The handshake, in general, is a positive sign. A person would avoid shaking hands with the one he doesn’t like or doesn’t feel comfortable around in many cases. If a person took that step and shook hands with you, then this might mean that this person feels OK around you.

Of course, in some cases, a person who hates you might still shake hands, but it’s going to be an uncomfortable process for him, and this is why he might avoid it whenever possible.

The two-handed handshake

The interesting thing about the two-handed handshake is that it’s a bit unusual and uncommon. Most people shake hands with one hand, but you might come across a person who shakes hands with both hands now and then.

That person, who uses both hands, is putting more effort into the handshake than others. The two-handed handshake in body language is like an exaggeration of the handshake process, and this leads us to the conclusion that more emotions are involved during that handshake.

The person who uses both hands during a handshake might want to show you some extra affection. If a guy respects you a lot, for example, then he might shake hands with both his hands. In such a case, because that person feels good about knowing you, he tries to make the handshake communicate more positive emotions than usual.

This gesture is the same exactly as shaking hands with one hand while touching the person with the other hand. The only difference is that the latter is even more intimate and communicates stronger emotions.

If a person feels guilty towards you or if that person feels that he should be overly nice to you because he didn’t treat you well in the past, for example, then he might also use the two-handed handshake to compensate for those feelings.

Again this is also a positive sign as it reflects that person’s desire to improve their relationship with you.

Few notes to consider

Sometimes an enemy might use that two-handed handshake to convince you that he is a friend, but this is a rare case. Some people are good actors, but this specific gesture will usually feel unpleasant if no genuine emotions were present, which is why it’s generally considered a positive sign.

In addition to that, this gesture is usually common among males as it’s not common for a male to shake hands with a female with both hands since it can seem awkward.

Also, this gesture doesn’t usually happen between close friends as those friends communicate their emotional affection in different ways. Because the stranger has fewer channels to communicate his positive emotions, he takes advantage of the handshake to send those emotions.

And of course, like any other body language signal, all of this happens on the unconscious level.