This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.

This Is How Long An 'Ideal' First Kiss Should Last

Too short, in our opinion.
YRF/ Screengrab from Youtube

The first kiss. It can be magical or nightmarish. Too short to give the other person a good idea of how you feel? So long that things become irredeemably weird? How long is enough? And how little is too little? The questions that plague the first few tentative kisses are enough to make one break out in hives.

Fortunately, the good people at dating site Match.com and cosmetics company ColourPop surveyed 3,000 single men and women to arrive at an answer that will possibly save all the souls drowning in worry about an impending kiss. And the answer is... disappointingly short.

So, 10 seconds is how short the ideal kiss is, according to the survey. Did I hear you gasp, "Too little." I am in complete agreement. A good kiss deserves so much more lip-time than that. This kiss from Queen where Rani (Kangana Ranaut) kisses the French chef, is almost exactly 10 seconds long. Does this seem enough? I don't think so.

Regardless of how you feel about the prescribed duration, the lip-lock etiquette approved by singles makes a lot of sense. Save the passionate French kisses until later in your romance; 42 percent agreed that good dates should be sealed with a closed-lip kiss and even though a bad kiss might not necessarily be a deal-breaker, halitosis certainly was according to 70 percent of those surveyed. So keep a stick of extra strong mint gum handy and steer clear of the onion curry.

The survey also revealed that 75 percent of women and 53 percent of men keep their eyes closed while kissing. And obviously, the only logical question to this statistic is: what are those remaining 25 percent women and 47 percent men thinking? As if worrying about garlicky breath and clammy palms wasn't enough, now one has to wonder if they're kissing a weirdo who is staring at you while your tongue may or may not be in their mouth. How is that fair?

Like seriously, what use can there possibly be of keeping the eyes open while kissing? What do these peeping Priyas and Pankajs want to look at? Do they want to count the whiteheads on their kissee's noses? Admire the artwork behind their heads? Scroll through their Twitter timeline? Just do the decent things and clamp the eyes shut, people!

Lips are not the only places meant to be kissed, say the singles. Surprisingly, more men (74 percent) than women (67 percent) find kisses on the neck to be second only to kisses on the lips in terms of romance.

The survey has also, once and for all, settled some raging debates. Which Hemsworth brother is more kissable? Sorry Chris, Liam (58 percent) has a significant lead. Which Kardashian sister? Khloe (55 percent), not Kim. Which Prince do more women want to lock lips with? (Harry! 64 percent) And the question no one should ever have to ask or answer: Trump or Obama (82 percent).

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.