{"id":133100,"date":"2025-05-26T11:17:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T11:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/133100\/"},"modified":"2025-05-26T11:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T11:17:12","slug":"flight-attendant-reveals-the-real-reason-they-wear-red-lipstick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/133100\/","title":{"rendered":"Flight attendant reveals the real reason they wear red lipstick"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former flight attendant has revealed a little-known reason why female cabin crew wear red lipstick – and it’s more than just a fashion statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Heather Poole, who spent two decades flying for a major U.S. airline, revealed in her memoir, Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet, that the bold red lip once served a surprising purpose.<\/p>\n

During her time in the air, red lipstick was part of official grooming standards, but it also had a specific safety function.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Poole, the distinguishable shade was worn so that passengers could read flight attendants’ lips during an emergency.<\/p>\n

She explained that in a loud, chaotic situation, passengers might not hear what flight attendants are saying, but they could see their lips moving.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The idea is that a vivid lip colour can assist in non-verbal communication, a critical tool when trying to direct panicked passengers toward exits or life-saving equipment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She also suggested that the colour red projects authority, giving the impression that flight attendants are ‘in control’ of the situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, veteran flight attendant Sydney Anistine told Reader’s Digest <\/a>she\u2019s ‘never heard’ of lipstick being used for safety purposes, adding: ‘These days, if you see someone wearing a bright lip, it’s just a style choice.’<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A former flight attendant has revealed a little-known reason why female cabin crew wear red lipstick – and it’s more than just a fashion statement<\/p>\n

\"According <\/p>\n

According to Heather Poole, the distinguishable shade was worn so that passengers could read flight attendants’ lips during an emergency<\/p>\n

Kristine Eksteine-Nizka, a longtime cabin crew member and travel writer, agreed, noting that for many airlines, especially luxury carriers like Emirates, the red lip is more about branding than safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said: ‘Emirates has a specific makeup look that the flight attendants need to adhere to – they even have makeup training for their girls<\/a>.’<\/p>\n

Still, the image of the glamorous, perfectly polished flight attendant has deep historical roots, with lipstick being ‘serious business,’ according to Poole.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the golden age of aviation during the 1950s and 1960s, airlines like the now-defunct Pan Am enforced strict appearance codes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former Pan Am stewardess Sheila Riley recalled how makeup choices were micromanaged.<\/p>\n

She said: ‘If you were caught wearing, say, blue eye-shadow or scarlet lipstick you were told to wipe it off because they wanted us to look natural and wholesome.’<\/p>\n

The airline even mandated Revlon’s Persian Melon lipstick and matching nail polish – incidentally, the make-up brand’s founder Charles Revlon was on Pan Am’s board of directors at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, travellers have discovered a hidden detail in the Virgin Australia staff uniforms that few have noticed.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"However,\u00a0Kristine <\/p>\n

However,\u00a0Kristine Eksteine-Nizka, a veteran crew member and travel writer noted that for many airlines, especially luxury carriers like Emirates (pictured), the red lip is more about branding than safety<\/p>\n

\"In <\/p>\n

In the golden age of aviation during the 1950s and 1960s, airlines like the now-defunct Pan Am (pictured) enforced strict appearance codes on flight attendants\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The airline even mandated Revlon’s Persian Melon lipstick (pictured) and matching nail polish – incidentally, the make-up brand’s founder Charles Revlon was on Pan Am’s board of directors at the time<\/p>\n

The cherry red uniforms might seem identical at first, but there’s a glaring difference between those worn by flight attendants and guest services agents.<\/p>\n

Flight attendants wear a lilac and deep purple neck scarf along with a winged pin, whereas ground staff wear a purple and red neck scarf and do not have a specialised pin.<\/p>\n

While millions fly the airline everyday, many weren’t aware of the subtle difference in the uniforms.<\/p>\n

Virgin staff recently shared a video revealing the differences and debunked common myths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former flight attendant has revealed a little-known reason why female cabin crew wear red lipstick – and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[51,92,183,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-133100","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-travel","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114573858889533596","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}