Next time you want to run your fingers through your hair....Don’t!

What’s with the super confident divas of the likes of Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukherji, Konkana Sharma running their fingers through their perfectly blow-dried and gelled hair on TV? I couldn’t help but notice the blatant frequency of it while I ran into some old episodes of Koffee with Karan on the internet. Bollywood stars are our ultimate style icons with not a hair out of place. They mouth perfect lines for the media and make their appearances on talk shows only in designer clothes. But ever noticed what they say with their bodies? If you notice, they will let out signs of nervousness just like you and I do, while they are kinda cornered in talk shows and interviews.

Body language is a true mirror of what’s going on in our minds. Our thoughts and bodies work in co-ordination and no matter how much we try to put up a brave front, the body plays along with our thoughts. We need to feel confident to behave confident. Though we can consciously avoid the manifesting the sub-conscious vibes.

Running your fingers through your hair seems such an innocuous thing to do but body language pundits will beg to differ. Do that in an interview and you expert panel instantly knows you are ill at ease. This is the most common sign of nervousness, mostly in men. But notice how often women tuck strands of hair (that are not even stray) behind their ears while thinking of what to say. Running you fingers through your hair seems to help you buy time while you frame an appropriate answer in your mind. It also, on a sub-conscious level, makes you feel better since you just put your hair in place.

Have you ever noticed your hands going up to scratch your face in times you are doubtful or self-conscious? It’s mostly scratching the forehead, chin or nose - another quite common sign of nervousness. Notice yourself and the people around you in uncertain situations and you will see them do that. This is also like buying time and you fill those milliseconds with a scratch.

Other signs of under-confidence include, among others, holding a handkerchief (in case of women) or a pen (in case of women) in your hand when you have to face people in public, tapping fingers on the table, shaking one leg (in case of men) or hiding your hands in your lap or pushing your feet backwards under your chair (indicates you are trying to hide a part of you).

So next time, mind your body along with your words.