Curl Power And The In-Flight Rules Air India Really Needs

Tata-owned Air India’s recently reissued grooming rules for its cabin crew are extremely discriminatory to older employees (no grey hair; those with ‘mature’ skin must use more than one anti-ageing product; balding men must shave what’s left of their hair—daily). But if this isn’t bad enough, Air India has demonstrated it firmly aligns itself with the tut-tuting Indians that curly-haired girls have battled their entire life. 

In its list of hair rules, the company repeatedly discriminates against curlies and indicates it wants its employees to look like they were all made with the same Adarsh Bharatiya Nari cookie cutter: 

• Straightening hair treatment like hair smoothening, relaxing or Kera-smoothening is mandatory for crew with frizzy hair. Keratin protein treatment is not a straightening treatment and must be followed up with a smoothening.

• Wavy curly and frizzy hair cannot be left open.

• Bushy, unruly and unbecoming hairstyles are not permitted.

• Curly hair needs to be styled in a donut bun and cannot be left open even if they (sic) are till nape length.

• Hair must be regularly washed after every two days. Note: This is anathema for curly-haired people. 

In case you didn’t understand the harsh words about ‘unruly’ hair, they’ve helpfully drawn a red cross over an image of a woman with messy, shoulder-length curly hair smiling manically into camera (see hair guidelines section). In one stroke, the airline’s rules have made every curly-haired girl relive the beauty trauma of growing up in a country obsessed with straight hair.

The team who wrote these rules clearly knows nothing about what it’s like to be ‘different’ in a country that only values ‘same’. I speak for most curly-haired women when I say we spent our childhood brushing our hair until every curl was uncoiled, oiling and centre-parting it to disguise its kinky personality. At every bend, we were surrounded by helpful Air India-style experts telling us that our only hope of looking good was to straighten our hair. But now we know better, we even have Curl Pride Facebook groups. Our curls fuel a mammoth industry of beauty products designed just for us—and we’re not going to let you bully us.

“At a time when the whole world is pushing for inclusivity and empowerment of women, airliners are introducing gender inclusive uniforms and sneakers, this ridiculous list of rules seems like it’s something out of the dark ages,” one curly-haired pilot told me. “So are women now supposed to get hair straighteners and spend thousands on parlours to get their hair permanently straightened? Are the men also supposed to get hair treatments? These rules deserve to be ridiculed.”

Instead of worrying about the texture, quantity and colour of their employees’ hair, Air India could institute rules that really would make a revolutionary difference to air travel.

Put safety measures in place to tackle the Indian male passenger who thinks an airline ticket allows them an all-access pass to airline staff. Ensure they know it’s not okay to touch a flight attendant’s hand when she hands them a bottle of water or ask the flight attendant to tie the seatbelt and then strain their privates against her hands (yes, a friend witnessed this). We have to thank then brave teenager Zaira Wasim for the fact that at least some men finally understand that you cannot give the female passenger seated in front of you a non-consensual foot massage without facing consequences. 

Introduce PSAs on how men should sit on their airline seats. I’m confident enough now to look into the eyes of the man sitting next to me and instruct him loudly: “Your legs can’t be spread like this. They’re invading my space.” I urge all women to do the same, it’s most effective. While Air India’s helping us teach men how to sit, they could also explain how armrests should be shared. And yes, ban those men who stand in the aisle near the loo so you have to brush past them every time you need to go.

Ensure that passengers know that crew are not their personal slaves for the duration of the flight. Instead of telling your employees to be polite to rude passengers, tell the latter that your crew deserve some respect.

Moderate noise levels. From badly behaved toddlers who scream and kick the seats in front of them to people who talk loudly on the phone, watch Netflix at full volume—without headphones—and groups travelling together who think it’s okay to shout across the aisle, there’s a lot of scope to introduce a few ‘sound’ guidelines to reduce the chaos. 

Invest in hiring behavioural psychologists who might come up with strategies to stop Indian passengers from pushing and shoving their way out of the plane as soon as the seatbelt sign is switched off. Stop passengers from crushing laptops and handbags when they throw their heavy bags over these in the overhead locker. Ensure they don’t give fellow passengers a concussion when they hurriedly remove these bags on landing.

The airline should ensure they have a separate set of rules for parents travelling with children and detailed guidelines on how to use in-flight toilets. Mercifully, the days one feared one would be sitting next to someone who didn’t know how to wear a mask are over.

Get to work Air India, there’s lots to do. And leave us curlies alone.

Priya Ramani is a Bengaluru-based journalist and is on the editorial board of Article-14.com.

The views expressed here are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of BQ Prime or its editorial team.