Looking younger

[amyhenna]

Has anyone else noticed that tons and tons of people with braces think they look younger than they are before braces, and think they look even younger with braces? What is up with this? Do only people who think they look young get braces?? Or do most fifteen year olds think they look five? At what age do people start thinking they look younger than they are, and does everyone else really perceive the world at large as ten or more years younger than everyone actually is? Are we all such terrible judges of age, or are people looking younger than in previous generations?

[Kurisu]

Honestly, racial stereotypes already cause people to perceive me as looking younger than I am. Coupled with braces, my co-worker asked me to deliver something and referred to me as "a student" to another co-worker in a different department. @_@

I'm guilty of thinking I look a lot younger than I do now that I have braces on. I would say I could pass for 10 years younger as I am also very petite.

I mean, everyone looks different, and a lot of people try to look younger. Hey, I pop in Forever 21 occasionally when I am searching for fast-fashion party clothes for cheap. I see some women who are double my age shopping there, as the clothes are youthful and trendy. Nowadays people can be so obsessed with looking younger that it's a whole other ordeal beyond braces...

I hope I am interpreting your post correctly.

[amyhenna]

You sound like you really do look young.

But I've seen a trend lately of tons of people thinking they look younger than their age, seemingly just by their own judgment. Apart from the braces world, I have a sister, a coworker, and a friend who all think they look like they're in high school. They don't

So for them I would say it is a bit of delusion, But I wonder about the world at large. I've done searches outside of the board on people who have braces and many note that they already looked years younger than their actual age, even pre-braces. It makes me wonder if people who either really do or at least think they look young tend to get braces, or does everyone think they look young...not just braces people? Or are kids just looking older these days?

Is forty really the new twenty-one? ;>} Do fifteen year olds think they look five? What does any age really look like, given all the modern day "enhancements"?

I guess I wonder how people decide how old they look. Is it a lot to do with how they feel? I'm much healthier now than I was ten years ago and "feel" like I look younger now than I did then. Something tells me I'm one of the delusional ones

[Realizingadream]

Dear Amyhenna:

I have been told by lots of people that I look younger than I am, both before I had braces put on, and since then too. I never know if they are "humoring me" or if they really think it.

I have always thought that everyone thinks they are about 9 years old. Isn't that the perfect age? Old enough to make a lot of choices, young enough to think you know it all, waited on hand and foot with laundry service and a car to take you everywhere, a built-in mom secretary to see to all those pesky appointments for you.

I'm a darn sight older than 9, though, but I did get braces when I'm in my 60s and now I am in college and soon I will be getting a new job. (I couldn't afford them until now, and that, barely.) The people I have known who have had braces recently, have pretty much looked their age. BUT NOT ME I am FOREVER 21. Huh. Or perhaps just a wee bit on the delusional side....

Maybe I should surround myself by people who look old...so I'll be the young'un.

Real

[amyhenna]

Hey Realizingadream,

Nine was a great age! I was already anticipating my first set of braces at age nine. Ahh..the days

The strangest thing happened after I posted that last night. Some kid (young 30s?) came up to me while I was biking and started talking to me, and asked if I was a STUDENT?? I burst out laughing. I think it was a line, like the kind you hear of guys having to pick up chicks. But it really made me wonder if everyone on this planet is some horrible judge of age! He kept asking questions to gage my age, I think. (e.g. "Do you have any kids?" "Are you married?")

What I can't remember is...did he ask me if I were a student before or after I mentioned that I got my water bottle free from my orthodontist??

And then on the way to work today, a DJ on the radio was saying she looks "at least six years younger than her actual age". How in the heck does someone decide that/?? Not five years...not four years...but SIX years younger

Lucille Ball advised people that the way to stay young forever was to lie about your age, but did she mean to lie upward or downward? If I say I'm 90, everyone will think I look spectacular for my age

[SunshineRay]

I got carded when out to eat last week. Ahh to be 21!