For me, I really miss my hair. It really sucks balding
What is the one thing about your appearance that you miss as you aged?
Well my face aged about 20 years when I lost a lot of weight in my early 60s.
I thought I was doing really well regarding wrinkles but apparently it was just facial fat plumping everything out :)
I am chuckling at age 61 and needing to lose weight. There’s a good reason not to!
Kidding aside, yesterday my sweet DIL gave me a Fitbit, and I am determined to get my steps in.
I got one for Mother’s Day a few years ago. It was great, and I lost a ton of weight.
My face looks great, but I got a look at my arms from the side, and decided no more sleeveless tops for me.
I have Mermans, and they flap in the breeze when I raise my arms. So much for still being cute!
That was kind of her. If you have an iPhone, it’s been tracking your steps anyway so you can peek at your average and know how much you’ve improved since getting the Fitbit and being conscientious about activity.
Android phones do that too with the Fit app. It is part of the free apps that come with Google's Android operating system.
iPhones are sneaky in that they track your steps, etc without you knowing about it until one day you open the fitness app out if curiosity and you already have months of data to browse through. Kinda freaked me out.
My wife calls this the face/ass ratio. Either your ass is big or your face is saggy.
every time I lose weight, my boobs get smaller. When I gain it back, my ass gets bigger. My panties get tighter and I'm able to wear a training bra at this point. I am a pear.
I was an hourglass once. I am now a legit APPLE. I’ll take your pear over this any day
I took off 100 pounds when I was 65 by portion control. The pounds came off a lot faster than I expected. No face/ass ratio. Everything just got thinner. Today I have a bald spot on the back of my head and there's a lot more gray. When I shave, the two wrinkles on my neck get in the way of the razor, so it's a slow-go. I might consider getting an electric shaver. The last time I used one of those I was in my 20's.
Diets bring changes at a certain age. I lost a lot of weight in my mid-60s and the loose skin didn't tighten up that much. I got "air brakes" dangling from my upper arms.
My weight's gone up and down. I dieted around age 40 and lost most of my butt. Never came back, even when I gained weight again.
I think someone should invent jewelry for bat wings.
We call them bingo wings in the UK. After the game that old ladies are supposed to love.
This is my experience too.
I used to be young and ugly but now I'm old and even unglier
I teach at a university. There are so many young women that look like models there. However, some don't seem like the best type of people once you start talking to them. I know "beauty from within" sounds trite, but trust me - it's true.
Difference for me us now I just don't care
I feel like too many people think they are unattractive and realize they weren't as they get older. You're probably better looking than you think.
Have you tried smiling more /s
Stop saying things like that about yourself.
I don’t know you; I never will, but I just have to think that maybe you’re being too hard on yourself.
I miss seeing myself in photographs. Nowadays, instead of me, it's a picture of my mother.
This is me! I hate it so much. She wasn't the best mom and now I have to see her when I look in the mirror. I want my face back.
how bout I can't even brush my teeth at the sink anymore bc of this?? shower brushing now.I put make up on with a tiny mirror that prohibits me from seeing the whole face. i never allow photos if i can help it. not vanity. just dont want to see patsy lou
I mean this with all love, I hope you’re in therapy. That is an extreme reaction to your own face.
I can totally relate.
Apparently I am the spitting image of my grandmother (who died young). Every so often my mom will turn to look at me and will kind of stop in her tracks. “You look so much like my mom I can’t believe it!”
Aww, That must be hard for you mentally, but at the same time I imagine it's quite comforting for your mother to still have her mom with her in a way she hadn't expected.
Ooof. Yeah, I’m feeling this one.
My picture is now my dad’s sisters.
Mine is Uncle Junior from the Sapranos
I've turned into a female carbon copy of my dad. :/ At least I got good hair colour genes from him - I didn't start going grey until my mid-40s.
Me too, unfortunately I’m a man.
Well, I'm sure you're quite fetching, sir. :)
Grandma for me, luckily she was much nicer than my mother, and I've always had her rugby knees, so my bingo wings n chins remind me of my Nana! And I give her a thought, instead of worrying! I also don't clean my mirrors except for bathroom mirror,
My hair. When I was younger I had thick beautiful hair, it was my one vanity. Now between age and medication, I only have about 1/4 of what I used to have
I (61F) take Finasteride and my dermatologist prescribed me a scalp topical that is minoxidil/finasteride/latanoprost/biolin. My hair is way way thicker than it used to be. I also do microneedling at home (not as often as I should).
I’m so scared to do this, although I need to. I’m afraid I’ll get ten years down the line and find out the meds I used for thicker hair cause vaginal cancer or something
I'm almost 68. About a year or two ago I lost about half of my hair when I had two medication caused TIAs and then COVID. My waist length hair fell out or broke off to shoulder length. My hair ended up very thinned with a few pretty big, awful bald spots in the back. Having had amazing hair for all of my life, it was very depressing.
I'm unable to use products like minoxidil, rogiane or other similar meds as I already have very low blood pressure and am missing a liver enzyme where I can't metabolize a lot of meds, (ergo the TIAs after taking estrogen).
Taking a supplement called Nutrafol along with using a scalp program from a company called Harklinikken has brought all of my hair back and then some. A friend of mine was losing a lot of her hair. Her doctor told her to do this. She told me. Both products are pricey. I'm so skeptical of these things, but at the point I had reached I would have tried about anything. Not saying it will work for everyone, just extremely surprised and very relieved this worked so well for me.
My hair started thinning in 2020. The amount I found around the house and especially in the shower drain was shocking. I finally started taking Biotin and Collagen and I’m noticing much less both around the house and in the shower drain. I think I’m starting to see it fuller than it’s been too but that’s taken a lot longer to notice.
Same! My hair is easily less than half the volume it was in my teens. Intense weight loss did a number on me and malnutrition hasn’t helped at all. I’m hoping a new multivitamin I’m taking will help. Already noticing a difference in my nails :)
My hair was so thick it used to be like a mop. Now my hair doesn’t weight me down. I feel free.
65 and still have good hair, including the ones now growing out the tip of my nose.
My 30 inch waistline as a teen.
I was so skinny. I have a photo of myself at z wedding. I remember thinking I look so fat. I wasn’t fat at all. 😭
I was just telling my brother the other day that it is so sad all the years I spent hating my body and thinking I was fat. I look at the pictures now and I looked great. I'd give anything to look like I did then. Wasted the best years.
Someone once told me that if you hate yourself in photos, wait 10 years and you’ll LOVE those very same photos.
Not me My braces and pizza face at 14 I wouldn’t relive those years. I didn’t even like to look at me
Same and it sucks when I think about it.
Exactly! What were we thinking?
Not me I had a 28 inch waist line and long hair and two guys walking behind me were talking about some lady’s nice ass and I turned around to see her and they saw my Jesus look I was rocking at the time. I got a haircut the same day
As a guy with long hair and a better ass than most of my exs, I’ve had this happen. The hair stays, though.
I’m also 6’2” and fairly muscular/broad at the shoulders…guys must have been particularly thirsty.
Yeah - I used to be able to use a bandana as a belt. Those days are long gone.
Yep, 23" waist. Now? I don't dare even look sideways at a tape measure lol.
My 23" one! 😩 I was a skinny teen. I liked being skinny, so being skinny, my long wavy hair, my dimple, my flat belly.
Oh and my boobs. My beautiful apple shaped perky size B boobs. I had great boobs!
I use my belly button to decide where my waist is now!🤣
Anyway, I actually don't care about any of that. I like how I am now. Just wish I could some pounds but no desire to weigh 113lbs anymore. I would look like death warmed over. My fat is plumping out any wrinkles (I don't have any at 71!) and holding everything elsee up against gravity!🤣
Perky boobs and tiny waists are for the young and I'm no longer young. Don't care!🤷🏽♀️
I still have a 32” waistline.
Lots of sacrifices and exercise which I don’t mind. My face…looks like it stepped on a landmine.
They say it's either face or figure. What they don't tell you is you don't get to choose which. I think most of us would choose a middle path if we could.
Perky boobs. I hate wearing a bra!
This is the biggest thing I miss. I’ve always been quite large chested so they were never what I’d call perky, but good grief they’ve stretched out!
I put swiffers on mine and I can now dust the floor..😂😂
😆😆😆😆 when I saw this notice I had to come rushing back here to see what I commented on where swiffers would work! Literally LOL’d! Thank you for that! I’m not quite there yet but I’ll remember this tip!
Can I borrow them. I lost my swifter!
😂😂😂… I’m a retired bartender and I used to walk into the bar and shout out “Hey, you guys wanna see my titties”.. all the guys would hoop and holler and I would lift up the bottom of my jeans…😂😂.. gotta laugh about it, there’s no other way…
Gravity is cruel
I used to have very silky, wavy, shiny hair. I have salt & pepper hair now and the grey hair is coarser and duller. I don’t mind the color, but I miss the nice texture.
My wife has full, silky platinum hair. She use a bit of almond oil before shampoo, and something shining after. She's in her seventies, and so beautiful.
They purple shampoo. My white and gray is quite a bit brighter when I use it a couple times a week.
The loss of melanin in the hair makes it seem coarser and rougher. I started using a hair color made from a plant called velvet bean, which actually puts real melanin back into your hair instead of artificial color, and while it's a pain in the ass to use, it makes my hair texture so much better in addition to coloring it. If you're not interested in coloring your hair, I believe the company has another product that uses the same plant extract but just enough of it to make gray hair smoother and nicer textured. I haven't tried it and it's hard to find reviews because it's a very small obscure brand but it might be worth trying. I don't think it's nearly as difficult to use as the actual hair color version of the product. https://www.myhairprint.com/products/revive-duo
Interesting! I don’t want to start dying my hair again, but the other product might work.
Nothing comes to mind, which is how i want to age. Sure I'm losing height, growing around the middle, have less on top...all the expected stuff--but I honestly can't say i spend meaningful time missing any of those things that are no longer real. 100% of it will all be dust one day but that is also not real right now. I'm working on being good with accepting 'what is', and your post helped remind me to stay in the moment. Thank you for that.
Gratitude and acceptance = maximum joy.
Amen!!
My figure. My butt has gone flat and my waist has gotten bigger. Even though I lost a lot of weight 6 years ago I can't get back to the way I looked when I was younger.
I would kill for my 30 year old body again. I can’t believe I always thought I was fat…until I got fat.
When did you start gaining weight? I feel like it’s been easy to gain weight 35+ but I was thin at 30
Around 33 or so. I also met my husband around that time and my love language is good so…. He never gained a pound!
I have 'back' fat now :(
Me too! My butt is so...flat now. I always had junk in the trunk, but now it is flat and saggy, I have but wrinkles and folds. What the literal fuck happened?
Supposedly we lose muscle tissue and tone with age. It's so disheartening. I've decided to concentrate on other things.
My legs. Won a legs contest at 26. Boy do I miss them
You just don’t see Leg Contests happening anymore.
Maybe missing teeth will be a big contest that we can win!
Are you an amputee now?
I have pretty severe Rheumatoid Arthritis. My hands were just like my mom's. She passed a long time ago. I could look at my own and see my mother's hands. Now my fingers are turned and bent and disfigured from the RA. I hate I can no longer see my mother's hands in my own. I was only 22 when I lost her. It was a small piece of her I carried with me. But now...my hands are a mess from the RA. My pointer on my right hand is turned half way around. Other fingers are bent at weird angles. It's just like losing her again.
💔 This broke my heart. I feel for you in part because I have my mom’s hands too. But think of it this way: you carried that part of her for many years. And she would be happy to know that you’ve lived a longer life than she was able to.
Thank you for your kind words.
Being skinny without trying
I miss my old proportions (sigh). I was and am fat, but with age, I am a beach ball. I am bigger around the waist now than when I was 90 pounds heavier.
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20d
Same here. Menopause really does a number on women. And I chose not to have kids when I was 12 years old, so the "mom bod" upgrade when I hit about 42 or so was particularly disappointing.
I remember the night my butt became big enough that it took two movements to comfortably roll over in bed at night instead of being able to just flop in any direction and be comfortable. I was 42.
They don't make mirrors like they used to.
I miss things being so funny that I laugh so hard my ribs hurt. I'll chuckle but just don't drop on the floor laughing so hard that I can't breath anymore. Just hasn't happened in a long time. Have laughed so much I teared up though so I guess that's what I traded it for.
I miss being able to laugh until I was on the floor and my sides hurt, also. I haven’t laughed like that since 1975.
well...for me it's 2016 but that's when the first of my friends that I grew up with died
Same.
I have jowls now. My skin is hanging off of my jaw bone. It’s horrendous.
My belly. I have one now. I didn't before. (I'm very tall. it's irritating).
My eyebrows. They used to be awesome!! Where did they go?!?😞
Right? My leg hair is going away too but I’m not so upset about that.
I miss my skin, which used to fit nicely.
Sigh.
This turkey neck depresses the fuck out of me. I used to have a nice perky ass from years of cycling and running, gone. My hair used to be soft.. sigh
Try L'Oréal Professionnel Molecular Repair Leave In Cream. When I was in Sephora recently, a sales rep for the brand saw my miserable, coarse, dry hair (that had just grown back from an illness), and pushed me to try this stuff. He was very friendly and looked like a short Stanley Tucci. Figuring I had little to lose, I let him put some in my hands and then rubbed it through my hair. My soft texture almost instantly returned. It was kind of amazing really. Now using this stuff regularly, it really has improved my hair texture.
I'm 30 this year so I'm still a spring chicken but I will miss my natural red hair when it starts to grey. I will probably dye it to keep the red! Seeing people around me lose parents at such young ages (mainly to cancer) reminds me that one day when I'm old and wrinkly it will be a blessing because so many people never got the privilege to experience old age.
My right eye.
I already had eyes that were somewhat crooked (one eye higher than the other). To finally correct the resulting double vision at 50, I got a prescription that forces my one eye into the right position. But when I have my glasses off now, that eye now points inward. To make matters worse, when I was around 45, I got a severe sinus infection that damaged some of the nerves in that same eyelid and it now droops to about half closed.
So now I have one crossed, droopy, crooked eye.
My flat pre-baby stomach. I’ve had the permanently pregnant look for the last 20 yrs!!!
My upper lip. 🫦 where did it go?
I complained to my daughter about losing my upper lip. She asked, “What’s there now?”
“Just more face,” kid. “Just more face.”
Since I have always been hideous looking any loss of specific characteristics as a result of aging has been a blessing.
I noticed the same thing happened to some of my oldest friends. They were sharpely ugly, as young people, and now are simply ugly...
haha "sharply ugly" lmao
I wish when my hips and back didn't hurt.
And when it rains? Getting up out of a chair is PAINFUL.
Yep, we can definitely predict the weather now… I can usually feel it a few days before it actually starts..
My husband jokes about it all the time. My knees are more accurate than any meteorologist.
Has anyone else sprained something just getting out of bed too fast?
Yup
I got a referral for physical therapy who taught me what I need to be stretching and how. Best money I've ever, ever, ever spent. I had lower back pain everyday and now never. Literally cured it!
I had a really nice rack. Then a medication caused me to gain 60 pounds. Then I lost the weight and they were deflated and saggy. I want to get a breast lift.
My beautiful hands.
Being slender.
Nothing, because we inevitably change. My grandmother taught me that when I was 20 and asked why didn't she dye her hair like my other grandmother. She was a bad ass woman who was very loving, and didn't take shit from anyone. She's the yardstick I measure people by.
My Mom died at the age of 40 and I’m turning 47 soon. I appreciate my grey hair and would never dye it because it’s a normal part of aging my mother didn’t get to do. I have long, curly (usually unruly) hair with grey streaks. Love every strand of it!
I have never heard/read someone else expressing the same mentality I have toward aging. My mother died at 40 too, and we have the same face. Since her face didn’t get to age past this point, I am letting mine do the natural aging process thing. Your comment brought me a little joy - I’m not the only out there who feels this way.
There are more of us out there, you’re never alone in anything!
I adore Justine Bateman because she’s an advocate of women aging naturally. Nobody is supposed to look 25 forever. As we age, we look exactly as we should! And we are still beautiful!
Two minor things bug me.
I have a waddle.
I now have slightly sunken cheeks, that gives me a gaunt look, a bit like Grand Moff Tarkin but not as much, unless I smile. So, I try to remember to smile.
For your cheeks, get one of those sports mouthguards that you drop in boiling water to shape and fit. Wearing it at night while you sleep will support your cheeks and minimize the hollows. I started doing this a few years ago, and the difference is obvious. It also reduced the small lines around my lips. I realize this probably sounds unbelievable, but it really works!
After having 4 kids I really miss my flat stomach. I'm not exactly huge now but my stomach is ruined, I lost the baby weight from everywhere except my stomach which just pisses me off more
The elasticity of my skin and my joints.
What’s up with the crepey skin?! It really makes me feel old.
I feel like I’m single-handedly keeping Clarins in business 😂
Their double serum and lift cream do wonders
Does this actually work on upper arm crepey skin? If so, I'll buy it in bulk.
It does great for the décolletage and turkey neck. I haven’t found anything that can’t tackle the bingo wings, although the Nécessaire body lotion does really well at making it less ‘papery’
My jawline
Posture, between spinal stenosis, spinal arthritis and few hundred other medical problems!
I've developed a Dowager's Hump. Not sure if it can ever be corrected.
Being skinny no matter what I ate though I was never a big eater. Eating habits did not change. Thyroid crapped out on me and now? I gain weight even looking at food. I will never get used to it. All the way into my 50s only weighed between 110 and 120 lbs. Then BOOM! Can't lose weight no matter what. I just hate it as I am short, small boned and the extra weight is hard to carry around.
This is me. I hate my stupid thyroid gland. I hate that I gained 35lb between starting to feel ill and getting a diagnosis and I hate that I've continued to put weight on ever since. It's 28 years and it just continues to get worse.
Omg I totally get you. At 19 I had abs and didn’t even try. And I ate crappy foods. Now I have a belly and I eat super healthy. It’s not fair.
Having only one chin.
Just my hair that has gone missing and I'm about to file a report.
My neck that didn't look like an old lady's vagina
Hair, definately.
My hair's still good, albeit with more gray than before. But I miss my smooth skin.
Hair. Started balding in my 20s and now there is very little on top so I buzz it all off.
My unwrinkled skin.
I (64F) lucked out as far as facial wrinkles are concerned; my mother had very few wrinkles because she was diligent about limiting sun exposure (sunscreen, hats, etc.) and I always followed her lead on that. What I DO miss is tight upper arms. I hate those "dingle-dangles" from sagging upper arm skin.
My eyes. My eyelids drooped but not enough for Medicare to pay for the surgery and I had pretty eyes. Also having a waist. I'm a good weight, but I'm built like a post now.
My arms I miss my thin toned arms. I had such naturally pretty biceps.
I miss being able to wear contacts - between dry eyes and not seeing great at all 3 “distances” it’s just not possible anymore to wear them comfortably and see well. ☹️
My youthful beauty and being A Hot Babe. Now, I'm just an old bag. But, then? Oh man, it was WONDERFUL. There's a certain power in having every man in the room, immediately stop everything they are doing, just to stop and stare at YOU, drinking you in with their eyes, like an ice cold lemonade on a hot summer's day. And, I LOVED every minute of it. LOVED it.
Now, everything sags, nothing fits. I don't do medical surgical interventions. I let nature happen, after all, I was blessed by nature to begin with, so why mess with it now?
It's kind of nice to be invisible, for the first time in my life, finally. To be able to anonymously disappear into a room, invisible and unseen, never noticed at all, is completely wild to me, and while it's not bad, it is definitely different.
But while it wasn't? That was nice, too, and very powerful. I loved every moment of it, I admit. Pretty Privilege is definitely A Thing, and I'll not lie, I did so enjoy it.
Now, I can barely get everything standing up straight without EVERYTHING hurting SOMEWHERE. I'm glad I had as much as I once did, for as long as I could. Life happens to us all.
I really do miss having my hair come out of my head the correct color. I now have to spend $250 every six weeks to get it to be that color. I'm happy that it's still full and thick though
Embrace the gray! Your natural hair color will look best with your skin tone anyway. I'm so glad I stopped fighting it.
I'm only 53 so I will fight on for another little while here
I don't like my neck
Perky boobs.
I miss my old weight. Not so much because of appearance but because of the impact it’s had on my overall health.
my normal bladder
Tight skin.
Healthier teeth.
You can lose weight and build up a bit of muscle when youre older, but it’s really difficult to fix skin. Wear sun screen. We hardly ever did in the ‘60s and ‘70s. People even tanned on purpose. We were idiots.
I still feel great about myself. Still looking pretty good and recently dropped 10 lbs. however my hair is a little thinner than it used to be and it’s driving me up a wall.
Having eyelids lol
The neck. Man, never thought I'd have to think about my neck
The energy I had. I miss that the most.
My hair
Supple skin
I may be able to win a farting contest
I mostly miss looking 25.
My lovely face. My old lady face is "okay" but it doesn't feel like ME. 😞
I miss my old jawline the most. When I use my hands to lift those jowls place back in place I look 10 years younger. Nothing has aged me as much as gravity has.
My legs. I was an athlete (speed bicycle). Then I got knee problems and had to use a cane when I was 40-something, and eventually had an accident and lost a leg. Now I joke my wheelchair is just a bicycle assembled wrong and do wheelies on it for fun. :)
My butt. Apparently it was one of my best features, but a couple of years ago I saw myself in the mirror, and it is flat with no definition.
My face sans hyperpigmentation!
Youthful, elastic skin. My skin now remembers every insult, however slight. Not to mention past transgressions (sun, pimple popping, etc.) coming back to haunt me. And while some sections of my face look like lizard skin, others break out like I'm a teenager. It's all very annoying!
Skin elasticity.
Yep, hair was nice.
Nice plump skin
I miss how good my hair and makeup look 2 seconds before I put my glasses on. Used to look about the same
I was actually doing okay, then I had radiation treatment and I aged 15 years in 24 months. It’s awful. I look older than my mother.
My face shape is now like Mr. Potato Head, it’s bizarre, it changed completely, like sagging around my jaw or something.
My wife of 57 years used to like it when I walked around without a shirt. Now, not so much.
Smaller boobs. For some of us they just keep growing as you age, and not in a good way.
Aged neck
Now I am makeup free. When my skin looked perfect with makeup. It’s not worth putting foundation on anymore because it highlights the wrinkles. I did always want to be free of makeup.
My hands. I had beautiful, smooth hands. Long elegant fingers.
Not looking tired and world weary
My hair.
Just my youthful face and body.
Being lean and having good balance and strong arms. Oops, that's more than one; sorry.
I miss my beautiful, youthful nose and ears. Did y'all know those get bigger as you age? I don't think I ever noticed it until it started happening to me.
It's also shocking to see my neck starting to look like my dad's. Horribly shocking, actually, since I'm female.
What young people should try to understand is that we see old in the mirror but inside feel much younger as we did years before. We only “look” older but inside we are the same as you, feel the same and like to be treated as such. Remember, your days are numbered as well. Always respect the seniors in your life and in public.
I didn’t gain weight—I can still fit into my high school pants 45 years later, but I miss enjoying my reflection. I truly, desperately hate unexpected FaceTime calls where I have to see the real me.
Having kids ruined my boobs and flat tummy, and rando men feel like they can shame me for it. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
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