Airlines / MH · Grooming
Malaysia Airlines — Appearance & Grooming
Built entirely around the sarong kebaya: the uniform is fitted, the grooming standard exists to serve it, and both are checked at the walk-in assessment alongside height and weight.
Grooming · Malaysia Airlines
- Hair
- Female crew wear hair up in a neat bun, off the face and collar, in a natural colour. Male crew keep a short, conventional cut.
- Make-up
- Groomed and matched to the kebaya batik — warm, defined and conventional rather than fashion-led. It forms part of the grooming evaluation at walk-ins.
- Facial hair
- Male crew clean-shaven; no beard allowance is published.
- Nails
- Short, clean and in a neutral or uniform-matched polish; nothing decorated.
- Glasses & contacts
- Malaysia Airlines does not publish a spectacle rule; the medical covers corrected vision. Discreet frames or contact lenses are the safe preparation for a walk-in, where the screen is visual.
- Piercings
- One pair of small earlobe studs for female crew; nothing visible elsewhere.
- Jewellery
- Discreet — a watch, a wedding band, small studs and the issued badge.
- Tattoos in uniform
- Nothing may show while you are in the kebaya, and the kebaya is unusually revealing on this point: it leaves the forearms and the ankles exposed. Anything the fabric does not cover has to be somewhere else on the body.
- Headscarf
- This is a field to verify yourself rather than take from any article. The cabin crew kebaya has no published headscarf variant, and the question has been publicly and politically debated in Malaysia for years without the airline publishing a settled policy — ask MAG recruitment for the current position.
- Uniform
- The batik sarong kebaya that defines Malaysian Hospitality, worn with matching shoes; male crew wear a dark suit.
- Weight & proportion
- Weight is expected to be in proportion to height and it is measured — the walk-in assessment includes a height and weight check alongside the grooming evaluation.
Grooming rules change more often than any other requirement. Verify them on the airline's official careers page before you buy anything or book a hair appointment.
Frequently asked questions
Can you have tattoos as Malaysia Airlines cabin crew?
Only where the kebaya covers them. The uniform exposes the forearms and ankles, so ink there is visible in uniform and rules you out.
Can Malaysia Airlines cabin crew wear a hijab?
The airline publishes no headscarf variant of the cabin crew kebaya, and the question has been argued publicly in Malaysia for years. Ask MAG recruitment directly rather than relying on any article, including this one.
What happens at a Malaysia Airlines walk-in grooming check?
Height and weight are measured, documents verified, and your overall presentation assessed against the kebaya standard — hair, make-up, nails and posture — all on the same day as the English screen and panel interview.