Hugging is in your blood.

As far as you can remember, you have loved hugging.

Hugging friends, family, acquaintances, etc.

It has been a part of who you are for your whole life.

Now that you are online dating, you are hesitant about the question of hugging someone you are meeting for the first time as your way of saying hello.

Although you are a friendly woman, you don’t want any match to feel uncomfortable upon meeting you for the first time.

Immediately hugging a match upon meeting him in person isn’t something that you thought would be this poignant of a question to you, but online dating is new to you, and you don’t know whether the rules of courtship are different from what you are used to in real life.

The thought of matching with a great guy and ruining everything by immediately hugging him as a way to say hello on the first meeting is mortifying.

In a scenario where you have built a good amount of rapport with a match through consistent conversation over several weeks or months, immediately hugging him upon meeting as a way to say hello is totally fine.

By now you have a good read on his personality and a lot of goodwill has been established.

Immediately hugging him upon meeting him for the first time won’t be deemed as unusual.

After several weeks and months of talking and getting to know each other, a culmination that leads to a hug on the first meeting is well-earned.

It’s a different story when you have been talking for a few days and agree to meet for the first time in person.

At this stage, you don’t know who you are dealing with.

Although you are a hugger, you can’t make the same assumption of your match.

You haven’t spoken with him long enough to get a good idea of what his personality is like and what he would be receptive to.

To be on the safe side, avoid immediately hugging him upon meeting for the first time.

Don’t assume that he is someone who would be receptive to an immediate hug when you met him on a dating app just a few days ago.

Best to be on the safe side and shake his hand instead.

Shaking hands is the universal greeting.

Everyone understands it.

It is friendly enough without taking it too far, or overstepping boundaries.

If the date goes well enough and you two get alone really well, hugging him in the end isn’t out of the question.

By now, you have spent a few hours together, talking and laughing, building face to face camaraderie.

Hugging him by the end of the date has been earned.

Never make assumptions of someone when you haven’t had the benefit of weeks or months of getting to know each other.

As a rule of thumb, when you have only known him for a few days, stick to a handshake at the first meeting as a way to say hello.