People say that “time flies” and this is something we all notice when our children, pets, and parents grow older. But nothing escapes the passage of time. Think about those stairs that people have used to go up and down for decades, maybe in a public library, or in a museum. And what about going to the same hairdresser and using the same hairbrush for years and years. If we want to find the true meaning of “time flies,” the best thing we can do is to look around and try to recall what some of the things we use every day looked like when we first bought them.

And that’s exactly what we did. We went online and looked for pictures showing the before and after of 18 objects that were used every day for decades and this is what we found!

1. “Same brush head, 20 years apart. Definitely owes us nothing…”

2. “One year of everyday wear vs Straight out of the box”

3. “My mom’s 6-year-old hairbrush and a brand new one”

4. “The floor at my hairdresser. He’s always worked alone and uses only one of the chairs.”

5. “Bought my father new beard brush after using this one for 30+ years”

6. “I’m surprised I kept using it as long as I did.”

7. “My dad’s old Leatherman holster and his new one. He hardly ever buys things online and was super excited to show this off to me.”

8. “My 1-year-old fishing shoes vs My brand new ones”

9. “Rubber gasket for a Moka pot after 7 years of use”

10. “My father’s hairbrush”

11. “1995 Zippo, before and after. One day it will look like it did before the sanding and polish.”

12. “A globe in the New York Public Library”

13. “Early 2000s flip phone, still being used”

14. “The stairs in Rembrandt’s house, Amsterdam”

15. “Same exact book, one used and rained on, one brand new”

16. “Years of waiting for the train”

17. “The exit to the parking garage”

18. “7±month-old brush vs Brand new”

Do you have pictures of family, friends, pets, or things that can clearly show the passage of time, or maybe a before and after?