What makes us look older?

dorri

Could it be that our skeletal structure changes, and the skin and muscle follow?
Also as people age, their skin thins out, their eyes sink in, their noses droop and their ears grow longer, that's gravity pulling everything down!, down!, down!. We could always try and stand on our heads so everything will fall back into place...hee hee

I have to agree with some of the other replies that more than one factor contributes to the way we end up looking?

Perry2

I was looking t a couple of well preserved 40 somethings lately, Madonna, and Nicolette Sheridan. As Kellie mentioned earlier it is the underlying structure that tells the tale. Both ladies, and in particular Madonna who is a bit older and also more "ripped" have a sharpness to their features they did not have 20 years before.
At 40 and up we cannot duplicate the way the body suspends it's subcutaneous fat at age 20. In order to hold the slim dimensions of youth you will note these very fit women also have lean, almost hard looking faces. Skin fold thickness changes with age. As you get older, fat calipers will measure greater thickness but still indicate the same body fat percentage. A subtle movement or redistribution of subsurface facial fat will show the years. You can find 19 year olds that have similar skin, eye area, and cheek areas to 13 year olds. The extreme symetry and tightness of youth. Skin that has never been stressed or stretched and no gravity action beneath it.
I have never seen a 30 year old with the skin of a 13 year old and certainly not a 40 year old. The 40 year old skin will not have the sheen of a teenager, except when stretched by surgury, and even then, what fills things up beneath the skin, most obviously around the eyes, has moved. The single area that I notice the most is around the eyes. When you see a woman as old as 25 that has the perfect tight skin around the eyes it looks odd. Google the image of the actress Sarah Carter from the TV series "Shark".
I think it is natural for ones face to get a bit squarer in the jaw area with age, perhaps due to increase in jaw muscles from chewing, but that is more for comparing the same person at different ages rather than an indicator of greater maturity.

pantherwrestler

I think it has to do a with a lot of factors, some contollable and some uncontrollable. For instance, if your genetic makeup makes you look older then other people at a younger age and you hit aging early, this is out of your control.

But something that could make you look older like not maintaining a healthy weight and not eating right, while another person is leading a very healthy lifestyle and appears to be much healthier looking, is in your control.

PeytonP

Excellent observation. I wouldn't have known how to describe it, until you mentioned this.

dorri

I just asked my husband the same question, using Madonna, Nicholette, and Demi as examples. He said "put two photos together, one from before and one from now, and what stands out most, is their faces have gotten longer and thinner, and the roundness of the face is gone. Just thought I would put his two cents in. Now bring out the helium...hee hee...: D

legallyblondied

Personally, I think it has to do with attitude......your mind set
regarding age affects your whole persona. You can be "old" at 20, 30 or 60........Karen

kleeko

I am 57. Until this time last year, I looked a decade younger. I had sudden health problems followed by surgery and resulting permanent disability. For many months I looked a decade older. But I am feeling better and more comfortable and I am looking more like I did before. I smile. I have pictures before, during and after and current. It was a shock to see the transformation there and back again. I think attitude has everything to do with how we look!

janx

Hi, We are overlooking two of the most obivious, smoking and sun. That sexy tan in your 20's will cause wrinkles in your 40's and sucking on that nasty cigarette makes one look so much older so much sooner! Just an opinion.
brenwill

Saverain

I'll guess dehydration but then again there is hormones and just plain getting older.

How I would hydrate myself, in other words get water into my cells. Minerals are constantly passing in and out of cells and what goes into the cells when this happens, water. So by passing these minerals in and out of the cells as many times as possible you cleanse the cells. To do this you need sodium and potassium and water. Sodium (salt), potassium (banana) and water (H20). Get a bottle of water add a few dashes of salt and a little lemon juice, mix and your have electrolytic water which will pass more easily through the cell. If your low on potassium eat a banana. I like to use pineapple juice instead of lemon, works better.

opple

Gravity makes us look older when it wins out over everything we do to fight it, lack of good nutrition, poor posture and too fat or too skinny. Loss of muscle tone is a dead giveaway, too.

And yes, I agree about loss of hormones. Say what you want about HRT but a number of women are convinced they looked better when they went on it. From everything I've seen, read and exp'd myself I believe not enough estrogen makes for sagging, thinner and wrinkling skin, flaccid muscles, and a drawn sort of look.

Jagiello

Hair colour went grey 32 died hair till 50 then went grey white etc, Up till then i did not feelold or look it then sons friends said see your granddad is meeting you now.Go blonde I think and very long.

GentlemanJim

You also have to take lifestyle and environmental conditions into account. People who drink and smoke will often look much older than their same age peers. If you live in a big city the pollution will take it's toll on you too.

IZZY'SMOM

Im greatful for my family genitics. Im in my mid forties, and am always mistaken for at least 30, and a few times 25. I never wear any makeup such as foundation, ect. and do use a very expensive skin care, and wish that I would have taken better care of my skin, because Im always outdoors, and tan, and super athletic. I know that all of my relatives [Im Dutch] have the same luck. Maybe its the Nordic thing, I dont know.
I live where its very very dry. High altitude and cold. I notice that whenever i go to a more humid location my skin looks like it did when I was 20. So i have a system in the home that always keeps it pretty humid. Proble is that the temps here are sub zero, so the condensation freezes, and your window areas have to be treated or replaced if the water damages them...
But there a price to pay for everything, isnt there?
I also take a liquid supplement every day, because even though I try to eat well, Im too busy to eat sometimes. Plus, before I was on chronic meds, I loved having a cocktail or two, and I cant anymore, and not drinking helped with the hydration factor as well.
I can notice alot of difference though in my appearance as I age, even if others cant.
Id love to get plumping injections, ect, but Im a chicken!!!
Oh yeah, someone said yellow teeth...Im a fanatic about that, and I think it makes a HUGE diff. on anyone.
Theres a TV show called " Ten Years Younger" and its where they do makeovers on women? One of the FIRST things they always do in about every episode Ive seen is bleach their teeth. Or bond. there no time for vaneers, but the teeth always get it!~
Clothing also makes a difference, for instance I dont wear jeans way down to my crack [scuse me] nor would i wear the ones higher on the waist, either and yesterday my friend told me that her hubby wants her to try a pair of the lower jeans. Shes really fit, and she tried on a pair of mine, and the difference was amazing! Im sure he'll be thrilled. LOL, and actually she liked the fit better as well.
xoxoxoxoxo
IZZY'SMOM

Sustasha

I assume we're talking about aging only in the face.
Brown or liver spots, drooping eyelids, yellow teeth, double chin, drooping nose (noticed more in males) that gap between nose and mouth on both sides, )naso-labial folds), smaller eyes than before.
MANY of these things can be corrected surgically. My daughter has a little, teensy nose; it will never look old. It's way too small to droop. She's 41 and she does have an inherited double chin like I have. ANYONE HAVE OR HEARD ABOUT LUMINEERS? They are supposed to be like putting a white contact lens over the tooth instead of veneers where they saw it to pieces.
The drooping eyelids are a huge concern because the dr. has to get them just right or you Could look worse. The famous pianist Liberace had his eyes done and he never could close his eyes again.
Let's not forget knowing how to apply makeup. It can work wonders.
But I am not a believer that a young attitude makes you look younger in the face. I think it's an illusion, that it makes you seem young in Spirit.
What blows me away is how attractive a man can be loaded with wrinkles.
Not your average man on the street but famous men; they just look good to me regardless of the wrinkles and folds.