Southwest publishes detailed appearance and grooming standards for its flight attendants, covering everything from tattoos and hair to nail length and makeup. Every requirement below comes directly from Southwest’s own current guidance for Inflight employees.
Flight attendants are the most visible representation of any airline’s brand, and Southwest is precise about what that means in practice, right down to the exact width of a headband and how far fingernails are allowed to extend past the fingertip.
Southwest also reserves the right to assess whether a flight attendant’s physical size may affect their ability to safely perform the job, a standard applied both during Flight Attendant Training and at any point afterward, based on a reasonable, good-faith judgment call from an Inflight Leader.
At a Glance
These standards reflect Southwest’s current official guidance for Inflight employees. Read on for the full details.
Tattoos: What’s Actually Allowed
Southwest’s tattoo policy has loosened considerably from where it stood as recently as 2023, when visible tattoos on the arms, legs, wrists, and feet were capped at the size of a Southwest employee badge, with only a quarter-sized tattoo permitted on the hands.
Under Southwest’s current guidance, those size limits are gone entirely. Full sleeve tattoos and other larger visible tattoos are permitted on the arms, legs, wrists, hands, and feet. There are, however, two important remaining restrictions on tattoos:
Location: visible tattoos are not permitted on the head, face, neck, or chest. If you have a tattoo in any of these areas, it must be completely covered while in uniform. Tattoos in these areas can be covered using uniform apparel or with makeup. If the tattoo is on the neck, then it can also be covered using a scarf or even your own hair.
Content: wherever a tattoo is visible, it must not be offensive, which Southwest defines as including but not limited to violent, obscene, sexual, or racist content and imagery. If there’s any doubt, flight attendants are expected to consult their Leader to determine whether a tattoo crosses that line.
If a tattoo is determined to be offensive, it must be covered, either by the uniform or with makeup. The one exception is the hands: a tattoo there that’s judged offensive cannot be covered with makeup, since Southwest’s hand hygiene requirements for flight attendants take precedence over cosmetic coverage.
Worth knowing: Southwest now has one of the most relaxed tattoo policies for flight attendants of any U.S. carrier. Progress came fast considering that it was only in 2023 that the airline allowed flight attendants to have any visible tattoos. It’s a reminder that tattoo rules can change quickly, so check out our companion guide for the latest policy at every major carrier – Can Cabin Crew Have Tattoos? What Every Major Airline Actually Says.
Hair
Hair must be clean, neat, groomed, and maintained in a way that enhances a professional appearance, and it can never interfere with safely performing any job duties.
Color needs to look natural. Southwest names shades of brown, blonde, brunette, natural reds, black, or grey as acceptable, and rules out stark highlights or unnatural shades.
Extreme hairstyles aren’t permitted, although there’s a clear distinction on one specific type of look: so-called ‘fauxhawks’ are allowed, while mohawks are strictly forbidden.
The rules differ by uniform collection:
- In the male uniform collection, hair longer than the top of the collar has to be pulled back into a ponytail or braid, though man buns are explicitly allowed.
- In the female uniform collection, hair can’t be longer than mid-back, and if it exceeds that length, it needs to be pulled up with a ponytail holder, rubber band, elastic band, or hair clip so it stays out of the way of work.
Hair accessories are limited to headbands, barrettes, hair clips, and ponytail holders in neutral colors: black, brown, beige, navy, white, silver, or gold. Whatever you choose, it needs to be simple in style, with any color kept subtle, and headbands specifically can’t be wider than 2 inches.
Facial Hair
Facial hair rules apply only within the male uniform collection. Southwest’s default expectation is clean-shaven, but a beard, goatee, mustache, soul patch, or sideburns are all permitted, provided they’re clean, short, combed, and neatly trimmed.
Length has to stay even throughout and can’t extend beyond half an inch from the face. Sideburns specifically can’t extend past the bottom of the earlobe, and must be an even width from top to bottom. Facial hair of any kind, including a beard, goatee, mustache, soul patch, or sideburns, is not permitted while wearing the female uniform collection.
Insight: Did you know that many airlines have specific rules about the length of sideburns and facial hair because of special smoke hoods that flight attendants have to wear if they are called upon to fight an in-flight fire?
Makeup
Southwest’s standard for makeup is professional and complementary to the uniform, and it explicitly rules out eccentric or exaggerated cosmetic styles and colors. That means no glitter, no excessively bright colors, no stage makeup, and no colored or glittered eyelashes.
Apart from that, though, Southwest doesn’t give flight attendants a specific list of colors and shades of makeup that they are and aren’t allowed to wear.
Fingernails
Fingernails must be kept clean, neat, and well-manicured, extending no more than a quarter of an inch past the fingertip. All nails need to match in both length and shape.
Nail polish is allowed, but the color needs to complement the uniform, and the polish itself has to be free of chips, cracks, streaks, or any other sign of poor maintenance. Southwest permits up to two colors at once, and glitter or nail art is fine provided it stays simple and classic.
Decals, letters, or jewels on the nails aren’t permitted, and neither are vibrant, attention-grabbing shades like orange, yellow, or neon.
What These Rules Mean in Practice
If we were to summarize Southwest’s grooming standards in just three words, they would be professional, neat, and complementary. Southwest has dramatically eased its uniform and grooming rules in recent years, although that doesn’t mean that some of the specific regulations still don’t catch candidates out.
Remember, when it comes to a video interview or in-person interview, this isn’t the time to be testing the limits of any airline’s grooming standards. If an airline has specified a requirement, the absolute golden rule is to follow that rule to the letter.
This page is part of our ongoing coverage of Southwest Airlines flight attendant recruitment, covering pay, the application process and what to expect at each stage. If you're getting ready to apply, here's where to go next.
