How to close the hood properly

[number001]

Which is the correct way of closing a vehicle's hood, by

1) Lowering the hood slowly until the hook will latch on and press down to lock.

or

2) From a height of 300mm or less drop the hood. This would lock the hood already.

I use method#1 but when I use this method, I noticed the portion of the hood where I press down on to lock, has some small dents.

I'am thinking maybe if I can use method#2 to avoid the dents, but I dont know if I drop the hood like that, it might destroy the lock(hook)mechanism inside.

So, which method does the least or no damage at all? I dont want the dents neither do I want to inadvertently destroy the hood locking mechanism.

Pls help.