I am 23 years old and I have the face of a 17-19 year old.

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OneStepBeyond
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16 Oct 2010, 1:32 pm

yesterday a few people said i look 18 and someone said i look 13. da f'ck. i dont think i look particularly young at all:S



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16 Oct 2010, 2:04 pm

I wouldn't bother that much about it... it may be annoying now, but people with childlike facial features tend to look younger all their life (if they don't work on their age by smoking and sunbathing), which means that in the long run you'll benefit from it. My parents (especially my mother) are in their late 40s, but most people think they're younger.

I'm sure that I inherited that childlike look (the relation between my mother and me is more than obvious), but I don't really get to notice it. I don't smoke or drink, and so don't give anybody a reason to ask for my age. Actually I'm surprisingly young for a German student, so most of the students at my university simply assume that I'm older than I really am.



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16 Oct 2010, 2:11 pm

I'm 29 and am still being asked whether I'm actually a mature adult! :lol: By the time I reach 50 I might actually look like a proper adult.



Last edited by Booyakasha on 16 Oct 2010, 3:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

XshadowX
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16 Oct 2010, 2:14 pm

I'm almost 28 & people still guess my age 17-19. Not one person has ever said over 20 before :lol:

I'm loving it :)



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16 Oct 2010, 2:44 pm

I work in an office where I am thought to be in my late thirties. I have people asking me 'how early did my hair start to go grey?' thinking that somehow it is all just 'premature' and are shocked to know I will be 60 next month.

I think the person that mentioned if we don't use our facial expressions that much, not smiling or frowning (or smoking or sunbathing) but when at rest have that 'flat' thing going on, we just don't wrinkle all that much (and carrying a few more pounds than most can 'plump' the facial features, too.) Our actions have a lot to do with how 'old' people perceive us as well. I remember, a couple of weeks before I found out about Asperger's Syndrome, I was skipping down the hall at work wondering why older women didn't include me in their gab sessions in the cafeteria, etc. At the time, I thought it was because I didn't have children or grandchildren to yakk about, but now I know different. Even if I couldn't tell, their instincts told them I was 'not one of them'. I am sure my attitude and body language confuses them enough to just peg me as immature and therefore 'younger' than what I am.

Personally, if I didn't have to make a living for myself and have to be with those people every day, I would not care what they thought. I tried not seeming to care while working with them, but they have ways to make you very miserable if they think you don't care about their opinions.

well, I am venturing off topic, here. But I have always been thought much younger than what I am by the calendar.


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CockneyRebel
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16 Oct 2010, 3:35 pm

I'm 35 and people tell me that I look 22.


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16 Oct 2010, 4:10 pm

I'm 25 and someone thought I was 17. I've always looked younger than I am.



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16 Oct 2010, 4:13 pm

I'm 23 as well and people who don't know me swear I look 16 or 17. I had to take four years off of school because a medication messed up my brain and made it imposssible to learn. So I think looking like a high school student when I am still in high school isn't half bad. I was also VERY fit as a child and young teenager and never got involved with drugs or achohol and I think that played a role as well. I'm not complaning. I hope I grow up to be one of those people who looks like they are in their 30's when they are actualy in their fifties.


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Asp-Z
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16 Oct 2010, 4:13 pm

Quote:
I am 23 years old and I have the face of a 17-19 year old.


Feature on a moisturiser advert saying that and you'll be paid a fortune! :lol:

But yeah, it is common among us.



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16 Oct 2010, 4:22 pm

PunkyKat wrote:
I'm 23 as well and people who don't know me swear I look 16 or 17....I hope I grow up to be one of those people who looks like they are in their 30's when they are actualy in their fifties.


It was that way for me, too. I am now 31 and people still think I'm in my late teens/early 20's. My mom (who does not have AS) is young-looking too, so it might be partially genetic.

My bf is 4 years younger than I am. When we've gone to bars/clubs when he was performing, I got carded before he did! On other occasions, we've both been carded.

I also hope this "youthful" look lasts. :wink:


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LAEMapsie
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16 Oct 2010, 4:40 pm

Im 24yo and think I look around 18-21.



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17 Oct 2010, 4:47 pm

I've commented on this phenomenon before and given my theory about it:

It's known that a feature many Aspies have is struggling to read non-verbal communication, i.e. facial expressions and body language.

I figured that if we struggle to read them, perhaps we struggle to communicate in those ways as well, perhaps we don't make the same facial expressions, or to the same degree. So whereas an NT will frown or laugh more using their whole face and develop frown lines and 'crows feet' and wrinkles due to that, if Aspies don't do that, or don't do it to the same degree, so if we're not making the same kind of facial expressions, we're not going to develop the same kind of frown lines and crows feet, we're not going to be so wrinkly.


[I got carded in NY when I was 30!]



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17 Oct 2010, 4:57 pm

EnglishLulu wrote:
I've commented on this phenomenon before and given my theory about it:

It's known that a feature many Aspies have is struggling to read non-verbal communication, i.e. facial expressions and body language.

I figured that if we struggle to read them, perhaps we struggle to communicate in those ways as well, perhaps we don't make the same facial expressions, or to the same degree. So whereas an NT will frown or laugh more using their whole face and develop frown lines and 'crows feet' and wrinkles due to that, if Aspies don't do that, or don't do it to the same degree, so if we're not making the same kind of facial expressions, we're not going to develop the same kind of frown lines and crows feet, we're not going to be so wrinkly.


[I got carded in NY when I was 30!]


I've heard that theory before and I think there is some validity to it. I also think that people with AS have an honesty and innocence within their eyes that causes people to think they are younger than they are. There are many times people are shocked to hear that I have two grandchildren, at my age I don't mind that a bit.



hyperlexian
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17 Oct 2010, 5:30 pm

websister wrote:
EnglishLulu wrote:
I've commented on this phenomenon before and given my theory about it:

It's known that a feature many Aspies have is struggling to read non-verbal communication, i.e. facial expressions and body language.

I figured that if we struggle to read them, perhaps we struggle to communicate in those ways as well, perhaps we don't make the same facial expressions, or to the same degree. So whereas an NT will frown or laugh more using their whole face and develop frown lines and 'crows feet' and wrinkles due to that, if Aspies don't do that, or don't do it to the same degree, so if we're not making the same kind of facial expressions, we're not going to develop the same kind of frown lines and crows feet, we're not going to be so wrinkly.


[I got carded in NY when I was 30!]


I've heard that theory before and I think there is some validity to it. I also think that people with AS have an honesty and innocence within their eyes that causes people to think they are younger than they are. There are many times people are shocked to hear that I have two grandchildren, at my age I don't mind that a bit.

i had considered that theory as well.

i look quite a bit younger, according to other people (to me, i just look like my own self). but i currently have a sun allergy and i colour my hair. plus i apparently don't dress for my age, and my personality IRL is kind of hyper and cheerful so maybe there are other contributing factors.


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the_curmudge
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17 Oct 2010, 5:47 pm

I too looked young for my age and I acknowledge that it is indeed a painful and frustrating situation when you're in your early 20's and trying to be taken for a full adult. It does get better with time, either because looking younger turns advantageous or you begin looking your true age.

Whether or not it is spectrum-related has been discussed in a number of threads and I would sum up the conclusions as: maybe.



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17 Oct 2010, 10:33 pm

29, people often mistake me for 19-22