Dating blunders, silent moments, and quick blurts that make you go, “What did I just say?”

There’s nothing more horrifying than first-date awkward moments, the kind that leaves you feeling sweaty and uncool on how to act. But don’t worry- it happens to everyone and there are ways around it.

Just keep it cool, keep it fresh, be yourself and keep on keeping on. AXE understands the need to go a little over-the-top in situations like the ones you’re about to read below, but please do and just be keep it chill and let your unique self-shine because you’re hotter when your chill.

You won’t regret it.

1. Beware of being too handsy during a movie

Movies are a typical go-to for dates, but for a first – things can get awkward.

Do you hold hands, put an arm around her, or just sit still?

See how the mood is, move a little and analyse whether or not she’s comfortable but refrain from any of this on a first date.

Keep it fun, keep it cute and keep it cool and you’ll be good to go.

via GIPHY

2. Accidentally slipping up about your ex

Put yourself in the other person’s shoe.

How would you feel if your date started blabbering about an experience they had with their ex?

Uhhhhh, hella awks. The reason you’re both on the date is to start completely anew, so any mention of the exes is a big no-no.

If you do slip up, you can playfully turn it into a joke. Done.

3. At no point should you have clammy hands

Meeting someone means having clean, freshly-washed, maybe moisturised hands.

Since this is ONE of the initial moments that could make or break a date. Imagine the awkward silence when shaking someone’s hand if you had something sticky on them or it’s slightly clammy when shaking someone’s hands. EEK!

A big no-no.

4. Talking politics- eek!

There are some topics on a first date that you should just stay clear of – Talking politics is one of them!

Dangerous subjects could arise, plus this tends to always end in a disagreement of sorts.

Let’s keep the serious stuff until later- just focus on getting to know the other person.

5. Fight over the bill- regardless of who invited

Aaaah, the most awkward part of every date- whether you’ve been seeing each other a while or not.

This point of ANY date is an unavoidable mess, but it can be helped. Are you old-fashioned? A bit more modern and believe in splitting a bill?

Either way, it’s good to offer to pay or to split it, so it’s not an expected result from your date.

Ted Mosby of How I Met Your Mother’s bill-split game is a cool place to start.

6. The Catfish

Last thing you want is for your date to be unable to identify you, so prior to meeting up with your date- ensure that they’ve at least seen ONE realistic photograph of you.

That way, you can say “I told you so.”

But all jokes aside, being cat-fished has become a more common thing in today’s digital dating age. So avoid it.

It’s better to know you’re fully-accepted as you are anyway, no?