Everyone Thinks I’m Much Younger

I’m about to become 30 years old, but when I meet new people, they usually think that I’m either in high school or in my very early 20s. I take it as a compliment because heck, who wants to be told they look older?

The irony is that when I was 17, everyone thought I was much older. I would go hand in hand with Shiri, who at the time was 5 years old, and people would automatically assume that I was her mother, even though it would technically mean that I had gotten pregnant when I was 11 (!).

So how do I do it?? Well, mostly I think it’s because of my natural personality – I can come off as childish and naive and sweet (even though, I’m none of those haha).

But the other aspects are less obvious:

1. I take obsessive care of my skin. Every night before going to bed, I wash my face and moisturize.
2. I barely ever wear makeup. Makeup can damage your skin.
3. If I do wear makeup, I remove it before heading to bed. No matter how tired I am.
4. Every morning and/or before going out, I put on sunscreen – no matter how sunny or gloomy the weather.
5. I wear sunglasses to further protect my eyes from the sun.
6. I lost weight. It’s crazy how age perception decreases with weight loss.
7. I had my broken nose fixed. I don’t know how, but by fixing my nose and reducing the width of the bridge, I automatically looked younger.

I think we all hit a moment when we want to take better care of our skin. For me, it was during my military service at age 19. I started seeing the effects of the sun on my skin, especially underneath my eyes, where I was beginning to develop a deep wrinkle. I panicked. If at 19 I was beginning to age from lack of care of my skin, where would I be by age 30? By 40?

And so I started treating my skin kindly… moisturizing, protecting it from sun damage, washing it. The harm from my years of service under intense sun didn’t go away – but it did improve and the process of my skin aging slowed down.

Now here I am at 30 being asked about high school classes. I must have done something right!

Image courtesy of posterize at FreeDigitalPhotos.net