“She Died And I Survived”: 26 Identical Twins Reveal The One Thing That Sets Them Apart

I know a set of twins who are in their mid thirties, usually when they age some differences can be spotted. But not these two, they are absolutely identical, have the same job, dress the same for work (they have corporate jobs and the company’s policy is not very rigid so they have room to dress differently, but choose not to). Same hair cut, same glasses, same weight, similar birhmarks, go to the same gym, it’s really hard to tell them apart.

Except on weekends. One is queer and the other is super traditional straight. If you meet them at a family funcion or a party probably one will be wearing makeup so you know who is who.

My twin and I both had cancer.
She died and I survived.

Me and my twin are complete opposites. I have a pixie cut and she has long hair. I am a musician and she is a mathematician. I am gay and she is straight. I am extroverted and she is introverted. Despite being so different, we are best friends and have so much in common.

I dated an identical twin. They had matching birth marks in several places. And they were all mirror image. One left handed, one right. Etc.

I have a male friend who is gay and very well groomed. He has an identical twin who is straight, not as well groomed, and 20lbs heavier. It's like seeing an alternate reality of my friend if he hadn't left the Mormon church

My brother unlocked my iPhone with Face ID on the first try. Took me 6 attempts to unlock his Samsung phone.

We’re mirror image; I’m left handed and he’s right handed.

Our personalities are also opposites in many ways with me being more outgoing vs him being reserved, he enjoys sports and I enjoy gaming, etc etc.

I’m not a twin, but I know a set of teenage twins who are such a delight. One recently came out as gay. He’s always been artistic and very social. His brother is more of a “tough guy” but kinda shy. And he (other twin) is still a bit young to show any interest in dating, romance, etc., but everything indicates he’s straight.

The lovely thing is how unified and kind hearted they are. They’re both physically strong, and they don’t tolerate anyone bulling anyone. I’m told by their parents that at their school it’s known not to let “the twins” find out you’ve been bullying anyone, or the bully will answer to them. They don’t initiate physical fights but they will issue some warnings for sure.

I’m trans he’s not, now my dads got a boy and a girl :D.

I like to joke that my brother soaked up all the artistic juices in the womb as my mother is an astoundingly good artist and incredibly creative. He's an incredible artist and writer, as for me on the other hand... Stick figures, and even those he does better than me.

Other than that, we're pretty much the same person.

My cousins are identical twins.
One is 130 lbs. The other is 320 lbs.

I have identical twins. One has a freckle on her chin and the other doesn't. Makes it really easy to tell them apart lol.

Mirror image twin here as well.

I'm left-handed, and my brother is right-handed; our hair cowlick is on opposite sides of our heads, but those are the only differences between us.

We're both video game nerds.

We let our personalities start to shine from an early age. I knew 2 other sets of twins and even in college, they were still incredibly similar — whereas my brother and I really dressed differently. I dyed my hair black and rocked out, he went a bit more stylish gamer route. After growing up being dressed in the same clothes, or he in red and me in blue, our folks really allowed us to express ourselves. I found it weird that other twins around us didn’t. They were like living the same life almost.

Over the years, we look more like brothers than twins now. I am really into my fitness, and he his games and computers. Our bodies look nothing alike; our facial features show we’re the same but nothing else really.

That, and I have a few more birth marks on my chest and arms.

Our personalities. He's the extrovert, I'm not. I have a sternum, he doesn't. Kinda. So he has a concave chest while I have essentially an extra bone in mine.

We each had major TMJ/jaw correctional surgery when we were 16 (literally the next day after the other). But one of us had extra small bones in his face that the other one didn't have. And then there were just extra small bones that both of us had. So, there might've been a third at one point.

Technically we don't know if we're identical or fraternal but between the chest thing and face thing, I think it's a safe assumption that we're identical. It's also highly likely that we were conjoined at one point before getting separated prior to being born.

Not me, but my father and uncle.

A few differences:

My uncle has a much harsher accent compared to my father. They were raised in the same house.

My uncle has a lot more belly flub than my father.

My uncle is basically blind and has stupidly high prescription. My father has some astigmatism but otherwise perfect eyesight.

My father gets paid significantly more despite them working in similar fields.

My uncle tends to delay and complain, my father likes to take command and get things done.

As someone who has seen both my entire life, I can tell you who is who instantly, but to a lot of people, you put them side by side and they tend to forget who is who.

I still have a baby tooth and he doesn't. My adult tooth never came in to make it loose so still in at 36 years while that never happened with my brother.

Our age.

RIP.

Though me and my sister are identical, people who know at least one of us really well can usually tell us apart. We used to have phases where we looked super alike, then not so alike, then alike again etc. I like to describe it as “we have the same features arranged slightly differently”. E.g. one of us opens her eyes wider than the other, I have a cartilage bump on my nose, and so on.

We understand each other super well, have extremely similar interests and senses of humor, but we often disagree on stuff like…personal philosophy, worldview etc. We just aren’t the same person lol. Though sometimes when meeting other sets of identical twins I feel like my sister and I are a little more independent than some? We didn’t attend university together on purpose, we have separate social lives..We’re both artists, but aim to work in different fields, have our own unique styles and bodies of work etc. I’ve met some twins that agree on drawing the same thing, have the same or highly similar styles, or just basically share an art career. We are still incredibly close, just like I said, not the same person.

We have different shoe sizes. I'm 38/UK 5 while she's 39 UK 5.5. Very annoying as it's the only thing we can't share.