20+ Users Shared Cool Retro Photos of Their Relatives and Compared Them to Themselves Today

In the past 150 years, the living conditions for most people have changed dramatically. From affordable food and advanced medicine to cosmetology, not having to work as physically hard changes both one’s appearance and their way of thinking. This is why today, it’s especially interesting to take a look at old photos and compare the people in them to the people around us today. Our grandmothers and grandfathers often looked much older than we do at the same age because of hard physical labor and fashion trends of that time.

We at Bright Side found photos that have spent decades in photo albums. Looking at them allows us to take a look at the past in order to see the power of progress.

1. “My grandmother at age 16 in Mexico”

2. “My paternal grandfather at age 16”

3. “My grandmother at the age of 15”

4. “My grandmother at 24 in 1934, dancing with my grandfather”

5. “My grandmother at 16 years old in 1917”

6. “This is my 18-year-old grandmother Concetta in 1945. She was the woman who taught me how to be sassy and classy.”

7. “My grandfather’s WWII photograph — he was 18 years old. He’s still alive and sharp as a tack at 96!”

8. “My great-grandmother and great-grandfather on their wedding day around the ages of 18 or 19”

9. “My granddad (at 17 years old in the photo) at the Dublin races with his mother, my great-grandmother in 1940”

10. “My grandmother at 23 years old, 1968”

11. “This is my grandma at 16 — she’s turning 80 this year. She makes me laugh every day. I love this woman!”

12. “My 14-year-old grandfather riding his new bike in 1949 in Dayton, Ohio”

13. “This is my grandmother on her confirmation day in 1941. She’s 14 years old in this picture and she made her own dress.”

14. “My handsome grandfather when he was my age (32)”

15. “My grandpa, 23, posing for his football picture at the University of Chicago in 1922 — he would later become a commander in the U.S. Navy during World War II.”

16. “My 16-year-old grandmother, 1922”

17. “My grandpa, only 17 years old in Vietnam”

18. “My grandpa at 19 years old in 1940”

19. “My grandma at age 41— I only hope to look that good when I’m 41!”

20. “I wore my grandmother’s wedding dress from 1956 for my own wedding in 2019. Fit like a dream!”

21. “My grandmother on the beach in the late 1940s compared to me in the late 2010s”

Bonus: “This is my grandmother Francine and me around the same age. We both look great with short hair!”

What did your grandparents look like when they were young? Share their photos in the comment section below!