I keep reading from people that they look young for their age. Is this common amongst ADDers?

don't know if that applies to people with add, but i read somewhere that it's common among people with asperger syndrome

Does is apply to people with Arsebigger syndrome too?

Cause, even though I look younger than ppl my age I think my **** is bigger.

Maybe it's cuz I compare myself with ppl that have ADHD and don't couch potato like I do?:D

I looked 25 when I was 17.
I looked 30 when I was 25.
I now look 35ish at 33.

So I hope I look 40ish at 50. ???

I don't think I look young for my age. But I am attracting more attention from women my age over the last while. I must be looking reasonably good.

When I was 16 I looked much older. Big bushy sideburns helped.

Now my Mum's genetic wrinkle factor is coming into play, but I think I likely look my 45 year old age now.

I'm bucking for steveb's approach. < g >

Cheers! Ian.

When I was 16 I looked old enough to be the guy who went into the local bar and bought the six packs! :D

When I grow a beard I look my age: gray hairs give it away.

Otherwise most people have said I look ten years younger than I am. Which was a problem when I was younger...ppl didn't think I was old enough to know anything.
I don't know if they think I know anything now....but at least they think I'm old enough to..... :)

I've always looked young for my age, but I think Father Time may be catching up on me now. At least, people don't seem quite as shocked now when they find out my age.... and I haven't been carded in a few years. :rolleyes:

I looked older since I was about 15, never got carded till my 21st birthday (the nght before). Now at 40 people guess me about my age and often a few years younger. Not sure if their just being nice. My body looks younger. But, my eyes have a lot of wrinkles.

I used to keep my age as secret as I could.
I used to do engineering work and if someone heard how young I was, I would instantly loose trust/respect from that person.

Even now at 33 and in a different field, my peers that I work with at our customers and vendors are all around 40-45. This is the due to the management level that I am in.

I have a very young staff & they were very shocked to find out how 'very old' I am compared to them. I don't act my age either. Let's just say I'm over 30 ;)

Well, I am told I look young for my age, which is cool...but I am already getting quite a few gray hairs! Doesn't surprise me though, because my mom has totally white/silver hair and is only 58.

Thank God for hair dye. heh

My wife says I look about 5 years younger than the 50 I am

but that is only when I have showered and shaved and cleaned up

Most of the time I am showered and clean but with about 3 -4 days growth of greying beard I look like and old street bum.

Grin
'
I like my work clothes !!!!!!!!!!!!

Deja Vu all over again....

This is the third thread I've seen on this topic (if you count people who feel "chronologically displaced" in terms of appearance....).

Yeah... I've read that about Asperger's. That's one reason I tend to go for the AD/HD - Asperger's - Autism "spectrum" theory. Of course, that's a huge range of functionality for "one disorder". On the other hand, I read through "Thinking in Pictures" and highlighted the dickens out of it marking symptoms and experiences that I shared with her (differing only in degree). Most prominently my sensitivity to things like flickering lights and clothes tags.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there....

Ken

I used to look older (looked 18 or so at 14), but I just got carded at a bar and I am now 30.

The other day the inside rear view mirror of my car fell off as I was adjusting it. Naturally I took advantage of the opportunity to closely examine my face. I used to look younger than my real age, but...

O.

M.

G.

I look like h-e-double-hockey-sticks.

So forget what I said about looking younger.

I look younger than my years. It makes it easier to get away with some of the bullspit I try to pull.

Although, conversely, if we do wind up looking old some day, that could also make people less likely to suspect us.... ;)

That's the plan! ;) Admittedly, I am not too keen on the idea of looking old. I have a huge stash of lotions a potions in the bathroom which promise to keep me looking young and radiant. I am such a sucker for their marketing ploys!:o

Oil of delay has been very good to me! A 22 year old once told me she thought I was younger than her and I was 37 at the time. I was actually upset. I have to wear a suit to be taken seriously all too often. On some days, especially if I have forgotten to take my HRT, I look older than my own mother. As I think of my own friends with add adhd they all seem to be younger than their years. Stress affects us differently- we are easily distracted away from it and we retain our sense of play forever, so it's small wonder we like what we see in the mirror!

I've been told that I look younger but I feel that I look older. I have a good excuse though...I married a man 13 years older then I am and work in a long term care facility for the elderly---I think it's catchy!!! lol

I have always looked much younger than my age. It was no help in social circles until I was about 40ish. I still look younger than my age (57), but my energy level is more like my chronological age or even older, so now it seems to be a disadvantage as people think I'm being lazy when the truth is I'm about tuckered out.

Well I'm pretty tall (5'9") so I've always looked a bit older than my age.

I am 24 butwhen people meet me the first time some say I look as young as 12 others 18. I think mine has more to do with my height than anything because when people a pic of me first ( like when my fiance shows my pic to someone) They guess closer to my age. But no one has ever guess my correct age nor said I looked older than I am. Then on line where some may chat with me before seeing my pic they think I am much older than I am.

I had to do enternship when I got out of college and the guy that trained me said you know there are child labor laws! LOL he thought I looked 12 and I was 22 at the time. :confused: :p :rolleyes:

When I was 18, I once got into the movies for the kid's price- I was mistaken for a kid under 12! Now I probably just look a few years younger than I am.

I'm 24, and I have been asked if I am still in high school. The other night, I went to a bar with a few of my friends, one of the security personel approached me and questioned me on "how I got into this place without an ID". I showed him my Drivers License and he asked me where I got such a good fake. ARe you kidding me??

I have always looked younger than I am...........I used to get carded up until my mid 30's (when the drinking age was 18 mind you).

Now I turn 50 later this year and people say I look 40. It is a big help to me in business since I work with people a lot younger than me and they would be shocked if they knew..........it was worse in the dot com boom a few years back when I was spending a lot of time in Silicon Valley where everyone was in their 20's.

I am 24 butwhen people meet me the first time some say I look as young as 12 others 18. ... when people <see> a pic of me first ( like when my fiance shows my pic to someone) They guess closer to my age. But no one has ever guess my correct age nor said I looked older than I am....

Brianne --

It's interesting that people guess you are older when they see a photo. Makes me wonder if part of the usual process of guessing someone's age has a built-in fudge factor based on how someone acts. It's "well-known" that a lot of ADHD traits (short attention span, fad-of-the-minute, bouncy/hyper movements....) are easily misconstrued as "immaturity". XD

Ken

Well...that would explain why some people think I'm younger than I am....but clearly conflicts with why others associate me with the elderly....

Well...that would explain why some people think I'm younger than I am....but clearly conflicts with why others associate me with the elderly....

... Maybe because some of them are younger than you and don't have enough practice and experience? A college freshman looks like a geezer to teeny boppers, I would think...

Ken

P.S. and *real* geezers might have a problem telling the difference between a teen and the frosh, for that matter...;)

i've always looked young...i was proofed until i was in my early 30's (mid 30's now). Cashiers do look at me longer.

About 3 years ago my wife and I and some friend went out for dinner I'm about 5 years older than everyone and i was the only one who got proofed. The story still comes up.

I'm 34, ppl usually guess mid to late 20's. Then, there are a handful who guess about right - they're usually the ones I've been in an actual conversation with, though.

When I'm under 115lbs I look older. Isn't THAT strange........???

Amen to the "laugh lines" around the eyes <blachhh>.

i'm 36 (37 in december), and i look about 20...

after the last time i cut my hair (well... i didn't exactly cut my own hair, it was my friend who - with the dog-coat cutting machine!!! - gave me a mock version of a crew cut...;-), i noticed a lot of gre(or's that spelled with an "a"?)y hairs!!!
:eek:

after that frightening experience, my hair turned red...
:D

i'm 36 (37 in december), and i look about 20...

after the last time i cut my hair (well... i didn't exactly cut my own hair, it was my friend who - with the dog-coat cutting machine!!! - gave me a mock version of a crew cut...;-), i noticed a lot of gre(or's that spelled with an "a"?)y hairs!!!
:eek:

after that frightening experience, my hair turned red...
:D
i just started finding greys:( maybe i'll try red.

I have always looked younger than my age... by about two or three years: People guessed 15 at 18, 25 at 28, 34 at 37.

Being a blond, I don't get grey hairs. My Mother's got the same coloring I do and she says she's got very few white hairs. Those white hairs that I get, however are such different thickness than my normal hair they stick right out (& I yank 'em right out).

You know it's really funny; but, instead of going grey my hair is getting darker. Went from a very white blonde to an almost med. brown. Could be that I use to camophlage my blondeness...then I discovered nobody was ever fooled lol

I darkened (low-lighted) my bright-blond-for-so-many-years-I-forgot-what-my-natural-haircolor-was back to it's NATURAL DARK blonde...also trying to camoflauge the DITZY stereotype.

I have always been told that I look young for my age. Now, at 28, most people will guess me at 23-24ish. Maybe thats due, in part, to my youthful exuberance and sillines around others...LOL.

Now that I'm working out, my waistline is tightening up, and I'm feeling better about myself. *I* think I look maybe five years younger instead of just three.

i'm 36 and 2 weeks ago i had to have my ID checked to play the lottery,in N.Y. you only have to be 18 to play so i guess i look younger than i am :D

I'm 35 and still get carded when we go out. When I lost weight is when it really became noticeable that I look younger, even to me...though I have *really* oily skin and stay out of the sun which helps with the wrinkles even though I still break out like a teenager. Thank the Great Googly Mooglies for makeup! I've been plucking out those stray grays, too...

Julie

I use to look older and I think things kinda changed. I am 42 and someone keeps saying I am 27 but I just say hmmph to that.


But then again, it helps when you have Tourettes and get Botox treatments in your face to help the tics. :p

I was last carded buying a case of beer at a package store in Ocean City, Maryland. (They routinely sold to teenagers, for crying out loud.)

Kay was with me, and she was holding a bottle of wine. She was also dragging Bryan, and Chris was standing right between us. The clerk looked at her, looked at the kids, looked at me, and asked for ID. Demanded it. Wouldn’t take an easy laugh for an answer.

I guess she thought Kay must be older because of the kids, and then decided I wasn’t with her because she thought I was too young.

But it really ticked Kay off: I was 42, and she’s a whole 18 days younger than I am.

To be fair, it’s still obvious that she was the head cheerleader in high school. And I’m only 15 pounds heavier than when I was a skinny wide receiver in school. So, no, we don’t really look as old as we are.

Now, if someone could help with that thing about hair growing out of everywhere all the sudden…

rouge brow hairs

Yeah, that's one, but they're everywhere. I don't mean like Robin Williams; it's just that the whole clan of follicles already there have gotten unruly.

It's a pain. On the jeeze, I can't believe it side of it, I did see a whole eyebrow grooming kit, complete with a teeny tiny little comb and a itty bitty tube of gel. I almost fell down laughing on the spot...

my daughter actually looks older for her age..

And how old is your daughter?

Ken

Im 23, and my bf is 18... im the one who gets ID'd. I hate it when i show my ID and they think its not real GRR...

When I do the whole make-up thing I look much younger than my age, but I have noticed that it isn't as easy as it used to be to get that "fresh, vital look". I had to laugh with my husband about a short trip because we decided I would soon need a separate suitcase for all the creams and stuff. :D

Even without the make-up, though, I'm holding up pretty well. Most guess my age about 10 years younger. Good genes!

Kim

Definitely look younger than my age. At 30, I'm ID'd when buying beer or wine 9 out of 10 times.

I've always looked 30. Like since I was 14. Given that I've only just turned 30, I'm hoping I'm one of those people that looks 30 forever. :)

Seriously, though, my husband is ADD and probably looks about 10 years younger than he is. He's 9 years older than me and you'd not know it at all.

Well, I'm 37 and I still get carded. Around three months ago, an early twenties store clerk took a random survey of four people standing around the counter. Each guessed around 24?

The funniest thing to me is going with my 25 year old brother to buy beer. He buys the beer and I'm the one that gets carded. lol Most people guess around twenty seven since I seem so "mature." And I work with a guy, that's 27...he's also got ADD...looks like he's 21 or 22.

It's such a relief to see the poll and perhaps ADD is really the fountain of youth.

mmm...on a sadder note. One of my good friends from my late teens to early twenties died recently. He was 35, also ADD. It'd been around a decade since I'd seen him, and omg...he still looked like he was 22.

I'm 30 and get told ALL the time that I look way younger. Last time I played the "guess my age" game, three 18-22 year old women guessed me at 22, 24, and 28. :-) Works for me, I suppose.

I looked like highschool age in my 20's. I'm starting to feel old now at 37, but folks like the barber or the hardware store guys keep calling me "young man". I got carded last week at the grocery store buying some beer; I laughed then I realized the cashier was serious. I like to think my "young and optimistic" attitude is what comes out. Though I'm afraid stress and anxiety are starting to make lines on my face.

I look old for my age sometimes, but not in a good way. I sometimes look quite run-down, blotchy, pale skin and bags under my eyes due to my wonky sleeping pattern.

I suppose I have a baby face when I smile, with the puffy cheeks, and I have large eyes, and I'm rather short. I have AS but I doubt that's to do with it, lol.

I'm 24 and all the time at school professors and employees asking me if I like the new experiences of college over high school.They normally say I am 18 when I ask them.

i think its not the persons face, its the attitude and the attire.. clothes can make you appear younger or older depending on what you wear. Also, some people tend to be lazy when walking or stoop and this gives the impression of age. Maybe the add people just have more style and grace.

Having just turned 40 this past week, I always get people thinking I am younger then I actually am and thats a good thing. I havent got any wrinkles or crows feet yet but imagine that lived in look will come before long...hehehe

i haven't been carded in ages..as for looking immature b/c of my adhd..i don't- i look super intense..pensive if anything most of the time.
and i also happen to be a very serious girl with a goofy streak...a silver lining to my existential cloud.
i'm 29 now..most ppl are shocked to find out that i am 29. i don't know why really-they usually only guess me down to 25 or 24..LOL not that far down-but in terms of the twenties it aint too shabby.
i don't have a wrinkle on me...
my mother looks quite young for her age and when i was a teenager she could of passed as my sister...unfortunately for me her fountain of youth is tempered by my father's having turned completely gray and white by mid to late thirties...LOL
i have grays
but i dye my hair (not to cover gray-i used to rarely dye my hair-but i've just been interested in diff. colors-my husband actually loves my gray hair..)

hey symbol i just read your post about : "maybe adhd people just have more style and grace" LOLLLLLLL
sorry i had to laugh and laugh heartily
although it makes me prickly to read posts from ppl indignant about the 'elitism' that is gathering in these forums-that is really dang close
i mean- i can see how adhd'ers may approach things diff. b/c of our disorder..but as for slouching vs. not slouching? 'some ppl tend to be lazy when they walk'...yeah- i don't know if you know this but thats why that famous book came out " i'm not stupid crazy or lazy ' (i may have fudged that title) to most ppl we DO LOOK LAZY
especially us inattentive-hell- all of us most of the time.
for the average person they don't understand how we could have a crisis trying to peel ourselves off the couch to go to bed etc...its unfathomable to them...

i just don't agree.
its most likely a [aging] an environmental/genetic fate
as for clothing
i'm sure a sixty year old woman that wears a younger looking outfit most likely looks a fool rather than young
that only works out in the more gray indeterminate years such as late twenties to early forties range depending on the person...

I have always looked younger than my chronological age, but I always thought it was good genes - Hungarians "age" slower than the rest of the population. Must be the mongolian in us.

I am 23 and still get carded for movies. No, not rated R's, but PG 13's. Grrrrr.

I used to get carded in bars until I was at least 27. The last time that I was carded I was 31. The thing that bothered me, was the lack of respect that I got from people who thought I was younger than I really was. When I was in my mid twenties, most people, when they first met me, treated me as if I was 10 years younger. Even when I told them my real age, they still wanted to treat me like a kid.

I'm 60 years old now, and I still love riding my Harley and good hard rock-n-roll. Those other old farts look 10 years older than me.

People thinks I am younger than I really am, this happened mostly, until one day I really lost some confidence when I went into a supermarket and the aunty salesgal asked me if I would buy diapers for my children. I got the biggest shock of my life. Haha. Mostly people who work with me will think I am much younger, but people who don't know me on the street maybe think I am older. It is confusing. :)

Obviously (according to the poll), most of us look younger.
During a conversation in an Israeli forum, it appeared that many there also look younger than they really are. Interesting...

I think about it quite a lot, since I'm approaching my 30's and look 23. Is it due to the way you look, less lines on your face, the way you dress? Maybe it's just acting younger than you are (ADD! ADD!).

Personally, I think it's genetic. My mom looks 10 years younger, so does my dad, my uncle and my grandma (of course, in 3 out of the 4 cases I mentioned, their age eventually caught up with them).

The good part - I fool a lot of people and they're usually really impressed at how much I've accomplished for such a young gal (hah! - until I fill them in...) It's also easier to find jobs that are usually for younger people.

The bad part - I feel old (don't kid me for it...) With wedding and probably kids on the way in the next few years, I'm afraid there will be less possibilities of "trying things out". Someone calm me quick!

By the way, here's a question for all those who dare - what age would you like to return to / stay in / be in. What's the best age? (and why...) Good luck!

:)

Hmmmm...what age would I like to return to??? Thats a good one.

If givenm the opportunity, I suppose I would like to return to the age of 13, the start of my teen years and know what I know now. I would surely do alot of things different and plan better for my future.

I'd like to be 28. I guess I always looked older, especially as a kid, I was more mature & serious & prefered to hang out with adults. I'm 40 now & am beginning to look & feel old though my mental age still hovers around 12 years old but I don't really show that. My looking older probably has much more to do with anxiety & depression than ADD. I am inattentive type.

I am 24 butwhen people meet me the first time some say I look as young as 12 others 18. I think mine has more to do with my height than anything because when people a pic of me first ( like when my fiance shows my pic to someone) They guess closer to my age. But no one has ever guess my correct age nor said I looked older than I am. Then on line where some may chat with me before seeing my pic they think I am much older than I am.

I had to do enternship when I got out of college and the guy that trained me said you know there are child labor laws! LOL he thought I looked 12 and I was 22 at the time. :confused: :p :rolleyes:
Similar story ... I am 25 soon to be 26. People I meet at work think I am 17 or so.

When I was 21 I was not allowed into a rated-R movie. The Lady said that I needed my Mom or dad to go with me, or try again when I was older. I then gave her my DL. She said it was fake. I pulled out my other ID's and still NOPE. I finally got SOOOOO mad that I demanded to see her manager (she had to be like 17 or 18). When the manager came over, I pulled a cop over (who had been listening in) and showed them BOTH my ID's. Needless to say, they finally said I could go in ... too bad I had missed the first 20 mins of the movie.

*le sigh*

I always get told I'm 10 yrs. younger looking, which is a good thing, I have had a fake ID saying I was 22 when I was 16 and never got questioned about it. Back then I gave the impression of older. I think it was because of the way I acted and thought. Have always had a problem with dumb people, No tolorance. LOL still don't but I guess I just never was that flighty da, kind of girl, more hard core. and had more male friends always. I hope to always keep the child in me near the surface but have to keep an eye on her, not to get to wild.LOL

Hehe, just got told the other day by a girl at work who's 22 that I looked 19 years old... for those who didn't see my earlier post, I'm really 30. Too funny. :)

Once, I joked with my ex who was 25 at the time that we should crash a high school prom and see if anybody notices that A. We don't go to their school, and B. We both graduated high school at least 7 years ago. We didn't do it, but it would have been funny.

I've been told I look a lot younger naked. Anyone else get that?

I am 28 and I still get carded regularly. But I suppose people think I am younger for a combination of reasons - the way I act, the way I dress, the way I look, and the fact that I am only 5' 0". For some reason people think I am younger because I am short - even though most females are done growing at 16 - funny how people reason, huh?

Yeah sometimes I wonder if I could get away with re-enrolling in high school. I am now confident enough to not put up with any of that BS - and I am way cooler now. :cool: I bet I would be with the popular crowd this time- lol

Funny you said 28, Paulbf, cause that's exactly the age I was thinking.
I hit on that, cause it was time when everything was at a peak, healthy, career going great, life was far simpler (living in Lahaina, Maui), wasn't too young or too old, etc......

When I was young, I looked older, had to carry my birth certificate showing I wasn't yet 12, so I could go to movies & get on the bus at half-fare. Now I look a good bit younger, in fact, I love hearing people who are my age or even ten years younger, talking to me as if they were a good bit older! Or having others ask me if I'm the "baby" of the family (my siblings are 3-5yrs younger)....

In my line of work, looking younger is also a good thing....

My biggest issue, is that many women even close to my age look older, and I can't help but think of them as if they were my mother's age! ;)

I have always looked younger than my age and I have learned that telling your age is not bad. I have earned all the grey hairs. ( not too too many) When I tell people my age they look at me and say " No way, I dont believe you." I always end up showing them an id.
I think alot has to do with not smoking, not doing drugs and also, not drinking too, plus the good genes in my family. I have also taken ballet and dance lessons for 30 years so I think it has to do with alot of factors.
It is nice when a young guy approaches and ask yo out ;) on the ohter hand I want to go out with some one I can relate to.:p
My mom has always said, "age is just a number,it is as young as you feel." and the yoga masters say that age is as flexible as your spine.:D aunt chris

im 25 and i look like im 16 or so.. its horrible.....i hate it

I have always looked younger than my age. Even now at 50 I have a full head (although thinner) of hair and no grey. I attribute it to genes.

I think the only time I ever looked my age was when I was younger, ie. around 5-10 years old. I'm 23 right now (which I know is nowhere near old) and I get asked for ID everywhere I go. A new neighbour of mine saw me this summer and asked my mom if I was done high school yet! She assumed I was about 16 years old. Maybe I get it from my mom because she's got no wrinkles, almost no grey hairs and she's retiring this June. Hopefully I look like her when I'm her age....

get carded every single time.....unless it's a friend's bar or something. can't even buy cigarettes without being carded, the legal age for which is 16! didn't even start smoking until i was 34 years of age!! however, i hope to quit that disgusting habit before i hit the next birthday.

i don't ever really mind the carding thing. it's just odd because i've always had such an old soul in a lot of ways. but, hey....there are a lot worse things in life than pulling out my id. and besides, the fact that it happens so frequently caused me to make sure my driver's license was actually decent looking. too many people see it for me to go with one of those frightening mouth-hung-open-looking-like-a-goofball shots that seem to be the special art of the dmv around here!

go back to any other age? naaahhhh. i feel like i'm coming into my own now more than i ever did before. it's nice to be comfortable in your own skin.

No one believes I have an 8 year old son. When they hear I have a son, they imagine a baby.

I'm 27 and I hear that I look anywhere from 16-21 (alhtough recently someone guessed my age).

A couple years ago I almost didn't get into a club when my newly 21 year old friend did. I change in looks very often. SO not only did I not look 24, but I didn't look like the girl in my ID. Finally they quizzed me and let me in.

Of course I went to that same club another time and someone misunderstood about my coat not being real zebra fur and thought I meant my ID was not real, they let me in anyway for some reason. It kind of made me mad.

Ever since I can remember people have thought that I look younger than I am. It doesn't help being short.
Just this weekend I was at a pool hall with some girlfriends and this guy wouldn't leave me alone. He looked like he had just turned 21 and he wouldn't believe me when I told him I was 26. This is constantly happening and it is getting very hard to meet someone close to my age. This may be an asset when I'm older, but for right now it stinks.