Flight attendant shares 'real' reason she was taught to wear lipstick while on duty

A flight attendant revealed she was given an odd explanation during her training as to why all females must wear red lipstick during flights.

Have you ever wondered why flight attendants wear red lipstick? Of course you have, but the true reason might prove to be more surprising than you were expecting.

While it is true airlines often expect their staff to look suited and booted, as they are representing the company with all interactions with the public, the reason for the lipstick isn’t really a fashion statement.

Former flight attendant Heather Poole spent almost 2 decades flying for a major US airline and detailed the inner workings in her memoir Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet.

While she didn't name the airline, she did reveal that the company was pretty big on presentation and grooming.

A former flight attendant told all about the profession in her new memoir(Getty Stock Image)

She said: “The first day of training was all about grooming. “It’s common knowledge that flight attendants must be willing to do two things: cut their hair and go anywhere.”

She added that her airline had very particular rules about hair and the work she had to get done to meet their standards.

But she also pointed out that during training there were also specific rules about wearing lipstick, specifically red lipstick.

She said: “Lipstick, at flight attendant training, was serious business. It had to be worn at all times.”

She added that, a classmate eventually came to question this and instead wore one that was closer to glossy nude.

However, the reasoning given by her instructor came as quite a shock.

An instructor said: “'So passengers can read our tips during an emergency’. None of us knew if he was serious.”

The idea being that in an emergency situation, passengers will be better able to focus and read the lips of an air stewardess if they can’t hear them clearly due to chaos and panic.

Some other experts have questioned this safety explanation (Getty Stock Image)

But as well as this, some airlines favor red lipstick for the image it presents, an image of authority and indicates that the flight attendants are in control of situations.

However, some other aviation experts admitted to being skeptical of the safety explanation.

Veteran flight attendant Sydney Anistine spoke to Readers Digest and said she had never heard of lipstick being used for safety purposes and added: “These days, if you see someone wearing a bright lip, it's just a style choice.”

So next time you are travelling on a flight, might be worth checking if a flight attendant was given the same explanation as to why they have to wear red.