10 Profile Pictures to Avoid for Online Dating

Posted by admin on June 4, 2015

When you’re dating, the profile picture you choose for your social media accounts could be more important than you think. And the photos on your dating profile are crucial!

First impressions count. If you and your date start talking online before your first date, or if you’re being set up by friends, your date might want to check you out online before the big night. The picture you choose as your profile picture could say a lot about you, and you may risk putting your date off you before you have even met in person!

If you're curious about how to select photos for your dating profile, these are ten types of profile pictures that you should avoid online!

1. The Throwback Photo

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You may well believe that you were the cutest baby, or that the photo from your teenage years is so much more flattering than any of you now. However, the first thing that people think when they see an old photo is, ‘What do they look like now?’. Your date might presume that you’re hiding something and, let’s face it, they’re going to know what you look like now when they meet you. Embrace the present and save baby photos for later!

2. The ‘Guess Who?’

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Chances are that you’ll be tagged in a variety of different photos on Facebook, so your potential date can work out who you are. However, on a dating profile, you should aim for more than half of your photos to be of you. This means that you can include the photo of you and your best friend looking great, but your date will be able to discern which of you they’ll be meeting.

3. The Party Animal

Image source: Mariya Oliynyk on Unsplash

You might find the photo of you passed out on the floor at the end of your party absolutely hilarious, but your date might not. Whilst you might think it shows your fun side, your date might think it makes you look irresponsible. There are better ways to show that you like to have a laugh than in your worst, unconscious state.

4. The Random Photo

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Giraffes may well be your favourite animal, but a picture of one as your profile picture doesn’t give your date much of a clue about what you look like. Neither does the panorama view image that you took on your holiday last year. Make sure that you feature in your photo in one way or another.

5. The peek-a-boo

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What’s the use of a profile picture if you can’t even tell what you look like in it? Try to avoid pictures in which you have something blocking a full view of your face, this might include hats, sunglasses and mobile phones- or anything else that stops your date from seeing what you really look like!

6.The Crop Out

If you happen to love how you look in a certain photo with your ex, and have no choice but to use that photo as your profile picture, don’t be tempted to crop or scribble out their face. Your date might think you’re bitter if they ask you who it is that’s missing.

7. The Photo Shoot

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Last year’s photo may well have cost you a lot of money, and you might look great in some of the pictures, but perhaps it isn’t suitable for your dating profile picture. Show them the real you!

8. The Celebrity

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Just because your love for a certain celebrity does influence you as a person, that doesn’t mean they should be your profile picture. Your date will already know what Angelina looks like, they want to see a picture of you!

9. The Provocative Picture

Manipulate it - Against Censorship at Flickr

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Understandably, you want your date to find you attractive, but having an overly sexy profile picture could attract the wrong kind of person. Plus, it’s always best to leave a little to the imagination, don’t you think…

10. The Auntie or Uncle

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Even if your niece or nephew is unbelievably cute, you might want to think twice about having a photo of you with them as your profile picture, especially on a dating site as they might be mistaken as your own child. Unfortunately, children are seen to be ‘baggage’ and could scare a potential date!

Providing that you follow this advice with online profile pictures, you should be good to go!

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