[personal] Getting into skincare made me feel old

Just wanted to get this off my chest.

Ever since I began taking my skincare seriously, I developed an unhealthy relationship with this stuff. Trying numerous face washes, serums, sunscreens, even tretinoin. I constantly feel old (I’m only 27 though), like my clock is ticking and my skin is ageing, always taking pictures of my face to compare them to pics from the past to see if I aged, if I developed new wrinkles, if my face sagged. Never payed attention to any of those things before. Now I see lines/textures/sagging literally all the time, and I wonder if it’s really there or I am just going mental and projecting, and this is just my face without extra baby fat.

I realised that I’m being crazy when I noticed my little smile line creases and one forehead wrinkle in recent pictures, and then compared them to pics of 15 y.o. me, and all those lines were already there, lol.

I understand that 27 is not 15, and I am actually getting older, but still, after I hit 25 (that “crucial” number for starting anti-aging skincare) everything just spiralled out of control, and I started feeling like a literal grandma that tries to look young and deceives people.

I guess I’m not really looking for any advice here, just wanted to share and see if anyone experienced anything like that? I was never prepared that getting older will hit me like a truck, and I have no idea how I’ll manage this once I roll into my 30s.