Toilet – Hair device – Having hair shaping surface or form
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-20
2001-11-13
Wilson, John J. (Department: 3732)
Toilet
Hair device
Having hair shaping surface or form
C132S226000, C132S210000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06314968
ABSTRACT:
The present invention concerns a hair-curler and a method of setting hair. It can be used to perm and set hair.
Ordinary hair-curlers generally comprise a body that is cylindrical or slightly thinner toward the middle of its length. They can be made of any suitable material, such as plastics material and/or metal.
With hair-curlers having a body that is cylindrical or thinner in the middle, flat and horizontal strands of hair with a width corresponding to that of the hair-curler are taken up from the hair roots. The hair is then rolled from the tips toward the roots in concentric layers that are more or less numerous and thick. At the end of this rolling, the hair-curler is tangential to the scalp, where it is held in place.
In cold perming, the treatment products, if applied after rolling, penetrate and impregnate in a more or less regular manner the layers rolled on first, i.e. the deepest ones. The same problems are encountered on the first rinsing with water and on applying the fixative that constitutes the final phase of treating the hair before removing the hair-curlers.
The results obtained are sometimes disappointing, with soft and short-lived curliness. The hair has an irregular wavy appearance. Another problem, observed at the tips of the strand, is a loss of curliness in the order of 30% of the diameter of the hair-curler. This mediocre result, usually called “straight tips”, must be corrected using a curling iron if a more refined result is to be obtained.
To reduce the above drawbacks, very fine strands are curled, and in the case of long hair several hair-curlers with different diameters are used for the same strand of hair. This procedure, known as “double or triple rolling”, is more difficult to execute.
Starting from the middle of the strand of hair, the hair is rolled on in the required direction as far as the hair roots, where the hair-curler is held tangentially to the scalp by an elastic band stretched between its two ends or by a pin passed through the rolled hair and the body of the hair-curler. The hair of the remainder of the strand of hair is rolled onto a different diameter hair-curler, starting from the tips and in the opposite direction, until the two hair-curlers are juxtaposed. The hair-curler is held in place by one of the means mentioned above. This technique requires great professional skill.
The above two procedures increase the number of hair-curlers required for a perm, take a longer time to execute and are uncomfortable for the client.
If cut transversely with scissors, a strand of hair formed with hair-curlers of the above design has a flat section due to rolling in concentric layers.
Hair-curlers with a frustoconical body, as described in FR-A-1.007.774 and EP-A-0.283.305 have two major drawbacks because of their exclusively and very marked frustoconical shape: first of all, it is very difficult to hold the tips of the strand of hair to begin rolling it on, and then the strand of hair slips toward one or other end of the hair-curler, either when rolling it on or during treatment. Hair-curlers of exclusively frustoconical shape have not retained the interest of hairdressing professionals.
Regardless of the shape of the hair-curlers, the methods of fixing them (pins, clips or elastic bands) have advantages and drawbacks that are often mutually opposed.
For the method of fixing the hair-curler by means of an elastic band stretched between its two ends, elastic bands of different lengths have been produced with one or more holes at one end to adapt the tool as well as possible to the particular requirements of each perm. Nevertheless, depending on the length of the hair-curler and the volume of hair rolled onto it, the elastic band that should hold the hair-curler in the required position is often not taut enough or too taut and leaves an imprint on the hair.
Although it is easy to hook an elastic band onto a hemispherical or lens-shaped end when holding a hair-curler in the hand, it is much more difficult on a hair-curler that has already been fitted. There is a tendency to lift up the hair-curler, to make it easier to hook on the elastic band, so causing uncomfortable pulling of the hair which is sometimes painful for the client. There is also a tendency to employ the easy way out of placing the elastic band in front of one and moving it to the required position near the hair roots by causing it to slide with the fingers. This additional gesture, which is slow to execute, is also uncomfortable for the client.
The present invention concerns a hair-curler enabling faster and easier perming and setting of the hair, giving the hair a natural appearance with well-formed curls.
This is achieved in accordance with the invention by a non-heated hair-curler characterized in that it comprises:
over at least 50% of its usable length a single frustoconical body having a small diameter end and a large diameter end,
said frustoconical body being extended at one end by a cylindrical or quasi-cylindrical body of substantially the same diameter.
To facilitate the description, the expression “cylindrical body” will be used to refer to the cylindrical or quasi-cylindrical bodies of the invention. If “a single body of frustoconical shape” is referred to, it is obvious to the skilled person that a plurality of successive frustoconical bodies with a slope decreasing fairly regularly and possibly spaced by short plateaux 1 to 3 mm long, for example, should be considered as a single body of frustoconical shape since they in fact have the same function.
If the hair-curler of the invention has a cylindrical body at only one end, either the small diameter end or the large diameter end, the length of said cylindrical body preferably represents 18 to 40% of the usable length of the hair-curler, i.e. the cylindrical body/frustoconical body combination, and preferably 20 to 30% thereof.
The hair-curler of the invention is preferably characterized in that its second end is extended by a cylindrical or quasi-cylindrical body of substantially the same diameter as said second end.
In this case, the length of the two cylindrical bodies preferably represents 30 to 50% of the usable length of the hair-curler and for example 35 to 45% thereof.
If two cylindrical bodies are used, they can have different lengths. However, they are preferably of substantially identical length and advantageously each of them represents 40 to 60% of the sum of their two lengths.
A “solid” hair-curler in accordance with the invention is suitable for perming. To improve its performance, for example in the case of cold perming, a hair-curler of the invention is preferably characterized in that it is hollow in the manner of a pipe to form a tunnel and comprises multiple openings through which its interior volume communicates with the exterior, to enable a liquid to wet hair situated against the hair-curler by passing through its interior.
Such communication can be obtained by many means well known to the skilled person, for example a plurality of circular orifices or elongate slots.
The communicating area can represent 10% or more, preferably 20% or more, and for example 30% or more of the surface area of the hair-curler. It will be obvious to the skilled person that the greater the area of communication on the surface of the hair-curler, the better will hair inside a rolled strand of hair be impregnated. A limit is obviously set by the strength or stiffness of the hair-curler. There must remain sufficient material constituting the hair-curler for it to retain its shape and dimensions.
Such communication is preferably provided by slots, preferably slots in the frustoconical body, for example in the frustoconical body and the cylindrical body or bodies.
In these extreme cases of implementation of the invention, and depending on the material(s) used, the material at the surface of the hair-curler has a smaller area than the area of communication.
To prevent hair sliding out of the hair-curler, a preferred hair-curler in accordance with the invention is characterized in that at least one cylindrical or qu
Doan Robyn Kieu
J.N.D.
Stevens Davis Miller & Mosher LLP
Wilson John J.
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