This year, we lost the plot on just how well millennials are aging.

Photo-Illustration: The Cut; Photos: Getty, Terence Patrick/Netflix

We all know it can be nicer to live without brutal honesty, yet all over my “For You” page this year, I watched TikToker after TikToker ask their followers, “How old do I look?” Almost all of them were roundly humbled; 20- and 30-somethings suddenly saw decades tacked on to their age, whether because their foreheads didn’t move or moved too much, because they didn’t wear makeup or didn’t wear the “right” makeup, or because they colored their hair or let it go gray. What made one person look younger in certain eyes rocketed them to middle age and beyond in others. This turned out to be the first of many signs that, in 2024, no one seemed to know how old millennials should look.

Age confusion kept on hijacking TikTok. In a viral video from earlier this year, a 38-year-old presents a series of time-stamped cast photos as proof of concept: everyone on Cheers, ages 21 to 35, boasting hairlines several decades their senior; Jason Alexander, a youthful but balding 29 when he took the role of 31-year-old George Costanza on Seinfeld. But sometimes, the revelation that celebrities generally looked older in the 1980s and ’90s than they do now seemed to stir up as much surprise as the realization that young stars today look … young. Miley Cyrus was praised for “aging like fine wine” at the still youthful age of 31, and in early November, a fan remarked that Carrie Coon looked simultaneously 35 and 55 — “fine as hell” but also “old and young at the same time.” (She’s actually 43, she pointed out in her response). When Nicola Coughlan’s fans discovered that the Irish actor — most famous for playing teenagers on TV, to be fair — is actually 37, the revelation landed with the thud of a million dropped jaws. This, the collective shock implied, was not what a 37-year-old is supposed to look like.

But millennials — not just celebrities but real people, too — really do seem to be aging more slowly. Compared with those of 30 years ago, “I do think people look younger and look better,” says Dr. Karyn Grossman, a board-certified cosmetic surgeon and dermatologist to stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow (who at 52 is about the same age Rue McClanahan is supposed to be on The Golden Girls; it’s not just the 30-somethings). In Grossman’s opinion, that shift is partially due to better awareness about the two lifestyle factors that can dramatically escalate aging: sun exposure and cigarettes. One sobering study attributed 80 percent of facial aging signs in Caucasian skin to UV radiation. Similarly, the chemicals in cigarette smoke break down collagen and damage skin cells for a wrinklier, rougher, less even appearance. In the past 20 years, smoking rates in the U.S. have steadily declined while the use of daily sunscreen has marginally improved. But what really changed during that time is the number of anti-aging options available.

“When I went into practice in 1995,” Grossman recalls, “we were one of a few practices in New York City, maybe two or three, that injected Botox. Anti-aging procedures were really for people who were predominantly older, women in their late 40s and 50s who were combating more visual signs of aging.” These days, there are so many things a person can do to their face before even thinking about a scalpel. In addition to sunscreen, there’s tretinoin, a retinoic acid that speeds cell turnover and boosts collagen regeneration. There are exfoliating acids that mimic the effects of a chemical peel at home as well as serums targeting redness, dark spots, and volume — a battery of skin-care products for every conceivable concern. Then there’s a suite of in-office treatments to make our faces more cushiony, even, and tight: injectables including Botox and fillers; noninvasive procedures such as microneedling, which stimulates collagen production via tiny pinpricks all over the face; resurfacing lasers and radio-frequency facials. Anyone with a couple hundred dollars to spare can walk into a medspa for injections as casually as getting a manicure.

Simply put, “We have more tools that we can start with at a younger age,” Grossman explains. “It used to be that people waited until they got really old-looking to do something. Now, people are more proactive in not getting there.”