• Applied Microscopy
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.265-273
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• 2008

We investigated the morphological differences of the ethnic hairs using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, sampled from African, Asian and Caucasian women. Transverse section of African hair had a highly elliptical type whereas those of Asian and Caucasian hairs had circular and elliptical types, respectively. The diameter of African hair showed wide variations from 90 to 115 ${\mu}m$. The diameter of Asian hair was 100 ${\mu}m$ and Caucasian hair had a lesser diameter of 80 ${\mu}m$ on average. African hair were much more damaged in cuticle layer compared with Asian or Caucasian hairs. In particular, endocuticle of cuticle cell had a lot of holes in it, which resulted that it tends to be easily broken. Phaeomelanin in the cortex of Caucasian hair had a concentrically helical structure in it.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.285-300
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• 2017

This study analyzes the images of models in womenswear advertisements targeting women in their fifties. The goals of this study are: 1) to investigate beauty ideals for middle-aged women by analyzing models' look age, chronological age, wrinkles, gray hair, hair length, body type, and race; and 2) to explore how ageing is dealt with in advertisements by analyzing the range of bodies shown in advertisements, the color mode of photographs, and the clarity of models' figures in relation to models' look ages. A total of 155 printed advertisements from January 2012 to January 2017 from the brands Daks Ladies, Lebeige, Luciano Choi, PAT, and Zishen were selected for analysis. Womenswear brands targeting middle-aged women reinforce cultural ideals of female beauty that emphasize youth and slenderness. They do this by using thin and slender models, who most often appear to be in their twenties and thirties, and have hair longer than their shoulders. Brands with higher price ranges show a preference for Caucasian models, which reveals that a Caucasian identity is associated with sophistication. In addition, the bodies of models who appear to be in their forties and fifties were concealed by framing photographs mostly above the knees. Older models' features were also obscured via the use of black and white photography, strong lighting and contrast, and digital editing that blurred the boundaries between figures and their backgrounds. These decisions for how to represent models could result in negative self-esteem and a denial of the symptoms of ageing among middle-aged women.