We ALL go through a small window when appearance is of paramount importance, and the proof is that we men are biologically programmed to gain a short-term reproductive advantage at the expense of long-term aesthetic costs. AND here is an example :
Balding is linked to DHT. High DHT is great for developing masculine traits and muscle in your 20s, but it's also the very thing that causes hair follicles to shrink later on. That's why I sometimes wonder if men are even meant to live that long. In ancient times, very few men lived past 40 or 50 anyway. So genes that caused balding or increased the risk of disease later in life weren't weeded out by natural selection because they didn't affect your ability to reproduce when you were young. So yeah, beyond the idealization and romanticization of "missing teen love" the real meaning is that you're missing out on those crucial years when you're at your prime.
It's only recently that the concept of being at your prime at 35-40 has been introduced because society needs these oofys doofys trapped in loveless relationships to produce children.
Balding is linked to DHT. High DHT is great for developing masculine traits and muscle in your 20s, but it's also the very thing that causes hair follicles to shrink later on. That's why I sometimes wonder if men are even meant to live that long. In ancient times, very few men lived past 40 or 50 anyway. So genes that caused balding or increased the risk of disease later in life weren't weeded out by natural selection because they didn't affect your ability to reproduce when you were young. So yeah, beyond the idealization and romanticization of "missing teen love" the real meaning is that you're missing out on those crucial years when you're at your prime.
It's only recently that the concept of being at your prime at 35-40 has been introduced because society needs these oofys doofys trapped in loveless relationships to produce children.
