Did people look older in the past?

OK, so you share photos of your parents as teens, and having fun.
And then the shock - that was aged 21?
That looks like aged 40 today!

Is it just dated fashion, or better food and lifestyles, or maybe a psychological trick?
Or why did people the same age as us look much older then?
I mean soccer players - the national team in '79.
They looked like 40 to 60 today?

Anyway, it seems not only I have noticed it:

a reply to: halfoldman

More sun exposure and chain smoking takes its toll.

Youth was invented by Charles Dickens and expanded by Rock and/or Roll jungle beats in the 50's

Going to school in the snow uphill both ways also ages people

How did one of my favorites - the "Fonzie" - get to play a teen on Happy Days?

I guess it must have been what teens looked like at the time.

Norm Peterson on Cheers: both the actor and character were supposed to be 34.

OK, granted aging is subjective and varies, although it doesn't make characterization in fiction any easier.

a reply to: halfoldman

I have noticed that yankees for example, age really quickly for the eye.

Maybe they have some weird hormones in their food or something.

originally posted by: XipeTotex
a reply to: halfoldman

I have noticed that yankees for example, age really quickly for the eye.

Maybe they have some weird hormones in their food or something.

Yankees? You should go to Lubbock, Texas. Must be that sun exposure and chain smoking Camels.

a reply to: olaru12

Or Wisconsin. Beer and cheese and this harsh climate ages the people here 10-20 years.
Im lucky being Asian nobody can ever tell my age.

Back to the question, did people look older? Heck yes.
Hairstyles, bad skin care, and a harsh life imprinted on ones face and body.

originally posted by: halfoldman
Or why did people the same age as us look much older then?

A lack of preservatives in the food chain compared to now.

My parents looked pretty decently young and so did my uncles and many of my aunts. The Aunts that had over six kids did look quite a bit older at a younger age though.

The sun can cause people to look old and these days a lot less people are out in the fields or working out in the sun as much. Also, you could stand up a spoon in the coffee cup. It used to be much stronger, and although it does have health benefits, it does tend to make the skin look older in ways. But do not fret, now they have again started making very strong custom coffees which are pressed and do not have the filter to trap the terpines...so in the next five years people who drink this crap will be looking older again...unless of course if they eat a lot of bacon.

Did Elisabeth Taylor play Cleopatra (who actually died aged 39) when she was late teens?

Maybe, but is that the aspiring face of a young woman today?

The film was a flop but Taylor received critical acclaim for her mature portrayal of her 21-year-old character. She was just 16 at the time.

www.bbc.com...

I got told I looked twelve when I was buying beer for the 4th of July. I was kind of offended at first, but then when she started flirting with me it became rather awkward.

I usually get that I look like I'm in my early twenties. It's not often that someone actually guesses that I'm in my early thirties.

I'd say it's mostly good genes, eating right, staying hydrated, and not getting sunburnt too often.

Honestly, if I wasn't a two to four pack a day smoker and borderline alcoholic and spending quite a bit of time out in the open waters under the sun for a substantial amount of my late teens and early twenties I probably would look like a baby.

I'm glad that I'm still pretty healthy for all the crap I've been put through and put myself through. I feel like I'm too young to have the aches and pains I've got, but I've lived a rough life so I guess it's just the nature of things.

Hell, I think it's hilarious that I'm starting to get more back hairs. Sometimes I'll be scratching my back and feel a two or three incher hangind out all by itself until I yank that bad boy out, and I'm glad that I've still got hair on my head despite every other man on my mother's side of the family being bald by 18-20. I'm actually pretty happy to see that my temples are greying. I always wanted that look.

But really, and this is an unprofessional opinion, but everything I've read and looked up leads me to hold the opinion that people judge age by physical appearance.

A major factor in physical appearance is pretty much the skin, specifically the skin on one's face.

Certainly a major selling point of makeup, which has even had an uptick of sales with heterosexual men who wish to hide their own blemishes.

But there's limitations. It's far more easy to guess a person's age by looking at the skin on their hands, joints, neck, etc.

When you do things that cause your skin to lose elasticity, and cause the health of your veins to deteriorate it becomes harder to hide.

So, wear sunscreen, eat right, maintain a moderate exercise routine, stay hydrated on the right stuff and your skin and veins will thank you.

Other physical factors, in my opinion, are things such as posture and how one walks.

If you hobble around or have trouble walking you're either old, have some sort of affliction, or inebriated.

There's things like how one conversates, how healthy their eyes look, etc. Their hair. It all comes together to give a somewhat close ball park age range that if someone asks me how old I think they are I'm usually either right on the money or only a year off in either direction.

But the main indicators of old age or at least # lifestyle for me is wrinkles, sagging skin, varicose veins (all caused by loss of elasticity), dull eyes, bad teeth without indicators of drug use, dentures if their obviously not young.(illness or bad diet).