Actually, I'm older than that.

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Does anyone have any tips for how to deal with it when your face looks young, your voice sounds young, and therefore people think you are younger than you are, they act surprised, and they might not take you as seriously?

I am 26 now, and I have yet to take it as a compliment that people have thought and still think that I was/am a chunk younger than the actual number.

Blunt answer: you'll have to suck it up for the next 20 years, then it will start paying off

OK, that's not helpful and neither is suggesting growing a beard - worked for me.

My wife looks 15 to 20 years younger and she's tiny: what she did in the past was using makeup and a more formal/elegant (basically "grown-up") style of clothing to look closer to her actual age. Worst case scenario, she would resort to snark and sarcasm and she is the only person I've known who can obviously and deliberately "look down" on people much taller than herself.

Sorry for the jokes, I hope I didn't offend you, I know how patronising and annoying it can be to be treated like that and many people react in such a stupid way to a youthful appearance in a completely unconscious/automatic way

Look young, sound young, act young >_< I don't think an older body would do me any justice. I am wiser in years but like I lack that authoritarian appearance and nature so I'm better off this way. I did have some 19 year old coworker at one point which made me feel a bit mature because of how past her issues I already was and had gone through but like honestly i respected her to the degree of even having been older than me >_<

Yep, I have gotten that all of my life. I'm 53 now and everyone thinks I'm about 10 years younger. Its kind of a problem when you are young but when you get to middle age it will be a huge blessing.

Same here! I don't mind as much now that I'm in 50s and pass for under 40!

Generally I would think it is a compliment. My wife looked years younger than her actual age. People accused me of robbing the cradle when I married her.

My daughter had the same trait. She became a medical doctor. Now she looked many years younger than her actual age. Imaging being treated by a doctor that looked like a teenager.

I don't know what to do to change anything, but I'm 27 years old and regularly get mistaken for a high school student. Umm, actually I graduated from college five years or so ago.

I agree with the earlier comment about it paying off later on

Ive always looked younger than my years, and yes it did irritate me when I was younger

Now Im 60 and am told I look about 50 so that's OK

Not that I'm that bothered but it seems to help in relation to job interviews

I looked younger than my age for years.

Alas, now I look almost 60. I’m almost 60.

Why did I have to catch up?

I'm 37 and still mistaken for 21-25. I look young and tend to sound young (though I think my voice gets higher if there is sensory pressure, like bright lights--it's naturally deeper if I'm relaxed). If you're young, people tend to assume you don't know much, which can feel very defeating. I think one of the few ways around this which I've found is to let your ideas speak for themselves. If you have a good vocabulary, and notice things others don't, they will probably respect you and realize you have more wisdom than they thought. Unfortunately, our society tends to think wisdom comes with age, not observation.

What may help is the realization that most people just want the affirmation of their ideas. They aren't interested in new ideas. Or worse, someone telling them their ideas are wrong. So don't do that. Instead, spend your time productively, and wait for them to come to you.

I don't see an issue with people thinking you are younger than you are! There's loads of cosmetics companies selling snake oil making billions every year from people willing to part with their hard earned thinking it will make them look younger.

I'm in my 40s but have always looked younger than I am, perhaps due to a low stress lifestyle.
I'm also 6 foot 2 and have a shaved head which I think intimidates people who don't know me!

I hate looking young. Most people tell me that I should feel complimented, but I do not feel comfortable looking 15 when I'm actually 30. When you look like a schoolkid people don't take you seriously.

The other day I went to buy some beer and the cashier asked for my ID. Luckily I had my passport on me for ID and I gave it to her. She stared at it for ages, like she didn't believe it was genuine. That makes me feel uneasy too. What happens if a reliable source of ID like your own passport doesn't get believed because you look too impossibly young? That is f*****g undignifying and offensive. I AM 30 YEARS OLD FOR CHRIST SAKE, LET ME BE AN ADULT!! !! !! !! !! !! !

This. Except I'm turning 25 instead...
For me to pass as my own age would mean having more tired like look in my eyes, lower voice tones and maybe something to put on the cheekbones...

No real issues here. Whether or not someone guesses my age right, I'd take it to a stride.

Apparently I look sixteen, come across as though I'm twenty-three, and sound much older. People tend to assume that I'm my mother when I answer the phone. Sometimes people don't know whether to ask for ID or not. They'll stare at me as if thinking "Hmm, that's either a really tall child, or an adult, but which?" Other places don't even hesitate to serve me.

Minor things can make a lot of difference. If I tie my hair back, people are more likely to guess younger. Or if I straighten my hair, then people guess older. When I part my hair at the side, people guess older and a middle part makes me look younger.

One time someone mistook me for a professor. However, in another a different person asked me how secondary / high school was treating me.

A sales person on the street came up to me once, hesitated, then asked "Uh, you're not old enough to buy a house, are you? "

When walking around, people tend to refer to me as a young lady. I know there have been situations where people have assumed me to be younger than I am, but then once they heard me speak they did a double take. Apparently I sound mature, confident and responsible. Based on my speech patterns and my even tone people usually guess early to mid twenties. When they look at my face, it typically ranges from fifteen to eighteen.

I've had all sorts of guesses. The oldest guess I've had was that I'm a baby faced twenty-nine year old. Youngest guess I get is fifteen. People don't quite know what to make of me.

Yep, this sounds familiar. I'm 26, but everyone assumes I'm still in school, and I get carded everywhere I go. The only thing I could think of is maybe dressing very "professionally", which people seem to associate with age. I had a friend in college who had the opposite problem - everyone initially thought she was a teacher or something because she dressed the part.