Confused ? why do people always think ? I am as old as them

At my boyfriend's 21st birthday party someone asked me what I'd done for my 21st. I was 17.

When I was looking for a new job at the age of 50 I was advised by a young friend to lie about my age. She said I could take off ten years. Very flattered I said "Ten years? really? Is it my new hairstyle?" to be told "No, I don't mean you look younger. You don't look younger but you've got an honest face and people will think you wouldn't lie"!

When I was 61, someone told me she thought I was about 40. (She probably should have gone to Specsavers).

I’ve put up with it all my life nearly.....all my family starts greying at 14 or so , and by the time I was 30 I was totally grey. Never bothered me ...always had a young cut ....but I do know that people will always see the grey hair before they look at your face! Now at 69 ..... I actually look younger than I am.The last time I went to hospital with my husband , the nurse referred to me as his daughter, made me laugh but he was and is still furious about it. He said he wouldn’t go back ever again....and he hasn’t. I told him that if you refuse to look after yourself, don’t be surprised if people make the mistake. He looks 90 and is 73. Just make sure you keep a youngish cut , and being grey won’t bother anybody.

I also had the opposite experience. Several years ago I was at the park with my very young grandson and the mum next to me thought he was mine. I was so proud to be a Grandmother that I decided to let my hair go natural so no one would make that mistake in the future.
My husband hated it so I now have bleached hair but I do miss my brunette.
Still very, very proud to be a grandmother and now have four little beauties to love and enjoy.

At the weekend I ordered a set of kitchen knives online and I confirmed I was over 18. Yesterday I received this email.. I almost felt it was an accolade!

"This is a GDPR notice to let you know that you have been successfully age verified by AgeChecked, on behalf of: Robertwelch.com".

DH who's in his 70s, has been very ill recently - in hospital. When his dad phoned the ward to ask after him, a nurse came in to tell DH while I was there. She looked quite shocked and visibly she began to treat DH differently! No longer was he an old sick man, but someone's son.

My in-laws are a remarkable couple in their mid 90s, independent and interesting.

I find it hard to guess ages so try not to, it's safer. When I was 8, I was collected from school by an 18yr old friend. "Is that your mum?" I was asked. Poor girl was mortified. I was rather pleased as my own mum was 40 and grey haired.
Surely health and happiness are more important than looks?

I wonder whether you are looking at this the wrong way round. Perhaps the people who are older than you have a mental image of themselves looking younger than they really are,

I was chatting with a much younger co-worker one day.
(She was around 30 yrs.; me 55). She says “I hope I dress as nice as you when I’m old”. I could only cringe.?

I knew I must be getting old when I dropped something in M&S and a floor walker hastened to pick it up for me. I think he thought I’d never get up if I bent down. To be honest that wasn’t far from the truth!!

Polnan, a very dear lady at church shares my birthday. We call ourselves birthday twins although l am 55 and she is 91.
On a slightly different note, it is quite common for elderly people to ask me to guess their age. My reply is always that I am no good at guessing ages and that they will have to tell me. "I'm 88, you know," I'm told to which l exclaim, in feigned amazement, "Never!" They always beam at this response. I could, of course, have been thinking that they looked more like 98...they will never know.

A bus driver had the cheek to assume I would remember some music he was playing from the 1960s. I was incensed at the assumption. I'd heard the songs, but not when they first came out. And I also detest the "at our age" bores. Speak for yourself if you must but don't drag anyone else down with you.

This confirms my thoughts on letting my hair go grey and why I'll keep on getting it coloured

I love masks, they hide my 10 chins and those pesky hairs which only appear when I'm out, as I need specs, effectively not much of me from above my neck is visible!

I had my last baby when I was 29 and on my records I was recorded as an older Mother.
In the 70’s there were many strikes and where we lived (in the UK) there was no coal, no bread, no sugar, electricity was limited to a few hours a day due to strikes. In fact work was extremely difficult to find with Britain being on a 3 day week.
Fuel (petrol) shortages were the norm with long queues meaning public transport was the only means of travel. Milk was not regularly delivered. Many many factories we're shutting and never did recover. Hairdressers were only open a few hours a day due to restricted electricity. We had a deep freeze but limited electricity to run it!
This is forgotten by many and not known by the youngsters. Sometimes being old comes with knowledge.

she HAS, a lovely young face

I have a friend who went grey in her thirties. She is 59 now I think, but has always looked so much older. The sad thing is, she had a lovely young looking face, but all you see is the grey hair, and it instantly ages her. People can’t see past that. I’m 61. and have been mistaken for being my grandchildren’s mother, a bit older maybe, but still not old enough to be a grandparent. I’m lucky, I still don’t have much grey, but would NEVER leave it. If only my friend would have her’s done. It would take 20 years off her!

Glorybee

You could say, ‘I don’t think I look too bad for 103!’

I always say I'm much older than I am when asked and I get gasps of appreciation....?

Cabbie21, not quite the same, but I learnt my lesson about making assumptions when I was ticking off candidates as they arrived for an interview. 'You must be Paul then' I said to one candidate as I got near to the end of the list and there was only one man's name left. "No', came the frosty reply, 'I'm not a boy, I'm a girl!' I think some people are over-sensitive about age, but I think taking offence was a reasonable reaction in that case. In my defence Paul never turned up!

I went silver after cancer treatment and you are right that, with a mask on, everyone thinks I am a really little old lady. (I am 71 but not an old lady type!) Recently in the supermarket as I was talking to a very young check out girl she kept saying "Bless" after everything I said. I felt that she thought I was a sweet little old lady but then I realised that , when I was her age, I probably thought everyone over 40 was a little old woman!

For my 50th birthday my Mum joined me up to SAGA (magazine and all!) triumphantly proclaiming "You're one of us now!"

I'm 72 and have stopped colouring my hair, since "lockdown". I was often taken to be much younger, despite rarely wearing makeup. However, as a teenager, I tended to be considered "older" or grown up, compared to my my friends and co-workers. I haven't got back to going out yet - so it remains to be seen what difference my now grey hair will make. I still have some dark hair around my face and at the back of my neck, though. I would much have preferred things the other way round!

Even now I'm mistaken for my sister's mother. She is rather glamorous at 60 and I'm 73 so in terms of ages, I suppose it's just about possible. I certainly didn't appreciate it at age 13 or 14 though, when I would take her out as a baby!

Forgot, go grey gracefully.

I would absolutely love to have white hair, it looks so distinguished. Mine is all "pepper and salt" and looks really dull.

My hair won't go grey. My Mother's did not until later, (96), nor her sisters! Runs in the family, like Bunions.

Re-colours, we are all still warm and upright, why worry, go with the flow, wear what you like. Life gets shorter, every day, I'm told.

Make the most of it girls. I can remember being offended when people stood up for me on buses and the underground, and when they offered to carry my bag or bent down and spoke slowly and loudly to me. Ten years on and I find myself being grateful for their thoughtfulness. I cant pretend to like the doctor calling me darling, however.