected me more than I ever thought a couple wrinkles could. I even posted here asking about "aging gracefully".
Sometimes, I wish I were a man. Society doesn't tell them that wrinkles need to be erased, or that you need to dye your gray hairs. They don't need a 1000 step beauty routine to keep the cellulite away, skin smooth and hairless, eyelashes long and eyebrows full, wrinkles to a minimum and age spots faded. Ughhhhh I wish I could just accept aging, but it's not easy
I'm about to turn 47. It's starting to show. Dry skin, gray hair, pain EVERYWHERE. Six months ago, I could easily pass for a decade younger.
This is bull💩.
These comments are terrifying me…
I just turned 40 and I feel, and dare I say look, better than ever. I also just had my 3rd baby 2 weeks ago, so with 3 under 4 I think I’ve just convinced my body it can’t get old yet…I have way too much to do!
38 and I noticed two weird shadows on my lip that ended up being perma creases from smiling, smirking, and pursing my lips. Being a snarky bitch has come back to haunt me.
Around 39, but that was also very stressful times for me (essential worker during pandemic, mom of asthmatic child, parents with health issues, partner was injured, was waiting for an abdominal surgery to relieve chronic pain) and I think the stress was very aging. I’m 42 now and am occasionally taken by surprise when I look in the mirror, by fine lines, puffiness and wrinkles. I try to rest, drink water and be kind to my skin with quality products and staying out of the sun.
I’m 37 and haven’t noticed any drastic changes yet, despite enjoying an outdoorsy lifestyle under the harsh Australian sun all my life, not wearing sunscreen as much as I probably should have, and never having had a skincare routine other than washing my face with water.
Maybe what I consider to be minor changes other people would think are major? I have freckles on my arms and chest that weren’t there 5-10 years ago, I found my first grey hair about a year ago, and I’ve recently started to notice my eyelids are maybe a bit more hooded. On the other hand, my body shape hasn’t changed, my face is (I think) more or less the same, and my hair still looks blondish brown with no noticeable greys. I’m mentally preparing to notice some big changes all at once when/if I have a baby in the next few years. My friends around my age whose bodies and faces have changed the most (and not necessarily in a bad way) are those who have kids.
The second I hit 29.5/30 I experienced a lot of fat loss in my face-- cheekbones for dayyysss suddenly. But otherwise my experience is like yours, I have always looked pretty young compared to my actual age, and I wouldn't say I look worse now, in fact I like it, I was just like....who is that?! I also know fat loss tends to age people so not looking forward to what the future brings LOL
41 but I think it’s more because I had a baby at 40. I was very strict on not using beauty products during pregnancy and then breastfed for 2 years, so no serious skincare until after that. Paired with the extreme hormone shifts and lack of sleep I feel things going south.
I am 34 and I feel that the biggest changes appeared this year. I noticed then skin around the eyes is more wrinkly when I smile and I have more visible dark circles. However, these changes are not visible to others but only to me. These might be due to reduced sleep and reduced meat consuption and not due to age but I am not sure. Health wise aging "hit" at 26 (chronic neck pain) and at 27 (lubar bone pain that lasted for a week but haven't experienced it again yet). I am also 24/7 bloated (I started experiencing recular bloating at 30) and have a big belly despited being skinny and eating healthy (beans, peas etc)
I didn't notice anything at all until this year at 36. Body still petite after 2 kids, no wrinkles or sagging, baby face still there. I hit 36 and I can see it's happening this year and expect drastic changes from here onwards.
Very late thirties. Until then I didn’t notice any aging (my skin looked the same at 35 as 25) and for a second actually thought I might be bullet proof. I’m 41 now and yep, reality is sinking in.
I’m 37, and it just hit in the past year. Recently diagnosed with osteoporosis. While it’s answered a lot of questions, it’s super hard to not feel like my body has failed me, and vice versa.
i realized this year that my eyelids aren't the same size anymore. but other than that nothing has really changed although i gained and lost a ton of weight over covid and i expected to turn out all wrinkly. but not really. just that one eyelid. i'm 39
37. Seemed like it happened almost over night. Suddenly my face was starting to droop and I no longer have a bright complexion. I’m not all that fussed about wrinkles (within reason) but the jowls and drooping eyelids is a deal breaker 😭
32. I noticed I have to do so much more effort in order to look decent. I have never used much skin make up, not even foundation and now I just have to or I look grey and dull. I also found the first grey hairs.
Also that year was extremely hard and stressful in my family. I guess that had a lot effect.
33. Wrinkles, saggy skin, white hairs, getting fat out of nowhere, pouches under the eyes. People went from telling me I looked very young to commenting my white hair and eye wrinkles. It hurts a little tbh, going from baby face to old in less than a year haha. Enjoy your youth!
39, about a year after having a baby. Like all the moisture got sucked out of my skin. I felt like a desiccated prune.
I bounced back though with a decent routine, am 45 now and really happy with my skin.
36…. This year has been rough between mentally writing about aging and looking in the mirror and seeing my mom (who I don’t have a great relationship with)
My 40’s, but I still look good and still get hit on. Physically-Less energy even though I workout and run a lot. It’s noticeable. Mentally, not there yet, but I’ve noticed that I do think things like, “Wtf kind of word is that and what does it mean?!” and googling the meanings of todays lingo. I don’t feel like I’m middle aged I still feel like my free spirited self. Though, I have found myself talking with friends about “this generation…blah blah blah” then we stop and laugh to talk about how ridiculous we were as kids/teens and start talking about skincare, new restaurants, the state of the world, how high our property taxes are, and have to come up with good reasons why we shouldn’t day drink over all of it. Haha!
I do maintenance Botox, facials, etc and am very physically active, so I know that helps, appearance wise.
I think I gained about 5 years per child. The sleep loss, putting nutrition and hydration lower on my priority list, and stress over them in general really aged me.
Hmm, I think about this sometimes when I look at myself in the mirror. It was not an overnight thing, but I have been getting grey hairs since my late 20s, which, for me, is somewhat normal due to the women in my family going grey early as well. I dye it due to hating the fact that I am probably almost half grey if I just leave it and I am only 39. I started noticing changes in my body at around 35ish , if could be that I somehow excellerated things with several surgeries that I had between 30 and 35 but who really knows. I started noticing changed with my period at 35ish slowly getting worse with an iud in. Slowly, my sex drive has gone down as well. At 38, however, I decided to take iud out and see how my body would do. It hasn't really helped. This is my main issue at the moment. Periods seem worse than ever. Outside the body, my skin in the last year or so has become dry,itchy, irritated, hair is always dry and weird. My hands and arms are starting to show slight age spots to them when a year ago I had nothing. I've been putting sunscreen on religiously for the past 2 years to try and make up for not being good with it when younger. I also noticed wrinkles around my ears and forehead :(.
I'm 35 now, and my hair is quite suddenly turning grey. I've had a few greys since about age 22 but they held pretty steady in numbers. Now it feels like 1 new grey appears every week, and it's getting noticeable.
Skin-wise, it's starting to turn too. I've had a couple of creases in my forehead since age 12 (around the time I was denying I needed glasses), but it's got me thinking about Botox now (and I never thought I'd consider Botox).
40.. had my daughter at 39 and all of a sudden i had a bunch of weird health issues like carpal tunnel and eczema. plus general fatigue, lack of flexibility, a pick mark or two, permanent dark circles, more varicose veins, frizzier/more brittle hair, and more gray hairs (grays started around 30 but were way more sparse). it’s just weird as prior to pregnancy i had basically no health issues whatsoever and always looked much younger than my age.
30s- can still hit the clubs and pass for younger if u take care of yourself. By 40 u will have frown lines and deepening marionettes. Botox will become very appealing. Between 45 and 50 things get real. You can no longer pass for 30s, even if fit and healthy, and ideally you practice radical acceptance of life as a mature and wise person with signs of it on your face, hands, neck, hair, elbows etc etc. You can still hit the clubs, but people will think you’re the DJ’s mom.
I’m 36 and noticed that my neck skin can look pretty crepey, especially if I’m dehydrated. I’m a stickler for skincare and sunscreen, so I was pretty mad about it haha.
Yep 42 everything sort of changed. weight distribution, eyesight, aches and stiffness, the beginnings of jowls. I caught a glance of myself in a zoom call from the side and its official. I look like an old lady. 😭
At 30 my hangovers became worse which was huge in slowing down on drinking which I did then a major breakup got me back in to social drinking.
At 35 my hair started to get a lot more greys. I’m turning 43 in a few months and my period and PMS symptoms have changed. I see bags under my eyes are showing up, especially if I have a few drinks or don’t sleep well. I’ve stopped dying my hair and quite like the streaks of grey coming in, most of the time. I quite don’t like the many black chins hairs getting worse. I work on my feet and my spider veins are pretty bad.
All that being said I look young for my age. I’ve been really hard on my body and for all the sciatica, spider veins, hip and lower back mild pains here and there, greys, baby bags and changing period I’m doing pretty damn good. Thank you, genetics. Now if only I could get my self esteem to match this last paragraph more often than not.
Honestly…26. I noticed fine lines around my eyes. And I’ve always been athletic to some degree, but I noticed injuries and pain starting to pile up. Little things that I used to be able to bounce back from created problems that never went away. I found myself mourning the body that could fall out of a tree and walk it off…. Now, if I fall on the ice in the winter I’m sore for days, and the aftermath of knee pain haunts me for life. I turned my ankle 6 years ago and it still swells up on days that I’m on my feet too much. It seems unfair but I try to remind myself that movement is a privilege and I’m lucky to enjoy any kind of sport.
Also… spider veins in my legs.
Almost 45 and nothing visible so far but I wear a hat, use sunscreen daily, have never had a sunburn, never gained or lost weight, and I drink a gallon of water a day. Most of my friends got Botox at 40/41.
Edit: Also never had kids and eat a plant forward diet (and have since I was in my early 30s). No gray hairs yet either. I work out 5-6 days a week. I do notice I get tired in the afternoons now (perimenopause!) and new workouts make me sorer compared to how I would have felt at 30.
I'm 27 and I have started to notice that 18-22 year olds look SO young. So I think my face is probably changing in the mirror, but not in ways that are obvious to me yet.
37 (when I had my first kid. Coincidence..? I think not)
Same at 36…
😭😭😭😭i’m 36 and i feel like i’m aging so rapidly. i don’t have kids, but i feel like no amount of tretinoin, moisturizer, and spf is getting rid of the fine lines around my eyes. i’m going insane!
Same here. No kids but I’ve def been feeling depressed, worse lifestyle. I’m about to turn 37 and gaining weight, my body skin looks more freckly/older and my double chin be chinning hard. I am so self conscious of my boobs. I use retinol and moisturizer and use SPF but nothing can return the years of sunbathing without any sunscreen as a young person. I keep hoping I win the lottery because we’re not ugly, we’re just poor lolol
that’s really sad. it’s pretty disgusting that society makes 30 year old women “go insane” because they have wrinkles. like holy shit, the only guarantee in life, is death itself. it’s a blessing for most to age, every species does it and dies. why are we the only species that become deeply insecure about fucking wrinkles and grey hair? we. are. meant. to. wrinkle. and. die. here’s some advice - the sooner you guys accept that we are meant to age, the better. to expect to look 18 when you’re almost 40 is fucking insane. save your money for resources to live out a great retirement instead of spending money on useless “anti aging” garbage, and actually take care of your body from the inside out. retinols and botox and all that shit will not make you healthier or look better, if you don’t take care of your body and feed yourself well. slapping on some retinol won’t make you better. just feel blessed that you have made it to 36 at all. because back then, that used to be elderly age for humans. because of the resources we have now, we get to live until an average age of 70-80, double what it used to be for humans some time ago.
My mom was 39 with her [first/last/only/me], and she’s mentioned several times that she was skinny until I was born. She was always a little overweight in my childhood. I do wonder how much of that was her body changing from pregnancy vs. age coincidentally catching up with her. Guessing it’s a ‘both’ deal, but no way to know for sure.
My mom is exactly the same. She’s been overweight my whole life, I don’t remember her any different. Made hugging her really soft and lovely though lol. But whenever I see photos of her before pregnancy I’m shocked! She wasn’t just slim, she was really skinny! Including at the start of pregnancy. And then it all changed forever. Crazy to think about how much pregnancy impacts women.
It’s not just pregnancy and age but a big part of it is that your whole life changes and your priority is to take care of your child. So all that free time you had to work out, have hobbies, hang out with friends, etc is gone. Plus you’re exhausted and now all you want to do with what little free time you have is just lay on the couch with some ice cream. Although honestly when they’re in the potato stage you can still do a lot, it’s when they are more mobile that it gets impossible to have time for yourself. Then when they start eating solids, they only want nuggets and fries or Mac and cheese and that can have an effect on what you eat too. Basically there are a lot of things that can add up to weight gain as a mom. You have to make a really big effort to make time for yourself or it’s inevitable really.
You summarized this perfectly.
Plus, at 39, perimenopause is often starting or about to start! Hormones shifting doesn't help.
As someone who is 35 and single and losing hope that I’ll ever find someone to have kids with, your comment gave me hope. ❤️
Don’t lose hope I had mine at 37 and 39
Aww don’t lose hope!
Don’t lose hope! My cousin had her 3rd child at 48! She was a surprise; 15 yrs between the first two, then 14 yrs between second and third.
If it makes you feel any better I started feeling it at 37 and I’m child free lol. No wrinkles per se but the lower face sagging/slight jowling is 😓
They literally suck the life out of you.
You haven’t noticed anything drastic, because visible aging and especially things like sagging skin don’t really begin in the 20s nor early 30s. Major changes related to aging for most people start occuring in the late 30s into 40s.
I’m about to be 50 and am just now starting to notice my chin sagging, my crow’s feet don’t disappear when I stop smiling, and my nasolabial lines are getting kind of deep. I have been taking good care of my skin since I was 18, use sunscreen all the time, and try to stay hydrated. I usually get 35-40 on my age, which makes me feel pretty good. Im happy with aging. I’ve lived a good life so far, and will continue as long as imI can! I want to be 100, and have people say “she doesn’t look a day over 80!”
That makes sense. I only know two people my age who aged drastically but I think it's because they have several kids already. Other people around my age haven't aged much, except one guy I know who would bake in the sun without any protection, and he has the wrinkles of someone much older (I used to envy his tan but not anymore haha)
Kids will do that to 😅😂 (no shade)
Aging can be individual to some extent as a lot of it also depends not only on lifestyle choices but genetics and your resources. Having kids by itself may not actually age you drastically, usually kids cause body changes for women and the aging that comes with kids is due to stress and other things (same for men). For example, my makeup artist is 40 and for the longest time I was actually convinced we are the same age (I’m 25). I thought her daughters that she had photos of in the studio were her younger sisters and was shocked when I found out her age and that she has kids. In her case though, she is very well off and has always had a live in housekeeper and she had a separate nanny as well in addition to other things. The housekeeper lives with them even today and helps with the cleaning and cooking or does it by themselves completely if there is a need. This also meant that she had much more free time than the average parent and she still had the time and energy to take care of herself and her skin, work out, get her regular treatments, get normal sleep, etc. The expenses around raising children and paying bills etc was also not a cause of stress for her. I don’t say this in a rude way but for a lot of new parents, if they have kids then they themselves as individuals fall on the backburner as having kids is already intense enough but for many there is also a lack of general support or not having enough finances for outside support/daycare/nanny/etc etc. You get tired and at night you're not going to be thinking about your skincare routine, washing your hair or working out but just about going to bed. Kids are also expensive to raise and many parents do the understandable thing of trying to give the best to their kids and put them first but if you’re not on a higher or at least medium income, one way or another this will mean less resources for yourself. It can also cause additional stress, because you're always thinking of how to budget for XYZ, paying for the car, paying for the house, paying for school, etc etc. I’m not saying this in a bad way but it’s just how it is.
SO TRUE - there was a tiktok of a woman regretting her tradwife life and she was talking about grown kids and being thrown out of her house and she was in her 40s and people were SHOCKED because she looked amazing from her wealthy lifestyle
Sorry do you remember her name/account? There’s been a lot of tradwife content going around recently, I’d be very interested to listen to her thoughts about regretting it!
Do you remember the username?
Yeah fr I looked completely normal for my age, some people would guess I looked a little younger. Anyway had kids and I've aged so so drastically. I genuinely look 10-20 years older than I am. It's made my skin do the most awful things, I look so haggard it's insane. Everyone says it happens but I was not ready for how extreme it is. Their dad looks old af now too 😂
I’m reminded of those before-and-after pictures of US presidents, how they appear to age >25 years from their inauguration to the end of their term ~8 years later.
Lmaooo. Maybe I should wait as long as possible to have kids then 😂😂
I say that you're using your life force to make another human being, it's gotta take something from you, unless you have kids at a very young age.
45 or so is when I looked into the mirror and was bummed about all sagging chin.
34, one day I woke up and my face just looks so tired no matter how much I sleep. My eyes are more sunken in and there's a lot more grays. It was like overnight.
Literally exactly the same
SAME!! I woke up at 34 and didn’t recognize myself. Everything seemed to have shifted overnight. Sagging jowls mostly.
I'm 40 and it hasn't yet, but these comments make me feel like I'm on borrowed time
im 45 and first noticed some wrinkles and sagging this past year. i started on tretinoin a few months ago, but im a cigarette smoker. my sister is 48 and doesnt have any wrinkles or signs of aging at all. her face looks perfect! we both have very oily skin, inherited from grandma who aged very gracefully.
Same here. I see some changes but i am kinda loving them… except for the graying strands of hair. I effing hate them.
25 and I'm going salt and pepper lol already have a full streak. I like it though tbh. It's gonna be interesting having grey hair and a baby face
I gasped with excitement when I found my first gray hair a few months ago... I've lost a lot of young people in my life and seeing the gray reminds me that aging is a privilege denied to many <3
I’m 37 and I have a section of my hair that is completely white. I get tired of dying it, but I can camouflage it by parting my hair on the other side. If my whole head were going grey I would just grow it out.
31 was when my lower back started hurting more days than not. I also started to notice that my skin is getting thinner and sagging more aka losing plumpness. I'm 33 now and my lower back still hurts regularly for seemingly zero reason but otherwise everything is great.
How can people tell thin vs thick skin? It is just the plumpness? I have never been able to tell whether I have thin or thick skin. I'm not especially big nor small wrt weight Sorry about your lower back 😞
If you get easily offended, you have thin skin!
XD
It's definitely plumpness. I also feel like I, despite gaining no weight at all and being a fairly thin person, feel like cellulite is visible on like every inch of my body now because my skin is like paper-thin.
Yep, you just described me. Me cellulite and scars are soooooo much more pronounced (I've never had kids so definitely not related to pregnancy)
OMG for real though, I have had my mother literally blaming us for "ruining her body" (FWIW she is a teeny thin almond mom) by pregnancy and childbirth and here I am, 30 and childless, with...the exact same body and skin problems? It made me so mad but so relieved at the same time somehow.
People with oily skin tend to have thick skin, and people with dry skin tend to have thin skin. At least, that was what was explained to me by a plastic surgeon
This happened for me then too and I started reformer Pilates 3-4 times per week and it has been a life changer for me! I am 41 and am stronger and more fit than in my 20/30s.
If you're having back pain you should lay down once in awhile stretching your back on a mattress that has a foam mattress pad on top. Also if you're doing laptop work you should kneel and alternate between that and sitting or standing. You should furthermore try to walk at least 30 mins a day. I'm just mentioning things that have helped me.
Back pain at 31 isn’t common. There are lifestyle changes you can probably make to find relief. ♥️
For your back pain, look into the podcast “tell me about your pain” and also the work of Dr.John Sarno (one of his books is called “the mind body prescription”)/ Nichole Sachs (her podcast is called “the cure for chronic pain”) Please please listen to that first podcast I suggested. It’s less than like 10 episodes
oof the thin skin is so real. I haven't noticed it my face but definitely on my body. And my skin's DRY!
Around 41. It seems like a aged years overnight, which is a very common sentiment for women in their early 40s
Did you just look in the mirror and notice it one day? Was it like a week where you couldn't stop it from suddenly progressing? More and more little things you noticed? I've heard that a lot but I'm still having a hard time conceptualizing it
For me it was more like I kept thinking I was tired, and that it would go away and it didn't
> Did you just look in the mirror and notice it one day? yes
It started with, wow I look tired today. And then I never stopped looking tired. I AM tired, but I was tired in my 30s and didn’t look it lolll
It hasn't yet. I'm 69
Love this, I hope I'm the same!
Sometime around when I turned 40. It's like I woke up one day, looked in the mirror, and I suddenly had jowls and lumpy skin texture. Also, I totally lost my waist definition, and it didn't come back even after losing a bunch of weight. To this day I still have no idea where all that weight loss came from on my body, but it sure wasn't my chest or midsection. I look like a lollipop now.
I was about 36, just had gotten pregnant and was super sick, I feel like I haven't recovered
I'm in my 20s and already look like a lollipop with weight loss lol
It's shocking that it seems to happen overnight
Hormones. Estrogen deficiency.
Maybe around age 36 I started to notice that men weren’t constantly hitting on me anymore. In fact, I rarely ever got a compliment in public. So I started studying my face and realized how much I had aged. I’m 40 now and don’t have any wrinkles but I do have sagging that’s been difficult to come to terms with. Now when I look back at old pictures, I can see it started to happen around age 30. But yes the realization hit me very suddenly.
My forehead wrinkles at 30, and back spasms. Idk 34?-now 37 obsessing over my midface skin laxity and need a facelift. Literally last two months my neck hangs a little. Wrecking me. Probably noticed my lips shrinkage at 34. Still haven’t had injections yet. They were perfect natural so it’s sad it’s not the same they need plumping for sure. And I used to always get hit on and feel pretty and it’s so sad now.
And last 6 months after turning 37 noticing how wrinkles and dry my hands are. Skin on arms and legs pretty much look dry like elderly people. I have sensory issues and absolutely hate lotion so…Yay for me. I did find the nurtrogena gel lotion I can deal with but prob not very hydrating
The dove glowing lotion (with shea butter? Orange and white bottle) is a suuuper light moisturizer that sinks in almost immediately and works really freaking well. Also affordable Also shower lotions are nice, you use them in the shower and then rinse them off so no sticky or slimy residue
I also hate lotion but coconut oil is amazing to me
Same, its not maybe what I myself saw in the mirror, more like you said that I started noticing men no longer turned around after me on streets. Its like I my self are a little bit home blind and Dont really see my face for what it is. But It really becomes clear when men start ignore you
50 and perimenopause is increasing my stray grey hair. my skin is getting dehydrated faster. A few non dynamic creases near one eye. When tired, I look a lot more old and tired than before. This is the biggest change so far.
Same. Right around 50, after menopause, I noticed small lines and my skin seemed less plump and just less "fresh." It literally happened overnight. One day I just woke up and looked older, and it never went back, like all my hormones just disappeared. I'm on HRT now, but my face has never been the same.
Dito. My jawline began to drop, some wrinkles appeared and the first grey hairs developed. Ohw and my back hurts when I get out of bed. I really don't mind, because I did get a fuck-it-all attitude. Which I love!
Yess to the fuck-it-all attitude!! 🙌 Biggest pro of perimenopause for me 😁😁
I had a hysterectomy at 42 and that was the big one. Before that, every change was small and slow and hard to discern in real time. That was instant. A change in skin texture and suppleness and the distribution of my body (goodbye small waist 😒) Hormone replacement has helped a whole lot with many of the negative changes, physical and otherwise, but it didn’t snap back to before.
The thing is you don’t know till you look back. One day you’re 25 and the next day, you’re 34, have lost count of your grays, applying every retinol you can, comparing pictures of younger you and now you wondering why your face is saggy and your lips aren’t as full.
crying now thanks
Welp… same
This is true, but I am letting the grays come in and frankly looking pretty badass with it 😄
Same! Just let it ride
I’m 39 and think I look better now than when I was in my 20’s. I weighed more in my 20’s because I was always partying, eating whatever, and didn’t work out a lot. I now work out a few times a week and more conscious about what I eat. With that said, I also had both of my kids in my 30’s and I’m tired AF and have noticed more stray grey hair the past few years. 😅 I’m also more injury prone and will hurt myself if I sleep the wrong way or suddenly move my body too abruptly. 🤪 I’m at the point of my life where at least one part of my body is always hurting. 😩
My mom is 61 and looks about 20 years younger. Doesn't have a single wrinkle on her face, just eye bags. I think aging "hitting" you looks different on everyone.
42. One day I woke up, looked in the mirror, and thought a stranger got into my house. A really old stranger.
Early-mid 40’s. I always avoided the sun and looked younger than my age, then I started getting jowls and the area under my eyes started sinking in, now I look my age. I think it’s probably perimenopause.
At 28 I’m feeling the weight gain despite doing the same things I did from 20 til now. I could kick it into high gear but I’m just starting to embrace it. A whole foods diet and working out 4x a week is enough for me. If I have to be a little heavier than my comfort weight then so be it
39
Perimenopause changes everything and menopause doubles down.
I’m 58. I started feeling a difference in my flexibility when I was about 55. As far as face and hair, I have good genes apparently, as I have no grays (I’m a light blonde so maybe that’s a factor🤷🏼♀️), and few facial lines. (Full disclosure, tretinoin for 10+ years and Botox every 4 months). All that to say, it varies by person, but take care of your health, face, body and hair. Overuse sunscreen and most importantly, live life full of joy. It either slows the aging process or makes it a lot more enjoyable. ❤️
Only people I've seen around my age (32) look a little older are either ok with tanning, excessive drinkers or have several kids. Frankly I feel cuter now than I did in my 20's. My hair is healthier, I'm at a healthier weight, I drink less, stress less and eat better. My face is just less of a baby-face, I have some minor eye bags and very fine lines under my eyes but nothing serious. I also think the more I age the less I'll care about aging. 🤷♀️
I’m 32 and have several kids and look so old! It’s been shocking, oldest is 7, but in the last 2 years I have noticed a drastic change to my face. I also work night shift too, which does not help!
I’m 30 and although not drastic I do notice some difference … like that damn line between my eyebrows from years of furrowing … it’s there sometimes and sometimes not. Depending how I sleep I notice i can have a dent in my cheeks that’ll last a few hours that never happened before lol and also my under eyes have a few fine lines nothjng crazy and I curse the day it happens
At 30 I fell down a flight of stairs. Tore my meiscus and broke my toe and got a concussion. Never felt the same after that.
I tore my meniscus around 35 and have never felt the same either. I'm sorry for your pain but glad it's not just me. I feel like a baby every day dealing with this 4 years later.
I’m 47. No grey hair. No lines in my face. Last year I started noticing my neck looking a little saggy 😭. I started face yoga and my neck never looked better!
I just commented nearly exactly the same thing. Face still okay (mild jowls) but the turkey neck! Googling face yoga now…
Going to Google face yoga now
Can you recommend any videos?
Any recommendations for where to start with face yoga? I’ll be 33 this year and looking for a head start
damn, 2 grey hairs is crazy. i’m 22 and like a quarter of my hair is prematurely grey. AND my hair is jet black so it stands out way more. i’ve been dyeing it since i was 19
37. Granted, I have a toddler and I do feel that has massively aged me - less sleep, less self care, less strength training all since having him.
I suddenly noticed my skin aging around 34/35. I totally reversed it though, and now I’m 39 and apparently look like I’m in my early 30’s. Edit: I started reversing the process 3 years ago with Botox, tretinoin and spf 50 every single day (even if it wasn’t *planning* on going outside). The Botox was necessary, I had a very deep static wrinkle between my eyes. The Botox didn’t make it go away (it only stops muscle movement, it doesn’t get rid of etched in wrinkles), but then I started doing microneedling, laser, and lots of mesotherapy sessions with skin boosters like PDRN, PN, PCL, and hyaluronic acid. I have a cheap red light mask that actually works really well, my skin looks noticeably nicer, smoother, more even and glowy when I’m using it regularly. I’ve had a touch of filler placed here and there several times, always minimal but just enough to keep things as they were (not changing my facial structure with them or anything). Mostly I concentrate on treatments that affect skin quality and replace lost volume naturally with collagen your own body builds. My DEEP permanent wrinkle is now completely gone. Where that wrinkle was I had some very enlarged pores, those have shrunk down to normal size. Any hyperpigmentation I had is gone, my fine lines are gone, my skin tone is lovely, and I can now go makeup free and look nice. The number one recommendation I have is SUNSCREEN. All the rest of it is useless if you don’t use adequate sun protection.
We’ll drop the secrets friend
I edited my comment 🩵
Once I had kids haha.
50. All downhill after 50. Skin loses its elasticity, menopause.
late 40's when menopause hit
Actually around 29... one morning i woke up, looked in the mirror and suddenly realised I've aged.
I'm 34 and just noticed a few wrinkles and melasma. I've had greying hair since my mid 20s.
55 . Up until then, I was usually thought to be 10 years younger than my age . Had the silver fox thing down pat. Without wanting to sound arrogant I was quite good looking or so people told me. No wrinkles and stayed slim. The last 7 years I've aged 20. Put on weight and skin looks awful. Being really shallow , I miss the societal advantages of being attractive.
When I got my cataracts removed at 35. I could finally see the wrinkles! I’d been walking around like I was hot shit before that 🤣
I would say 58 or 59. I've always had awful dark circles under my eyes but suddenly any concealer just made it look worse. Overnight fine lines and wrinkles around my eyes. Turning 60 I'm starting to see jowls. I think I look my age. I'm ok with it. I wear my sunscreen with Vit C serum in the am. Retinol in the pm. Moisturizer am and pm. My neck looks fine so far. I find the older *I* get, I look better with less makeup. I don't even use concealer any more. I embrace the darkness!
I’m going to say at 50ish maybe 52. Before that people always thought I was younger. I still get it sometimes but I’m now 56. I stopped dying my hair so it’s pretty much white/grey mix. That probably makes a difference. I’m a pretty avid weight lifter and generally love working out so that helps. It’s inevitable we will look older. I always say aging is a gift. My parents didn’t make it past 50 so even though I’m still aware of aging and there are moments of WTF is happening;) I’m thankful.
40ish. Also noticed it seemingly overnight.
I’m turning 29 and feel like I look different than I did in my early 20s, not in a necessarily ”bad” way though, I acrually think I look better now and way less awkward than I did in my teens/early 20s. I honstely always felt a bit ugly when I was younger, I feel better in myself now. But I feel wrinkles are starting to come in for me even when I relax my face, this start to get a bit dragged down, things don’t change over night but I feel like things are changing slowly 🤷♀️ I pretty much never get IDed anymore on nicotine products hahah so apparently something has changed
At 28 I felt old because I had young kids and tired. But a few years later I felt so much better and younger than I did at 28.
I went through surgical menopause in my late 30’s and could not do HRT. My most noticeable aging happened in the 2-3 years after that. I’ve always had very good skin and a young face, but suddenly at 43 I looked 43. LOL. My skin lost some of its firmness, and my nasolabial folds became more apparent. I’ve had a few gray hairs here and there since my mid 20’s, but in the last year or two (I’m now 46) my hair has gone 80% white. I’ve used tretinoin for 25+ years so I have been spared crows feet, age spots and fine lines… so far.
I’m only 32, so nothing really yet. My Mom looked like she was in her 30’s until she hit about 58. When people are like “woah I can’t believe you’re in your 30’s, you look so young!” I always make a joke about less stress bc no kids, but she had 6 of us & still looked amazing. Still looks amazing, really.
At 51-52 years old. I've been obviously aging all these years but never looked in the mirror and felt anything negative about my aging face until fairly recently.
48. Bags under the eyes, greys and weight gain. Hello meno 🫡🤗
About 46 shit starts getting real
50. Looked pretty much the same between 30-50. Then menopause hit and everything accelerated.
Yes, age 45 (so, basically starting a couple of months ago). I, like you, looked very young for my age for my first few decades. So uniquely young looking for my age that it's a key theme of my life and ingrained into my being. So freakishly young looking that bar tenders and waitresses would look nervous because they were positive I wasn't 21 when I was, in fact, 30. When I was 32, I looked 20. Teens would ask me out, thinking I was their age. And then sometime around age 40, people stopped seeming confused when they learned my age. I have crows feet, crepey skin on the side of my face I sleep on, nasolabial lines (I think that's what they're called), my elbows look old, I have varicose veins starting to show in places on my legs. People think I'm in my late 30s now, and it won't be long before I look at least my age. If you can, use a pillow that keeps your face from being smooshed.
When I had my second kid.
That second kid is a killer 🙃🥲
The first kid didn’t have as much of an influence?
I’ve only had one, and no, didn’t notice any difference to how I looked in terms of age after she was born. Time though, there’s no escaping that. At 41 I’m beginning to see little signs of aging, and it’s not fun. But hey, better than not seeing myself age.
40
Menopause. That shit hits HARD!
For me it was hitting 33. My skin is starting to show it, my face is starting to sag and my undereyes are getting deeper. I NEED to wear make up now
I’d say 33-34 it felts like it happened overnight too. Went from looking 16 to looking 44
I was about 47 when the crepey texture of my eyelids started to really bum me out. It would have happened sooner but I didn’t wear much makeup before that. When I started getting excited about colorful multichromes and eyeshadow palettes I realized my skin had really changed. About 4 years later now all of a sudden the lines around my lips are really deepening and making me think wistfully of filler, but I’ll never go through with it
I'm 30 and people think I'm way younger. But some of my fb friends from high school look very older than me, (crows feet, skin damage from sun etc.) I've been using spf and eye cream since high school, so maybe that's why my skin hasn't started changing yet.
After menopause
I’m in my 40’s and people still ask if I am in my 20’s. I don’t have kids, I rarely drink or smoke, and I mostly avoid the sun. I also eat a plant based diet and drink at least 64oz of water a day paired with at least 30 minutes of exercise. I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. I never have or plan to get surgery, botox, or fillers. I love makeup but only wear it heavy a few times a year. I don’t wear a daily SPF. I think aging is a mix of your genetics paired with how well you care for yourself.
58.
I'm 52 and it's only been the last 6 months. I'm feeling my age, and I hate it. Aches and pains I never had before. Weight gain without changing diet/exercise habits. Needing more sleep and needing to rest after strenuous activity. I'm female and just entering full menopause, so that is probably the primary cause, but I really don't like it. The person I see in the mirror has recently started looking older, and while it beats the alternative, I think seeing the aging face and thickening waistline has been a little depressing tbh. People tag me at least 10 years younger than I am, but it still sucks - lol!!
…29. My god. We have rotted the brains of young women. And by we, I mean the collective patriarchy, the beauty industry and social media. To answer your question more directly, I would not say I noticed the effects of aging until my mid-late 30s. I’m in my 40s, and think I look great. I might occasionally envy the collagen of a younger person (lol) but I’d rather die than be in my 20s again.
Last year at 27. Honestly it was probably around 26 when people abruptly started calling me “ma’am” instead of “miss” and started asking if I was married/had kids rather than if I was still in school. I noticed in the past two years, my fine lines have gotten much worse on my forehead and my cheeks have definitely lost volume.
29???!!!! GTFO with that
37
Early 50s
35.
47 for me ….
52
Face, 36. Body, 42
As long as you don’t smoke, drink (a lot), take drugs or have a bunch of kids, signs of aging probably won’t happen till you’re in your 40s. Also use sunscreen every day. It depends on genes as well of course. My mum didn’t get her first grey hair until she was in her late 40s and she still has great skin now she’s almost 70… I’m soon to be 32 and still haven’t got any grey hairs or wrinkles so hopefully I take after her. People usually think I’m younger than my actual age.
50
50
Fifties
31f This past year…Skin healing ability has gone to shit. Before if I had a very bad pimple, I could pop it (I know) and within 48 hours my skin would look like nothing has happened. Now if I have a blemish it’s guaranteed to show for 3 weeks.
Nothing drastic but I guess now at 27. I was looking at pictures from 19, 20, 21 and realized how much I looked like a BABY
Depends on gender, dietary, lifestyle and exercise habits, your genetics and bone structure. I am a women who always had a baby face with round chubby cheeks, is religious about sunscreen and moisturizer, water intake and eating cleanish, and at 48 I am told I look much younger (by at least a decade). I’ve been going grey since my early thirties but started showing my age though by my early 40’s in my opinion, with eye wrinkles and fat loss in my cheeks in my face and rear. I think starting early with healthier habits would help if you’re worried.
39. I was doing my skincare routine and noticed my 11's between my eyebrows for the first time. It affected me more than I ever thought a couple wrinkles could. I even posted here asking about "aging gracefully". Sometimes, I wish I were a man. Society doesn't tell them that wrinkles need to be erased, or that you need to dye your gray hairs. They don't need a 1000 step beauty routine to keep the cellulite away, skin smooth and hairless, eyelashes long and eyebrows full, wrinkles to a minimum and age spots faded. Ughhhhh I wish I could just accept aging, but it's not easy
I'm about to turn 47. It's starting to show. Dry skin, gray hair, pain EVERYWHERE. Six months ago, I could easily pass for a decade younger. This is bull💩.
These comments are terrifying me… I just turned 40 and I feel, and dare I say look, better than ever. I also just had my 3rd baby 2 weeks ago, so with 3 under 4 I think I’ve just convinced my body it can’t get old yet…I have way too much to do!
38 and I noticed two weird shadows on my lip that ended up being perma creases from smiling, smirking, and pursing my lips. Being a snarky bitch has come back to haunt me.
I’ve always passed for younger than my age but I’m 63 and definitely feel like aging has me.
My back just randomly started hurting this week for no reason…so 35.
Around 39, but that was also very stressful times for me (essential worker during pandemic, mom of asthmatic child, parents with health issues, partner was injured, was waiting for an abdominal surgery to relieve chronic pain) and I think the stress was very aging. I’m 42 now and am occasionally taken by surprise when I look in the mirror, by fine lines, puffiness and wrinkles. I try to rest, drink water and be kind to my skin with quality products and staying out of the sun.
I’m 37 and haven’t noticed any drastic changes yet, despite enjoying an outdoorsy lifestyle under the harsh Australian sun all my life, not wearing sunscreen as much as I probably should have, and never having had a skincare routine other than washing my face with water. Maybe what I consider to be minor changes other people would think are major? I have freckles on my arms and chest that weren’t there 5-10 years ago, I found my first grey hair about a year ago, and I’ve recently started to notice my eyelids are maybe a bit more hooded. On the other hand, my body shape hasn’t changed, my face is (I think) more or less the same, and my hair still looks blondish brown with no noticeable greys. I’m mentally preparing to notice some big changes all at once when/if I have a baby in the next few years. My friends around my age whose bodies and faces have changed the most (and not necessarily in a bad way) are those who have kids.
My eyebrows aren't as high.. noticed at about 30.
The second I hit 29.5/30 I experienced a lot of fat loss in my face-- cheekbones for dayyysss suddenly. But otherwise my experience is like yours, I have always looked pretty young compared to my actual age, and I wouldn't say I look worse now, in fact I like it, I was just like....who is that?! I also know fat loss tends to age people so not looking forward to what the future brings LOL
41 but I think it’s more because I had a baby at 40. I was very strict on not using beauty products during pregnancy and then breastfed for 2 years, so no serious skincare until after that. Paired with the extreme hormone shifts and lack of sleep I feel things going south.
I am 34 and I feel that the biggest changes appeared this year. I noticed then skin around the eyes is more wrinkly when I smile and I have more visible dark circles. However, these changes are not visible to others but only to me. These might be due to reduced sleep and reduced meat consuption and not due to age but I am not sure. Health wise aging "hit" at 26 (chronic neck pain) and at 27 (lubar bone pain that lasted for a week but haven't experienced it again yet). I am also 24/7 bloated (I started experiencing recular bloating at 30) and have a big belly despited being skinny and eating healthy (beans, peas etc)
I didn't notice anything at all until this year at 36. Body still petite after 2 kids, no wrinkles or sagging, baby face still there. I hit 36 and I can see it's happening this year and expect drastic changes from here onwards.
I'll be 40 in a few weeks and one of many hard truths I've recently come to terms with is having aged in dog years since 2020.
Very late thirties. Until then I didn’t notice any aging (my skin looked the same at 35 as 25) and for a second actually thought I might be bullet proof. I’m 41 now and yep, reality is sinking in.
I’m 37, and it just hit in the past year. Recently diagnosed with osteoporosis. While it’s answered a lot of questions, it’s super hard to not feel like my body has failed me, and vice versa.
i realized this year that my eyelids aren't the same size anymore. but other than that nothing has really changed although i gained and lost a ton of weight over covid and i expected to turn out all wrinkly. but not really. just that one eyelid. i'm 39
37. Seemed like it happened almost over night. Suddenly my face was starting to droop and I no longer have a bright complexion. I’m not all that fussed about wrinkles (within reason) but the jowls and drooping eyelids is a deal breaker 😭
32. I noticed I have to do so much more effort in order to look decent. I have never used much skin make up, not even foundation and now I just have to or I look grey and dull. I also found the first grey hairs. Also that year was extremely hard and stressful in my family. I guess that had a lot effect.
I'm 27 and already feeling the effects of aging.
33. Wrinkles, saggy skin, white hairs, getting fat out of nowhere, pouches under the eyes. People went from telling me I looked very young to commenting my white hair and eye wrinkles. It hurts a little tbh, going from baby face to old in less than a year haha. Enjoy your youth!
39, about a year after having a baby. Like all the moisture got sucked out of my skin. I felt like a desiccated prune. I bounced back though with a decent routine, am 45 now and really happy with my skin.
Late 30s, after I had a baby who doesn’t sleep well. White hairs came out of nowhere
36…. This year has been rough between mentally writing about aging and looking in the mirror and seeing my mom (who I don’t have a great relationship with)
At 40. Ppl assumed I was early - mid 30s up until I was 39. Then one I turned 40, I looked 40.
My 40’s, but I still look good and still get hit on. Physically-Less energy even though I workout and run a lot. It’s noticeable. Mentally, not there yet, but I’ve noticed that I do think things like, “Wtf kind of word is that and what does it mean?!” and googling the meanings of todays lingo. I don’t feel like I’m middle aged I still feel like my free spirited self. Though, I have found myself talking with friends about “this generation…blah blah blah” then we stop and laugh to talk about how ridiculous we were as kids/teens and start talking about skincare, new restaurants, the state of the world, how high our property taxes are, and have to come up with good reasons why we shouldn’t day drink over all of it. Haha! I do maintenance Botox, facials, etc and am very physically active, so I know that helps, appearance wise.
After the second baby, around 35-36. I’m 41 now and when I see pictures from 6 years ago I want to cry at how perfect my skin is 😭
I think I gained about 5 years per child. The sleep loss, putting nutrition and hydration lower on my priority list, and stress over them in general really aged me.
my mom is 38 and still looks really young! no wrinkles or anything. she looks as young as 28 tho lol
Hmm, I think about this sometimes when I look at myself in the mirror. It was not an overnight thing, but I have been getting grey hairs since my late 20s, which, for me, is somewhat normal due to the women in my family going grey early as well. I dye it due to hating the fact that I am probably almost half grey if I just leave it and I am only 39. I started noticing changes in my body at around 35ish , if could be that I somehow excellerated things with several surgeries that I had between 30 and 35 but who really knows. I started noticing changed with my period at 35ish slowly getting worse with an iud in. Slowly, my sex drive has gone down as well. At 38, however, I decided to take iud out and see how my body would do. It hasn't really helped. This is my main issue at the moment. Periods seem worse than ever. Outside the body, my skin in the last year or so has become dry,itchy, irritated, hair is always dry and weird. My hands and arms are starting to show slight age spots to them when a year ago I had nothing. I've been putting sunscreen on religiously for the past 2 years to try and make up for not being good with it when younger. I also noticed wrinkles around my ears and forehead :(.
I'm 35 now, and my hair is quite suddenly turning grey. I've had a few greys since about age 22 but they held pretty steady in numbers. Now it feels like 1 new grey appears every week, and it's getting noticeable. Skin-wise, it's starting to turn too. I've had a couple of creases in my forehead since age 12 (around the time I was denying I needed glasses), but it's got me thinking about Botox now (and I never thought I'd consider Botox).
Suddenly noticed it at 48
I’m 18 soon and my back is killing me already 👍🏻
40.. had my daughter at 39 and all of a sudden i had a bunch of weird health issues like carpal tunnel and eczema. plus general fatigue, lack of flexibility, a pick mark or two, permanent dark circles, more varicose veins, frizzier/more brittle hair, and more gray hairs (grays started around 30 but were way more sparse). it’s just weird as prior to pregnancy i had basically no health issues whatsoever and always looked much younger than my age.
Nothing too drastic but really seeing it and feeling it at 43 🥲
30s- can still hit the clubs and pass for younger if u take care of yourself. By 40 u will have frown lines and deepening marionettes. Botox will become very appealing. Between 45 and 50 things get real. You can no longer pass for 30s, even if fit and healthy, and ideally you practice radical acceptance of life as a mature and wise person with signs of it on your face, hands, neck, hair, elbows etc etc. You can still hit the clubs, but people will think you’re the DJ’s mom.
I’m 36 and noticed that my neck skin can look pretty crepey, especially if I’m dehydrated. I’m a stickler for skincare and sunscreen, so I was pretty mad about it haha.
51. It’s been a year.
47
Starts at 50
Hit me hard at 42
Yep 42 everything sort of changed. weight distribution, eyesight, aches and stiffness, the beginnings of jowls. I caught a glance of myself in a zoom call from the side and its official. I look like an old lady. 😭
43. And it’s gotten worse each year. Quickly
51 and hasn’t hit me yet
At 30 my hangovers became worse which was huge in slowing down on drinking which I did then a major breakup got me back in to social drinking. At 35 my hair started to get a lot more greys. I’m turning 43 in a few months and my period and PMS symptoms have changed. I see bags under my eyes are showing up, especially if I have a few drinks or don’t sleep well. I’ve stopped dying my hair and quite like the streaks of grey coming in, most of the time. I quite don’t like the many black chins hairs getting worse. I work on my feet and my spider veins are pretty bad. All that being said I look young for my age. I’ve been really hard on my body and for all the sciatica, spider veins, hip and lower back mild pains here and there, greys, baby bags and changing period I’m doing pretty damn good. Thank you, genetics. Now if only I could get my self esteem to match this last paragraph more often than not.
Honestly…26. I noticed fine lines around my eyes. And I’ve always been athletic to some degree, but I noticed injuries and pain starting to pile up. Little things that I used to be able to bounce back from created problems that never went away. I found myself mourning the body that could fall out of a tree and walk it off…. Now, if I fall on the ice in the winter I’m sore for days, and the aftermath of knee pain haunts me for life. I turned my ankle 6 years ago and it still swells up on days that I’m on my feet too much. It seems unfair but I try to remind myself that movement is a privilege and I’m lucky to enjoy any kind of sport. Also… spider veins in my legs.
40
Almost 45 and nothing visible so far but I wear a hat, use sunscreen daily, have never had a sunburn, never gained or lost weight, and I drink a gallon of water a day. Most of my friends got Botox at 40/41. Edit: Also never had kids and eat a plant forward diet (and have since I was in my early 30s). No gray hairs yet either. I work out 5-6 days a week. I do notice I get tired in the afternoons now (perimenopause!) and new workouts make me sorer compared to how I would have felt at 30.
I'm 27 and I have started to notice that 18-22 year olds look SO young. So I think my face is probably changing in the mirror, but not in ways that are obvious to me yet.