Flight attendant shares real reason they all wear red lipstick

A former flight attendant has shared the surprising reason why she thinks female cabin crew wear red lipstick.

It's one of those things you probably haven't thought about until now.

While the likes of Emirates clearly have a dress code and a certain 'look' flight attendants must adhere to, it seems most airline staff do tend to put on a bit of red lippy.

Heather Poole, a former flight attendant of a US airline for 20 years, has claimed that this isn't a coincidence and that the vivid-coloured lipstick is used as a safety measure.

She said in her memoir Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet that red lipstick can be a critical tool 'during an emergency'.

Why do flight attendants wear red lipstick?

A former flight attendant of a major US airline has revealed why female cabin crew wear red lipstick (Getty Stock Images)

Poole claimed that female flight attendants put on red lippy 'so passengers can read your lips during an emergency'.

"It had to be worn at all times. Lipstick was serious business," she insisted.

The idea is that if there was a loud situation on board, that the red lips would help passengers figure out what they're saying.

Staff are likely to be giving out instructions during a time of crisis and it's important that everyone knows what's happening.

"I wasn’t sure if the instructor was serious," Poole said.

Kat Kamalani, a flight attendant in the US, previously opened up about the 'shocking rules that you have to follow if you are a flight attendant'.

As reported by the Mirror, she said in a TikTok video from 2021: "So what most people don't know is that you have to follow a super strict guideline when you're a flight attendant, your airline gets to dictate everything from head to toe on the way you look, so your nail colour, hair colour, your lip colour, your make-up, the way your shoes look, your bags... every single thing."

'It's just a style choice'

Not everyone agrees with the red lippy theory (Getty Stock Images)

Well, one flight attendant has told Reader's Digest that having red lipstick on, for most stewardesses, is 'just a style choice'.

“I’ve never been told this, nor have I heard of any other flight attendant wearing lipstick for this reason,” Sydney Anisitine, who has more than 20 years of flying experience with all four of the major US airlines, said.

Veteran flight attendant Kristine Eksteine-Nizka agreed: “The most frequent reason for flight attendants to wear a bright lipstick is for the ‘typical’ flight-attendant look.

“In some airlines, such as the Emirates, the red lipstick is part of the uniform look.

“Emirates has a specific makeup look that the flight attendants need to adhere to—they even have makeup training for their girls.”

I guess it varies from airline to airline.