Do you look your age?

[Jeep Dragon]

Not to make fun of anyone, but seeing how this is the Uth forum, I was wondering if people wouldn't mind sharing how young/old they look in relation to their age. You don't have to give out your age if you don't want to.

When I was 17, I was heavier and had a thick mustache. A 14-year-old girl in my Karate class at the time asked me my age, and to her surprise of my reply, claimed in shock that she thought I was in my 30s.

Right now, I am a lot thinner and keep myself much more clean cut and clean shaven.

Yesterday (roughly 10 years later) my brother and I went to a restaurant. When I handed my debit card to the cashier (whom I have never seen before) the cashier blurted out...

Cashier: "You look like a little kid!"

Me: "Uh, thanks, I'll take that as a complement."

Cashier: "Seriously! You look really, really young!"

Me: "I'll take that as a complement... Heh, I'm almost 28."

Cashier: "Seriously, you don't even look 20!"

Me: "Uh... thanks. That's cool."

Not long before that cashier saw me, I had shaven for about 45 minutes (I usually shave thoroughly on Saturdays). Had she seen me the previous night with the shadow, she probably wouldn't have thought that.

I do not mean to be rude with this question, but do many of us make ourselves out to look a certain age for certain reasons (respect, peer pleasing, authority)? Many times, guys will grow facial hair just enough and keep it that way to appear older. Girls will trim and style their hair to appear to be in a certain age group. I have friends who are a lot older than I claim that they are young, while friends younger than I claim they are now too to play Volleyball that they used to only a couple years ago.

Do many of us have more control over our age appearance and our active abilities than we care to admit? Is much of it mental? I look and feel a lot younger than I did 10 years ago. 10 years ago, I was trying to portray myself to be an older man. Today, I try to convince myself that I am young (but mature).