Prelude
How to Write a Dating Profile (With Examples): What to Say and What to Cut
Most advice on how to write a dating profile focuses on making you look good. That is the wrong target. A dating profile has a more practical job: it gives people something to message you about. A profile that is attractive but generic gets likes and no conversations. A profile with two specific hooks gets openers, and openers are where everything starts.
So the test for every line you write is simple: could a stranger turn this into a first message in ten seconds? If yes, keep it. If not, cut it or make it specific.
The three-part formula for an about me section
- One specific thing you do. Not "I love travel" but "trying to visit every country that starts with M, currently at four".
- One opinion or small confession. Personality comes through in what you think, not in adjectives about yourself. "Pineapple on pizza is fine and I will defend it" does more than "funny and easygoing".
- One invitation. What you would like to do with someone, or a question they can answer. It hands them the opener.
Dating profile examples, before and after
Love to travel, good food and hanging out with friends. Looking for someone genuine who doesn't take life too seriously.
3/10
True of almost everyone on the app, so it tells a reader nothing. There is no detail to ask about and no reason to message you instead of the next profile.
Currently on country 4 of my 'every country starting with M' project (Morocco was the best, Malta the smallest). Will cook you the one tagine I have perfected. Tell me where I should go next.
9/10
Specific, a little funny, and it ends with a question. Anyone can write an opener from this, which is the entire point.
Gym, work, repeat. Ask me anything.
2/10
"Ask me anything" puts all the work on the other person. Most will ask nothing.
Training for my first half marathon and mostly complaining about it. Weekday gym, weekend long runs, Sunday reward is the biggest breakfast in town. Looking for someone to recommend better breakfast spots.
8/10
Same person, same life, but now there is a goal, a bit of self-awareness and an easy invitation.
About me examples for a dating site
Five short about me sections you can adapt. Notice that each one has at least one detail a reader could ask about.
Nurse on night shifts, so I know every 24-hour bakery in the city. Currently learning to climb and mostly learning to fall. Ideal first date: coffee, then a walk that accidentally takes three hours.
Software developer who refuses to fix anyone's printer. Collector of houseplants I keep alive through stubbornness. Looking for someone to lose at board games to, gracefully.
Teacher by day, amateur baker by night (the sourdough is a work in progress). Strong opinions about the best dumplings in town; try me.
New to the city, so I am in the "say yes to everything" phase. Recent yeses: salsa class, a pottery wheel, a very bad karaoke night. What should be next?
Dad of a very opinionated beagle. Weekend hikes, weekday cooking experiments. Looking for something real, slowly.
Hinge prompts: how to answer them
Hinge replaces the bio with prompts, and the same rule applies: answer with a story, an opinion or a detail, and leave a hook. Some of the most common Hinge prompts, with the kind of answer that gets comments:
- Typical Sunday: "Farmers market, then pretending I will cook everything I bought." (Not: "Relaxing with friends.")
- I geek out on: "Maps. Give me any city and I will tell you its weirdest neighborhood."
- My simple pleasures: "The first sip of coffee I did not have to make myself."
- The way to win me over is: "Recommend a book and then actually ask what I thought of it."
- Two truths and a lie: three short, specific statements. It is practically an opener generator.
- I'm looking for: say it plainly. "Someone to build a slow, silly, real thing with" is better than a list of adjectives.
- Together, we could: a concrete plan, not "have fun". "Find the best ramen in the city and rank it" works.
Pick prompts that let you be specific, and skip the ones that only invite clichés. Three strong answers beat three safe ones every time.
What to cut from your dating profile
- Adjectives about yourself. Funny, loyal, adventurous, easygoing. Show it instead.
- Negativity. "No drama", "don't message me if...". It reads as bitterness, even when it is just caution.
- Lists without details. "Travel, food, music, movies" is a list everyone shares.
- Anything you would not say out loud on a first date.
Photos in one paragraph
Lead with a clear, recent photo of your face, smiling, alone. Add one full-length photo and one or two of you doing something you actually do, because an activity photo is another opener hook. Skip group shots where people have to guess which one is you, and skip sunglasses in the first photo.
A great profile gets the message. Then what?
A specific profile gets you better openers, but the conversation still has to survive past message three, and that is where most matches quietly die. Prelude teaches that part: 35 five-minute lessons where you write real messages to realistic profiles and an AI coach scores every one. The first three lessons are free.
Practice the conversation your new profile is about to start.
