I’m shy and I don’t like talking to strangers. I want to change that more by complimenting people more. Is complimenting someone’s hair inappropriate? Like if a man or woman has their hair done a certain way would it be weird to compliment?
It just seems so weird for me to say to someone I like how you styled your hair, or I like your tattoo, or I like how you painted your nails.
Maybe I’ll start with easy compliments like what they are wearing.
3 comments
“Nice shoes” never seems to offend
Can be a conversation starter too
Strangers compliments are my bread and butter! Anything is fair game pretty much. Avoid anything like private parts, having children, parents, how they smell at night, any comparative statements, and basic shit. When your compliment is very specific, it makes that person feel special. Example, instead of I like your shirt, I can tell by your shirt that you’re the funnest guy in the room at every party. Or another example, instead of nice shoes, whoa, I wish I had those shoes in my closet, they look so cool. If you talked to them a little bit then you could also say something like, I love your voice, it’s very soothing. The point is a genuine compliment doesn’t have to be affectionate, it’s a means to show respect.
If someone has clearly put intention into something, like styled hair, or a tattoo, or nails, they will usually be thrilled to be complimented on it. It’s clearly important to them, and how they want to be ‘seen’ by others. I compliment strangers all the time, my general rule is stick to stuff they chose, not stuff they don’t control. Even a genuine compliment about hair or skin tone or body shape can be taken the wrong way pretty easily, or hit wrong in certain circumstances – they’re too risky if you don’t know enough context. If someone’s got flashy glasses or intriguing piercings, tho, those are parts of themselves they’ve chosen to celebrate & you’ll pretty much always be welcome to celebrate with them.