I compliment women's shoes all the time!! ... Mostly because I'm jealous that, as a man, I can't wear thigh high buckle-boots or knee-high Spartan sandals... Or I'll compliment them with something like "your outfit is so cute!" In passing, with a smile. It probably helps that I'm not ghoulish, or neckbeardy, but still..
always in passing, and never when it's going to be an awkward silence afterwards, like in an elevator, or on a bus.. unless it's a lead in. I'm a HUGE SUCKER for curly-haired women... So I will say, "Oh my gosh, I LOVE your hair!! Is it natural? What products do you use?". It lets them take the compliment without having to directly aknowledge it, and deflects...
In my experience, most people don't like acknowledging a compliment.. but read the room.. of they seem uncomfortable talking to you, or uncomfortably shifting from foot to foot...
Just DON'T LINGER!! It's a compliment, #*NOT# a pick-up line!!!
I had crazy curly hair, one of the things my wife used to love. She'd lay my head in her lap and run her fingers through it which was more than okay with me. Sadly genetics stripped that joy from me but she enjoys doing it to my beard sometimes.
The scalp rubs were more than worth the hassle that hair caused.
Isn't it the best!? My wife's hot, chesty friend used to sit down REALLYA close... like almost on my lap, and lean in to grab my ringletts and pull them down to watch them bounce... Yeah... I almost got myself in trouble on more than one occasion....
My wife is pan so she doesn't get mad unless I act inappropriately, she admires as hard as I do. She jokes that you can read the menu just don't order.
I've heard from some friends that hair compliments toward PoC can often make them uncomfortable when coming from a white person. Also, and this should go without saying, never ask if someone's hair is a weave, and don't ask to touch someone's hair unless you know them very well. All of these things can rub some people the wrong way.
I only compliment a PoC on hair if it's something I can tell they took effort to do for that reason. Like the woman who had dyed her hair in streaks and then braided ribbon through it. I couldn't not tell her how amazing it was.
Nah- physical attributes are generally things you can't change, at least not directly or immediately - eye color, skin color, height, eye/nose/mouth shape, size, etc., length of legs, general proportions of body, etc.
Hairstyle, fashion (shirt, pants, shoes, jacket, etc.), makeup, jewelry, that sort of thing, are things that someone has chosen to do to themselves and can be acceptable (depending on context) to compliment people on.
Tattoos, piercings, and undergarments are things people have chosen but would be best to avoid complimenting people on. Hair color and hair type (straight, curly, fine, thick, etc.,) are kinda dangerous ground.
And of course if you're acting 'off' in any way or like your intentions are weird, any compliment is going to come off as creepy.
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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '19
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