Well I think it's tempting to put on a vulnerable act in order to soften a girl up but at the end of the day even if you get the girl, you wont feel like you earned it honestly and you wont feel like you can do it without lying.
What I'm thinking about here is how this affects you in the long run, there are few better feelings than knowing that you are a truly attractive human being, that girls like you for the real you and not an act that you put on.
I'm not saying that 'everybody should be themselves' because lets face it, some peoples
selves just suck and they really need to work on a few of the fundamentals before
being themselves is a good idea...
Until then they should just be aiming to appear to be the best version of themselves, after practicing this for long enough they begin to enjoy the reactions of others and the feelings of empowerment and they begin to feel comfortable in this new identity without losing touch with who they essentially are.
In answer to your question, I am selective about which vulnerabilities I share, obviously talking about how I once shat my pants on a school hike and it was the most embarassing day of my life, isn't going to turn her on.
However, talking about how much I love seeing my little brothers, how I'm always trying to look out for them and I am really proud of the men they are becoming, whilst showing corny photos, is going to make her melt in her pants.
When sharing a story about vulnerability it is also essential to focus on the emotional story rather than the factual story as this is more likely to illicit an emotional response in her, which is what you are after.
(I think you are probably doing this already) For instance talking about how scared you were having cancer, doesn't make you look like a pussy it just 'humanises' you, it takes you from being a stranger in a bar to a real live person and this is something that is lacking from the PUA robots you see in Neil Straus's 'The Game', many of them have lost touch with their humanity.
When a girl sees you as a human with strengths and weaknesses she begins to stop seeing you as a threat and she is likely to feel confident in opening up with you. Some guys try to distance themselves emotionally from the girls they are seducing because they assume that they will either.
A) Get hurt
or
B) End up in a relationship
However, that is only likely to happen if you are looking for a relationship, in this day and age it is totally acceptable to have fun consensual sex with a girl without it turning into a relationship, the common expectation no longer exists sex=relationship, if you open your mind to it, you can totally have lots of girls who you consider friends but you also occassionally have sex with, it is only when one party decides it's time to put a label on it that shit gets complicated and this is why I start every relationship by saying...
"Just so you know, I'm not looking for a relationship"
I have had sex with well over 100 beautiful women in my lifetime and I can safely say I have NEVER had a girl turn around and say to me...
"Okay well this ends here"
It might be a different story if I was using my local church as my hunting grounds...
I believe that girls have a point of no return with a guy, where they will get to like him and invest so much time and energy in them they will happily overlook him saying something like "Just so you know, I'm not looking for a relationship" (or some variation) because their pride makes them think, well he says that now but things might change and maybe they will, who knows, you might meet the girl of your dreams this way.
It can be a real challenge trying to form connections with total strangers but the best advice I can give you is to listen, rather than memorising material to introduce into a conversation, keep your mind blank and open and use what she is giving you to build awesome conversations.
For example.
"Hey how's your night going?"
"Good"
"Only good, Not amazing?"
"Well you've got me there, my friend is having trouble with her ex so she was late in picking me up blah blah blah"
"Does she do this kind of thing alot?"
etc.
As opposed to...
"Hey you, lets play a game! Let me read your palm?"
"Why?"
"Hold on, I just need to check my notes... Redirect and use DHV"
"Ahh wut?"
"Neg! Umm... your breath smells like paprika!"
"No it doesn't"
"What the hell, WHY are we NOT having sex right now? Vaglover69 guaranteed me this would work, he said he used it on like a gazillion billion times on HB10's and it worked everytime!"
There is no secret formula to having a good conversation, the mistake a lot of guys make is that they talk at girls rather than talking with them. Intuitive women can sense insincerity and indifference in men when they talk to them, they can sense when you are not in the moment, when your mind is elsewhere.
Stories are the only exception to using planned material, everybody loves a great story and the more you tell it, the better it gets. One story can tell a girl more about you as a person than an entire night of dull conversation, so think carefully about what kind of qualities you want to put forth when you tell your story.
For you it looks like, inner strength, humor, down to earthness, passion and vulnerability. To girls those are all really attractive qualities... Anyway this turned into a bit of an essay if you want some really good tips for talking to girls then just read '10 easy tips for talking to girls'
http://wayoftheplayer.com/the-best-of-w ... -to-girls/