Rue began her role as Blanche in 1985. Here is her 1985 photo (not the one posted above)

Anonymous wrote:Sunscreen
Tretinoin
Botox/lasers
Weight training
Better dental care
Better teath.

Rue McLanahan v Jennifer Lopez comes down to skin care and treatments and hair style.

J Lo is the exception, not the rule. I get so sick of people on DCUM acting like that's what typical 54 year olds look like. She spends more money on beauty than you make in a year.

Anonymous wrote:Sunscreen
Tretinoin
Botox/lasers
Weight training
Better dental care
Better teath.

Rue McLanahan v Jennifer Lopez comes down to skin care and treatments and hair style.

I had to look at pics of them at the same age to compare: Rue actually is not more wrinkled or older looking than JLo in terms of face (most pics we see of Jlo are edited). The #1 issue are the hair and clothes. Put long hair and current clothing on her and she will look maybe 5 years older tops.

Most people don't smoke and know not to roast in the sun now.

Sunscreen
Tretinoin
Botox/lasers
Weight training
Better dental care
Better teath.

Rue McLanahan v Jennifer Lopez comes down to skin care and treatments and hair style.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We stay out of the sun and don't smoke.

People drink less alcohol as well compared to the 70s and 80s

I forgot fitness. Women are definitely more active than my mother’s generation. I know many women in their 50s who run marathons. Growing up in the 80s, women walked and played golf, maybe did some jazzercise (the 80s version of Zumba). The really “sporty” moms played tennis.

Anonymous wrote:I watched On Golden Pond recently and was shocked that the characters were in their 60s (Katherine Hepburn) and 70s (Henry Fonda). Based on my current own family/friends aging, I would have guessed 80s and 90s. They looked and acted very old compared to people in their 60s/70s today.

Two words: Wilford Brimley in Cocoon.

Anonymous wrote:We stay out of the sun and don't smoke.

People drink less alcohol as well compared to the 70s and 80s

Sunscreen and fluoride.

I was born in ‘78 and have had fluoride my whole life. My teeth look great and I have all of my original teeth with no crowns or root canals - unlike my parents who had silver filings in their back teeth by their 40s and 40s.

Sunscreen in an SPF greater than 8 was rare until the 90s and then 15 or 30 were the highest. It was also chalky, sticky, and expensive. A culture of wearing sunscreen for things other than vacation or a day at the beach didn’t exist until the mid-90s. Women who grew up wearing spf moisturizer every day of the year are just now turning 40. I have elementary age boys and they have never had a true sunburn, only a few times have they looked bit pink and it healed overnight. They wear spf 50 on their face in the summer and spf 30 in the winter. Their generation will look so young compared to mine.

ha! I bet in 20 years, people will look at us and say how old we looked.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hairstyles and clothing styles have evolved a lot over the years which helps a lot.

Exactly, women in Victorian times wore long dark dresses and hair up in a bun.

Although well-to-do women also avoided the sun like the plague, so their skin was probably very nice.

Hair coloring #1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Take Rue McLanahan and give her a modern haircut and clothes usually seen on an average professional woman (not a celeb) in her early 50s today. She wouldn’t look old at all. We just associate that big hair, frosted lipstick, big earrings, pastels/prints etc. with Greatest Generationers in the 80s.

It is more than that. It is diet, working out, sunscreen, better attitude on life, less stress (no Great Depresssion or WWII).

It is not just looks. It is what people are doing. Today someone who is 60 is doinbg things and has a lifestyle that someone 45 had in the 1950s. And it continues. People who are 70 for the most part do and act like people who were in their 50s acted a half century plus ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Take Rue McLanahan and give her a modern haircut and clothes usually seen on an average professional woman (not a celeb) in her early 50s today. She wouldn’t look old at all. We just associate that big hair, frosted lipstick, big earrings, pastels/prints etc. with Greatest Generationers in the 80s.