How to make an impression with your hands

Hands reveal a lot of information about a person. You may be able to tell if a person is stressed, hard-working, calm, whether they care about their appearance or if they are sloppy from the appearance of the hands and nails.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Increase your observational skills
• Keep YOUR hands clean, neat and poised
• Practice matching hands to behavior and appearance to see if they match up

1. Observe if the subject has clean and neatly cut fingernails. Dirty fingernails, unless you have just worked in the garden or had to change your car tire, are a no, no!
   This is especially true as dirty hands pass on bacteria and other contaminants!

2. Observe if the nails are 'chewed'which indicates stress. Many people secretly and not, chew their nails down to the quick in attempting to cope with stress or nervousness.
   
   If you are doing a job interview NOTICE the nails of the interviewer and the interviewee! The condition of the nails and hands will provide you with incredible information about the person before they open their mouth!

3. In general, people who care about themselves tend to keep their hands and nails clean,neatly cut and polished even.
   Neatly cut nails and clean hands may indicate that a person is aware of and maintains good hygiene.

4. Observe how people hold their hands in various situations. Make yourself aware of the underlying emotional state of the person that presents before you. Are the hands figgety? Nervous? Folded calmly?
   Do the hands fit the overall emotional impression you are receiving from the subject?

Tips & Warnings

• Keep your hands clean! People do notice.
• Keep your fingernails neatly cut and groomed.
• Do Not chew your fingernails, people will detect your nervousness or inability to control your stress.
• To make prominent veins on the hands less prominent do this models trick: hold your hand up straight for a minute to allow the blood to drain downward.
• Be aware of hands that may harbor more bacteria than you are willing to exchange.
• Hand washing after using the bathroom is imperative!
• Look at the entire package when making determinations about people and their respective habits. Clean or dirty hands are just one part of a number of factors to consider.
• These observations may work well when trying to determine the danger in a situation.
• Look for defensive or offensive looking hands!

[missnice104]

on 9/22/2008 Thanks for the article. Nicely done!

[justsumguy]

on 8/28/2008 I typically tend to make a single impression with my hands. Especially when someone cuts me off in traffic.

[justsumguy]

on 8/28/2008 I typically tend to make a single impression with my hands. Especially when someone cuts me off in traffic.

[CestDesiree]

on 8/23/2008 You're right, keeping your hands nice is key!
*****

[mikepasquale]

on 8/21/2008 Yeah, sweaty hands are only acceptable if your in the middle of manual labor.