Hair cutting template

Abstract

A template for cutting hair comprising a strip of material, the material having first and second sides, the first side bearing an indicia to guide cutting of the hair, and the second side adapted to receive an adhesive to secure the strip to a person.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a hair cutting template, in particular, to a template which allows cutting of a portion of a person's hair as guided by the template.

Applicant is aware of the following U.S. Patents directed to hair cutting accessories: Metzler, U.S. Pat. No. 2,539,198; Marcotte, U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,991; Hamilton U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,122; Yampolskaya, U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,280, and Denebeim, U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,941. Applicant is also aware of a product known as Fringe Kit ©MLIS, Inc. which shows an adhesive tape which can be applied to the forehead of the user. The tape is used as a guide in the process of cutting the hair. However, the tape described in the above product information does not provide the user with any graphical indication of how the hair should be cut.

There is a need for a hair template which allows a person to conveniently cut a person's hair along clearly marked indicia in order to obtain a desired hairstyle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above and other objects of the present invention are achieved by a template for cutting hair comprising a strip of material, the material having first and second sides, the first side bearing an indicia to guide cutting of the hair, and the second side adapted to receive an adhesive to secure the strip of material to a person.

The template can be in the form of a tape cut to the desired length by the user or can be provided in various preset lengths.

The above objects of the invention are also achieved by a method of cutting hair comprising applying a strip of material to a person's body with an adhesive, the strip of material having an indicia thereon to guide cutting of the hair, and cutting the hair with a cutting instrument guided by the indicia.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows the embodiment of FIG. 1 applied as an example to a person's forehead to facilitate the cutting of bangs;

FIG. 3 shows an example of the invention applied to a person's neck or upper back to facilitate the cutting of the back of the hair;

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment; and

FIG. 5 shows details of one embodiment of the adhesive strip on the back side of the template.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the present invention. The invention comprises a strip of material 10, e.g., paper, plastic, cloth or other suitable material, having on a front side an indicia 20 which may be a straight or curved line or any other indicia which will guide a hair cutting operation. The indicia 20 may have any desired shape, e.g., a straight, curved or even a jagged shape. As shown in FIG. 1, the template 10 bears a graphical indicia comprising a line which is curved at its left-most and right-most portions and is meant to serve, for example, as a guide for cutting the bangs above a person's forehead. Although the strip of material is shown applied to a person's forehead for guiding the cutting of bangs along the line 20, e.g., with scissors, the strip of material could be applied to any other portion of the person's body to facilitate cutting of other portions of the person's hair.

The strip of material may be in the form of a tape cut to the desired length by the user, from, for example, a roll of the material or may be provided in preset lengths.

On the back side of the template 10, an adhesive is provided, preferably an adhesive covered by a removable peel-away protective layer which is removed prior to use.

FIG. 2 shows one example of the template 10 in use. The template is illustratively applied to the person's head, for example on the forehead above the eyes. The bangs of the person's hair 22 hang over the template 10. While facing a mirror, the person can now cut the bangs 22 along the graphical indica 20 using, for example, scissors 11 resulting in the bangs of the person 20 conforming to the graphical indicia 20 on the template 10. Alternatively, another person could cut the hair.

FIG. 3 shows the invention being used to cut the back of the hair. The template is applied to the back of the neck or to the upper back to serve as a guide for cutting the back of the hair. The template could be applied to any other portion of the user's head or body to serve as a guide for cutting the hair. Preferably, particularly when the back of the hair is being cut, another person would cut the person's hair.

Further, the indicia need not be a drawn or printed indicia. It can be raised or embossed indicia which can be used as a guide for the cutting tool or as a tactile guide for cutting. Further, the indicia 20 can comprise both a drawn or printed indicia as well as a raised or embossed indicia.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, the graphical indicia 20 may comprise both a straight line 20A and a curved line 20B. This will enable the user to cut, for example, both straight bangs and bangs that curve downwardly at the ends.

FIG. 5 shows the rear or adhesively covered side of a further embodiment of the invention. In order to facilitate removal of the peel-away strip covering the adhesive on the back of the template, the peel-away strip may be cross-cut vertically as shown at 30, like an adhesive bandage. In addition, or alternatively, the peel-away protective strip may be cut horizontally along the longitudinal axis 32 of the template. This will enable persons with longer bangs, for example, to peel away only the upper half of the strip and place the tape lower down on the forehead, thus preventing adhesive from coming into contact with the eyes.

Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the present invention should be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A template for cutting hair comprising:

a strip of material, the material having first and second sides, the first side bearing an indicia to guide cutting of the hair; and

the second side adapted to receive an adhesive to secure the strip to a person.

2. The template of claim 1, wherein the strip comprises a strip of paper, plastic or cloth.

3. The template of claim 1, wherein the indicia comprises a graphical indicia.

4. The template of claim 3, wherein the indicia comprises a straight or curved line.

5. The template of claim 3, wherein the indicia comprises an embossment.

6. The template of claim 1, wherein the indicia comprises both a graphical indicia and an embossment.

7. The template of claim 1, wherein the indicia comprises both a straight line and a curved line.

8. The template of claim 1, wherein the second side comprises an adhesive layer.

9. The template of claim 8, wherein the second side comprises a protective peel-away strip covering the adhesive layer.

10. The template of claim 9, wherein the peel-away layer is cross cut vertically to facilitate removal of the peel-away layer.

11. The template of claim 9, wherein the peel-away layer is cross cut horizontally along a longitudinal axis of the template.

12. The template of claim 1, wherein the strip of material comprises a strip cut to the desired length by a user.

13. The template of claim 1, wherein the strip of material comprises a strip having a preset length.

14. A method of cutting hair comprising:

applying a strip of material to a person's body with an adhesive, the strip of material having an indicia thereon to guide cutting of the hair; and

cutting the hair with a cutting instrument guided by the indicia.

15. The method of claim 14, further wherein the strip of material has an adhesive layer thereon, and further comprising applying the strip to the person's body using the adhesive layer.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the adhesive layer has a protective peel-away layer, further comprising removing the peel-away layer and applying the strip to the person's body.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of applying comprises applying a strip comprising a strip of paper, plastic or cloth.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of cutting comprises cutting the hair with the cutting instrument guided by an indicia comprising a graphical indicia.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of cutting comprises cutting the hair with the cutting instrument guided by an indicia comprising a straight or curved line.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of cutting comprises cutting the hair with the cutting instrument guided by an indicia comprising an embossment.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of cutting comprises cutting the hair with the cutting instrument guided by an indicia comprising both a graphical indicia and an embossment.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of cutting comprises cutting the hair with the cutting instrument guided by indicia comprising both a straight line and a curved line.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the peel-away layer is cross cut vertically to facilitate removal of the peel-away layer, and further comprising removing the peel-away layer using the cross cut.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the peel-away layer is cross cut horizontally along a longitudinal axis of the template, into two portions, and further comprising removing only one of the portions and applying the strip to the person's body using the adhesive exposed by the removed portion.

25. The method of claim 14, further comprising cutting the strip to the desired length from a larger length of the material.

26. The method of claim 14, further comprising using the strip of material strip having a preset length.