During election period, a friend of mine sent me a TikTok of a dude going to vote, showing his IC photo where he’s an absolutely stunning man. And then he shows himself now, considerably less physically charming, with the caption that he frequently gets questions about his appearance when they see his IC.
He was a good sport about it, poking fun at himself, acknowledging that he’s past his prime, and deliberately recording himself now from quite an unflattering angle, to maximize the funny, as you’ll see that he doesn’t actually look dat bad, esp considering his age.
I was suddenly reminded of dat video when I saw an old man today, wearing what seemed to obviously be wig/toupee (unless he put all his effort of maintaining physical appearance purely on his hair).
His choice of hairpiece was rather interesting, a modified, shorter version of the classic emo hairstyle of the late 2000s, seen in bands like Click Five and Jonas Brothers (Joe specifically). I thought it was kinda cool ngl, but at the back of my mind, I also thought that if I were in his shoes, I’d probably avoid such a choice, as society has evolved and has deemed that hairstyle not very cool anymore. Props to him for not giving a shit.
Suddenly I started thinking about my own age, and how I’m also going to change eventually. According to some ‘sussy’ science, the frontal lobe of the brain doesn’t fully develop til you’re 25. I’m not sure of the validity of that, but I choose to believe it as it means I get to believe I’m not getting old yet til I’m 25. That means I’ve got 2 years of being young left. After that I’ll probably find some other pseudo BS to believe I still retain youthfulness.
Ok honestly 25 isn’t that bad, it’s genuinely still young. I don’t think 30s that old either. Jisoo’s 30 and still gorgeous. 35 is around when footballers retire, so that’s my standard of being an officially fully grown man. I believe that’s when the changes start to truly materialise, like the IC guy above. That’s when the boys transform to men, whether graciously or not. Unless you’re Ralph Macchio, boys have to adapt to becoming more masculine looking from that point on. The ‘twink death’ (a term I saw online) awaits us all.
Then again we could also not care too much about maintaining beauty standards, cos everyone’s bound to look worse when they age. It is unfortunate, but the reality is indeed that we all have a peak when it comes to beauty, and there is only a decline from then on.
That being said, a decline doesn’t mean a steep drop. A decline can just be mild, meaning not as good, but still pretty attractive. Whatever it is it’s important we find joy in how we look, and make the best of what we have at any point of age. That emo old dude above certainly knows what he’s doing, and who knows, we might all probably end up being just like him once we’re in our 60s (the age which I assume he is…)
05.07.2025
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