When you see old photos of yourself what surprises you?

No uni-brow back then

I’m always shocked to see the crappy hairdo that I spent 2–3 hours at the beauty shop to look beautiful. Some of them were scary as crap & leave me wondering WHY I paid to look so stupid!!!

How thin I was. I weighed 115–120 lbs and thought I was heavy. I’d do anything to have that body back.

Yes to @Aethelwine. I thought I was obese & I only weighed 102 & had an 18 inch waist. OMG, those were the days!!! :)

That my hair went from blond to brown in less than two years when I was 9–11 years old.

@Aethelwine The photo that inspired this question (my current Facebook cover photo) I noticed how small my breast were. My husband and I sometimes comment on how large they are now, it’s pretty much all weight gain.

I’ve been saying for the last ten years that I want to get back to my old “fat weight.” My old fat weight was 134. 125–127 was usually what I hovered around back then in my 20’s, but I got a little heavier for a couple of years on and off. Now, even that 134 number seems completely unattainable it’s been so long since I’ve seen it. I’m losing weight now. I think 145 is my goal. I hope I don’t look terrible and wrinkled and saggy if I get there.

I had such nice hair.
Fortunately my size has not changed that much. Head hair is a different story.

The heavy black rimmed spectacles that I once chose to wear.

I’m just surprised by how baby-faced I was for such a long time. I used to be convinced that it had all changed when I was 15–16, but looking through old photos shows that I still looked like a teenager when I was 21. It’s only in the past several years that I’ve finally started to look grown-up.

@JLeslie Your numbers are similar to mine. I’d be happy with the goal you are trying to reach with the same breast size I have now. Larger breasts are the only positive from my weight gain. ;)

I was better looking than I remember. I always felt like a troglodyte.

@Aethelwine I have the same problem. When my breasts are perfect, my butt is too big & when my butt is perfect, my breasts are too small!!!

I was very thin back then and didn’t look like my age for a long time.

I was generally slimmer than I imagined; I usually thought I needed to lose ten pounds.

Why the hell did I think burnt, fuzzy perms were attractive? At least I didn’t have “mall bangs”.

@johnpowell You were a good looking kid!

Judging by many of these answers, is it fair to say that I can expect to plump up when I get older without noticing? xD

I was a pretty young woman. I didn’t know it at the time, and no one ever told me. I thought the word “plain” was meant for people like me. All I could see was the flaws. What 15-year-old is going to be consoled by her mother’s praise of her “beautiful little shell-like ears”?

(My avatar is, of course, Cate Blanchett, not me. I’m sure she was a beauty at 15.)

I try to avoid looking at pics of myself. My grand daughter found an old pic of me and an x girlfriend at our prom. I was going to trash it but she wanted the damn thing so I gave it to her and the child put it on her dresser. Now every time my wife and I help her straighten her room, I see my 18 yr old self staring at me. Usually gets turned upside down. Must be a ghost. ; )

@Demosthenes That’s a given!!! You’ll go to bed one night young & skinny then wake up the next morning old & fat…for me it was somewhere around 38. Now 30 years later it’s older & fatter!!!

The fact that i used to think i was fat when i was not even close to being overweight!

That I retain my handsome face, not that i’m surprised though but still.

Like some of the rest of you, I was very thin. 90 to 100 pounds, but I felt fat, because I had one friend who was anorexic, and another friend who was a little shorter and had the “perfect” body and all the guys wanted to be with her.

By the way, they still do. She still has a perfectly shaped body, despite having had 2 kids, but she did end up having skin cancer very young (in her 30’s) because she didn’t, and still won’t live without a tan.

I stopped getting a tan the minute I found out that getting a tan could lead to skin cancer (in the early 80’s) so I’ve been pasty white since then, which was not fun, or easy (because of all the sun) or attractive (until the Twilight Series came out).

I live in CA, so being tan, even though it’s potentially deadly, is still a thing. The same goes for being thin.

I’m lucky in that regard. Because I eat healthy, and I have been a vegetarian for 30 years, and I exercise regularly, I’m a pleasant 132 pounds.

But I still feel fat. My old friend (the one that all the boys loved, and still do) still looks fabulous, despite her skin cancer. But she never found the love of her life, despite being married twice, and having at least 20–40 boyfriends over her current dating lifetime. What always bummed me out, or irritated me about that, was that this woman could have (and did have) pretty much anyone she wanted. Her problem was that she did (and still does) get bored with guys very quickly. She likes and craves male attention, but once she’s been with someone for a week or so, she’s sick of them. She never once in her life pined for or longed to be with anyone she couldn’t have, because they all flocked to her, and still do.

The other thing I noticed was that my hair was quite a bit longer, and a lot thinner/finer when I was younger. Now, my hair stops growing at a certain length, and that’s it. It won’t grow any longer, but now it’s pleasantly thicker since I started taking biotin supplements.

So why in hell do women obsess over weight? I don get it, never did.

^advertising tells us what’s desirable

Once I hit 45 I didn’t give a shit what anyone thinks. I just want to be healthy again. When I was toned I had energy. I don’t have that stamina with the weight I’ve gained. I don’t care what I look like, I just want to feel healthy again.

Advertising tells you what’s anorexic. Most models are so thin and bony that if they were stranded with me on a desert island, they’d be perfectly safe. Disgusting…

The healthy part is understandable. As my old pappy used to say, getting old ain’t for sissys.

How happy I was. I am such an introvert and rather melancholy at times, that it surprises me to see how social and outgoing and happy I was/ am at times. This weekend visiting with a friend with chronic pain also brought home to me how blessed I am.

Someone posted a picture of me from 1986, at our 10th class reunion. I was shocked at how effortlessly pretty I was. I had to make sure it was me.

I had butt length hair that I kept in two braids. I am amazed that I didn’t catch them on everything.

Like when we used to wear giant hoop earrings….it would scare the crap out of me to wear them now!

@Dutchess_III. I remember when women wore those, I always thought they were a nice accessory on gals.

Yeah. They are very cool and classy…until something catches in the hoop and it rips through your earlobe.

Ouch!

YEAH!!! That’s why you don’t see them much any more. But I did love the look. If I knew I was going to to be in a sedate, calm place WITH NO SMALL CHILDREN! I’d love to wear them again.

^If you could share your throwback pick with us may be we can also admire your beauty!!..)

Ok

I saw this picture for the first time about a week ago. Robbie (the guy standing behind me) posted it. It’s at our 10th class reunion, 1986. Yeah…it kind of made me go “Oh my!” so the timing of this question was practically perfect in every way.

Great pic, thanks for posting. Very attractive lady if I may be excused for saying so. (Man has to be cautious in this Me Too Age).

Well,thank you. I appreciate the compliment. genuine compliments are not the problem with sexual harassment.

You are indeed welcome. By the way, you were only 5 years behind me. I graduated in ‘71.

We sure had fun, didn’t we!

^Looking great I must say!! Thanks for posting..)

Thanks. :D Don’t get that kind of attention any more! I kind of miss it, but I’m kind of relieved at the same time.

@Dutchess_III No matter how long we connect on Fluther, in my mind, you will ALWAYS look like you did in 1986. Of course, in my mind, I’ve never made it past 1969. When I look in a mirror, I don’t look at me. I prefer to check to see IF my lipstick is on straight or did I comb my hair into a decent style today??? There is NO age reality there!!!

You remind me of a wonderful friend that I had back then who was always a really good friend…Thanks for sharing!!!

You’re welcome. I only look in the mirror at night. Without the light on.

Lol. Well ladies, you have me beat…I have to sneak up on the mirror to brush my teeth. Otherwise it jumps off the wall and runs away yelping.

Thank you guys for giving me some NEW material!!! :)

I’ll tell you what is terrifying…is when you’re taking a picture with your phone and you accidentally flip it around to selfie mode! Talk about blood curdling screams!!

AMEN SISTER!!!