To the original questioner:
Besides all the usual: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder etc.
I read: 'Beauty will always open more doors than any amount of money'. As we live in an age where it is possible for someone 'beautiful' to be judged as more intelligent, witty, charming, etc than someone ugly, there is only one solution - become beautiful. Not in looks/attractiveness to the opposite sex etc., but in character.
Young people DO NOT have to do anything to become attractive - they have 'youth'. I am not 'young' nor 'attractive' (both not clearly defined in the original question), but to me it's pretty amazing that members of the opposite sex (some 2[tel]years younger) still want to spend time with me.