Being too honest – What You Should and Shouldn’t Reveal

We’re all told that honesty is the key to any good relationship; be that with friends, family or your partner, but there is such a thing as being too honest, especially when it comes to blurting out way too much information on your first date.

5 Things you shouldn’t mention on a first date:

• Your extensive beauty regime – If you spent four hours prior to your date plucking waxing and dying your hair, keep it to yourself. Your date can see the finished product and doesn’t need to know how much effort it took you. Also, if you’re just brushed the dog hair off your trousers and run a comb through your hair they don’t need to know that either.
• Your bad habits – It goes without saying that you shouldn’t pick your nose/teeth/ears on a first date, it should also be taken as a given that you shouldn’t reveal any disgusting habits that you have when you are getting to know someone.
• 101 reasons why you hate your ex – The subject of exes may come up on your date, but don’t use it as an opportunity to list everything that annoyed you about your ex as it will make you look bitter.
• How much you don’t fancy them –You’re not going to fancy everyone who you go on a date with, but try not to blurt out “you were much better looking in your profile picture” or “were your photos taken in the 80s?” Attraction isn’t always instantaneous and you don’t want to burn your bridges straight away. It’s also unnecessarily cruel.
• That they are your second date this week – It’s fine to go on first dates with more than one person, but it’s not good etiquette to recall dates you’ve been on that week as it won’t make your companion feel very special.

5 Things you should talk about on a first date:

• Where you are – If you’ve found yourself in a lovely country pub or a cute coffee shop it’s natural to talk about why you like the place and why you chose it for your first date.
• Your shared hobbies – One of the best things about Muddy Matches is that we have lots of ‘muddy-minded’ members with a love of outdoor pursuits and countryside hobbies. So, talking about your hobbies is a great way to connect with your ‘muddy’ date. A good first date question is “what’s the weirdest hobby that you’ve tried”.
• Travel – Talking about travel is also a good way to establish common interests, but don’t jabber on about your trip for ages without drawing breath. Try to find out where you’ve both been and where you’d both love to go.
• Pop culture – Talk about your favourite bands, gigs, how you once learnt how to play the kazoo to impress your friends or why you’re desperate to read the next in the series of your favourite books.
• Your work/study – Without going into great detail or reeling off acronyms, discuss what you love about your work, or where you see yourself working in the future.

Whatever you do have a great time and let us know if it goes really well!