Age Ain't Nothing But a Number???

Today's my birthday and I'm now the ripe old age of 32.  I was chatting with quite a few 'older' beauty bloggers (that is to say 30 plus) on Twitter on Friday night and I started thinking about the benefits and disadvantages of blogging when you're older rather than younger.

A few people said that if they had started blogging when they were 19 or 20 they would have been doing face of the day posts every day.  I'm sure that I would've been doing that, as well as outfit of the day posts, with my skinny late teens/early twenties figure.  The lines and wrinkles which are slowly being to appear were the least of my worries, then, and I had not a grey hair in sight!  I could also fit into clothes much better than I do now, even though I'm now about the same weight I was then, it's distributed differently now.  So, I'm sure there are loads of benefits from being a younger beauty blogger; not least the clear skin, bright eyes and the ability to be able to fit into figure hugging outfits!

However, on reflection, for me personally I'm happy that I didn't start blogging until I was older for a number of reasons.

1. I had absolutely no style when I was younger.  I liked fashion and clothes, but I had no idea on how to style outfits or put things together.  Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't, more often than not, it didn't!  I'm embarrassed enough at some of my sartorial statements making the odd appearance on Facebook, so I'd rather not have them for all the world to see on a personal blog!  Although I still get it wrong occasionally, I'm much more confident in my personal style and tastes now, and make a lot less bad fashion decisions!

2. I had no money when I was younger.  This would've been quite a hindrance to beauty blogging, as every six months or so, I'd have a new item to blog about!  It wouldn't make for great reading...  I remember when I was a young teenager actually saving up my pocket money for several weeks to buy some clear mascara from Collection 2000!  I think it cost about £2!  I did always work part time when I was an older teenager and at uni, but I still couldn't afford many goodies.  I once bought some Clinique cream when I was at uni, and I treated it like gold dust - I think this was my only high end purchase until I was about 30.  Not that I earn mega bucks now, but I do have the disposable income to treat myself to posh makeup and beauty products from time to time, as well as being able to buy cheaper brands, and I like that very much.  I think if I'd started blogging earlier, I would've been tempted to buy products that I couldn't afford and that could have been a financial nightmare!

3. GHDs hadn't been invented.  There was a dim and distant day, back before 2002, when I did not own a pair of GHDs and had to struggle with my hair myself.  My hair is thick, wavy with a tendency towards frizz.  I can blow dry it straight and sleek if I like - however, this takes about 45 minutes to do, and I simply never had the time or could be bothered to do it properly.  My hair was awful back then, usually a horrendous, frizzy mess - not a good look for blogging purposes.  GHDs have given me back my hair, and they are my absolute top beauty product ever!

4. Technology wouldn't allow me to blog.  Well back in 1997 when I left home, I had a clunking old pc that took up half my uni desk.  It didn't have internet, although you could get online in the computer labs at uni. I didn't even get my first mobile until 1998, and I was an early adopter, being the first of my friends to get a mobile.  I remember making a catalogue of my jewellery by taking photographs, getting the film developed, and scanning in the photos.  I didn't get a digital camera until 2002 and that would never take good close ups.  Until I got a decent camera a couple of years ago, I'd use a scanner for taking pictures of jewellery for ebay etc.  I certainly couldn't have taken good face of the days unless I'd scanned my face - have you ever tried that with a photocopier - not a good look!

5. I know myself a lot better now and I'm much more confident.  I'm naturally a shy person, but I'm much more confident in my opinions and what I like now than I was ten years ago.  I'm not sure if I would've had such an interesting blog back then, as I'd keep my opinions to myself!  Actually, I'm a late starter in my career and I prefer that as well, much like blogging, I'm far more confident in myself than I was as a 20 year old.  I'm also more confident in my writing style, as I write stuff all day at work.

So there you go, this is why I like the fact I'm a slightly older blogger!  I'm not saying it's wrong to be a younger blogger at all, and I love reading blogs by people of all ages.  It's just that for me, I do actually like being in my 30s and I'm happy that I didn't start this blog ten years ago.  It's just a shame that I have to deal with wrinkles and grey hair at the same time...

Thanks for reading! xx