Anonymous wrote:Stay out of the sun, wear SPF 365 and sunglasses. Don't be a runner. Walk a lot. Don't smoke or drink. Limit your stress and be generous with sleep. You will look young for a long time.

+1. This is me. But I drink rarely. I have stress but I sleep. I stay out of the sun, wear SPF and don't run or smoke. People routinely mistake me for 10 years younger than I am. Often comes up at work (people think I am too young for my job) and with other parents who assume I had my kids young. I did not.

Anonymous wrote:For me it’s totally genetic. I have oilier skin that when I was younger wasn’t great Bc of the acne but now is a blessing Bc it means I have very few if any fine lines as compared with my peers my age. People think I have Botox but I haven’t. I also have fuller cheeks, but a thin body overall. My fuller cheeks gives me a baby faced look that also prevents that sallow look many women get as they age. Finally, although I’m 40, I have very few grays and a very rich dark brown tone naturally so my hair is naturally smooth still and not kinky.

Gurl, you are only 40. 45-55 is when most women age rapidly. I had very few grays at 45, and thought I had dodged a bullet. It's a different story now at 48. Greys are multiplying, the skin on my brows isn't yet drooping, but it's giving me hints that it is going to start. My neck is looking... not the same. Whatever. I can do what I can -- eat well, exercise, sleep. Beyond that is genetics. I want my body to move well and feel good. I want to be able to go on swimming, biking, and hiking adventures with my kids. I want to stay up late laughing with my friends. I want to ACT youthful way more than I care about looking youthful. Sweating over every sag and wrinkle is the opposite of youthful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:White teeth
Glossy, sleek hair
Natural look / minimal or not obvious makeup
Curly, long eyelashes (lift looks better than falsies)

OOOooofff!! Not the fake or long false eyelashes. That is very awful. It does not make people look younger. They just look like old drag queens. And those long eyelashes when it's not a formal event, but just everyday wear looks very trashy.

Your lashes get short and sparse with age. If you’re 30, a lift is all you need. At 50, high quality, natural lash extractions are your friend. Go somewhere that gives you a choice of looks and communicate with them.

I'm 52 and my lashes look great (full, eye opening) with regular old mascara. Not everyone needs drag queen lashes later in life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:White teeth
Glossy, sleek hair
Natural look / minimal or not obvious makeup
Curly, long eyelashes (lift looks better than falsies)

OOOooofff!! Not the fake or long false eyelashes. That is very awful. It does not make people look younger. They just look like old drag queens. And those long eyelashes when it's not a formal event, but just everyday wear looks very trashy.

Your lashes get short and sparse with age. If you’re 30, a lift is all you need. At 50, high quality, natural lash extractions are your friend. Go somewhere that gives you a choice of looks and communicate with them.

Anonymous wrote:White teeth
Glossy, sleek hair
Natural look / minimal or not obvious makeup
Curly, long eyelashes (lift looks better than falsies)

OOOooofff!! Not the fake or long false eyelashes. That is very awful. It does not make people look younger. They just look like old drag queens. And those long eyelashes when it's not a formal event, but just everyday wear looks very trashy.

White teeth
Glossy, sleek hair
Natural look / minimal or not obvious makeup
Curly, long eyelashes (lift looks better than falsies)

I think a youthful personality goes further than looks.

Anonymous wrote:My mom is 78 and looks about 60. Really. She just got lucky with her genes. She has light brown hair and has grayed a bit all over so her hair looks somewhat highlighted/frosted. She has few wrinkles and barely wears makeup. She maintains her hair well and wears nice clothes that fit well. She is regularly hit on by men in their 50s or 60s.
I hope I’m as lucky as her when I’m older. I’m 39 and look about 32, mostly because I have very few grays or wrinkles, though both are starting a bit.

My mom is exactly the same. She is getting hit on constantly since she became a widow. My dad looked even younger in his mid 70s. He didn't even have much grey hair and almost no wrinkles with his olive skin, even with our beach vacations and being on a sports field in the hot sun all of our youth. They also walk fast, very active and zero mobility or strength issues. Can bound up stairs.

I'm 52 and seem to be exactly like them. I have seriously been mistake for my 17-year old's older sister. No joke. I have about two grey hairs in my brunette hair only and no wrinkles, just some faint crows feet when I smile. No forehead wrinkles. I also still beat people half my age in exercise classes, races, etc. I have not hit menopause and that may be part of it.

I'm nearly 50 and get surprised looks once in a while when I talk about my young adult children. Being lean, not be dressing old lady. But not dressing too young either. Less is more for makeup. Also I was sitting with some friends (we had been at an orchard picking fruit,). One woman was surprised how I was sitting and told me I sat like a young person. Legs crossed, tucked under. We were all sitting outside. I never thought of sitting as a sign of looking younger. That being said I don't groan when I get up from sofa or a sitting position.

My mom is 78 and looks about 60. Really. She just got lucky with her genes. She has light brown hair and has grayed a bit all over so her hair looks somewhat highlighted/frosted. She has few wrinkles and barely wears makeup. She maintains her hair well and wears nice clothes that fit well. She is regularly hit on by men in their 50s or 60s.
I hope I’m as lucky as her when I’m older. I’m 39 and look about 32, mostly because I have very few grays or wrinkles, though both are starting a bit.

Anonymous wrote:If you're white, after about 35 or so, a lot of aging comes down to sun exposure. Whatever you did for the past 20+ years in terms of sun, catches up with you fast. If you were in the sun a lot, you start to get the "tells" (hands, neck, chest, crows feet, brow lines, etc.) then, so anyone who is actually good at guessing age (I am a savant in this way) will be able to spot those tells in your skin. People who are checking IDs or whatever may be nice, but people who know skin generally won't be as kind. That's probably a smaller number of people, but I have never actually met another white woman where I have been shocked by her age or thought she was 10+ years younger. There's a split though in mid-thirties to forties where some people look more or less the same and others go to aesthetic hell, so maybe that's the callout?

My sister in law looks like a college student. She’s 34, very fair and has two young children. There’s just something about her. She’s thin, petite and very sweet. Its hard to take her serious because she looks so young. She has a great sense of humor. Unfortunately, she got a lot of joint pain after children. She feels like an old lady.

Anonymous wrote:People who say you look younger are BSing you. Period. Sure maybe 3-5 years but no one looks 20 when they’re 40+. The one possible exception is women who are very petite, meaning 5”3 or less and very thin. From a distance they can look younger because they have a more childlike frame but up close you can tell

I don't think anyone is claiming they look 20 at 40+. That would indeed be laughable.

I've always looked about 5 years younger than my true age. At 18 I looked 13, at 25 I looked 20. And now at 43, I look late 30s, so the degree that anyone gives a sh!t about the difference between 38 and 43.

A PP mentioned this and it's true: around 40, for most women, there are two paths. You either start to go to hell or you maintain. Unless you a celebrity and have access to certain tricks and tools that are out of the question for even wealthy regular people, you are not going to go back in time. But with decent genetics and some good choices on your part, you can maintain. And I think that's what OP and others are mostly looking for. Not to look like a college coed but to simply not go to hell.

I have been fortunate thus far in that I have not gone to hell. I'm not trying to look young forever. But I am trying to take good enough care of myself, in a variety of ways, that I don't fall off a cliff. Sometimes you can't control it -- a health issue, the grief of losing a loved one, a personal upheaval like a divorce or job loss can all take a serious toll on your looks at this age that wouldn't necessarily have happened in your 20s and 30s. But accepting those possibilities as uncontrollable to some extent, you can stay active, take care with your skin and clothes, and pay attention to your mental health. You won't look 20, but you won't necessarily look your age, either. I'm not trying to shock anyone with my true age, but I don't want people looking at me to be able to see every day of my 43 years. That's all.

Filling in thinning eyebrows and styling hair that hides that it is getting thinner/has a receding hairline. Both those things go a looonnnnngg way.

If you're white, after about 35 or so, a lot of aging comes down to sun exposure. Whatever you did for the past 20+ years in terms of sun, catches up with you fast. If you were in the sun a lot, you start to get the "tells" (hands, neck, chest, crows feet, brow lines, etc.) then, so anyone who is actually good at guessing age (I am a savant in this way) will be able to spot those tells in your skin. People who are checking IDs or whatever may be nice, but people who know skin generally won't be as kind. That's probably a smaller number of people, but I have never actually met another white woman where I have been shocked by her age or thought she was 10+ years younger. There's a split though in mid-thirties to forties where some people look more or less the same and others go to aesthetic hell, so maybe that's the callout?

Anonymous wrote:A great, supportive, lifting, minimizing bra.
Shiny hair - grey hair isn’t great guys. I know it’s in style, but almost none of us are pulling it off.
Thick hair
White teeth
White eyes
Obviously being thin is mostly good… to a point. Some people take it to far and then it also makes you look old.

Grey hair is like the trend from 10 years ago with models having huge gaps between their two front teeth. It sorta works, but it has to be your ONE imperfection. Like if everything else about you (your face, your body, your style, etc. is absolutely FLAWLESS it can be rocked. But for those of us that aren't former model Swedes with bods 20 year olds would envy it's generally not a great look.