Minimum clothing for spas and clinics
A spa or clinic clothing comprises biodegradable, hypoallergenic, non-transparent patches to cover the breasts of females and the genitals of males and females. Each patch is equipped with fashion tape along its edges to secure them to the skin a user for a single use. After one use lasting no more than a few hours, the patches are discarded. Fabric versions of the cloth patches have stitched edges, darts, and liners. Paper, Lyocell versions have multiple layers and finished edges.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to clothing, and in particular to minimal clothing to cover the genitals and female breasts of spa users and clinic patients.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Robes and sheets are often used in clinics and spas to allow some modesty for the users when they must encounter professionals, patients, and other strangers. Wearing underwear or swimsuits underneath or alone is not an option because these cover too much and often impede access by the professional to the areas of the skin to be treated. But no access or exposure of the genitals and female breasts of spa users and clinic patients is ever needed in such situations.
Fears of unintentional exposure of the genitals or female breasts are reasons some spa users do not ask for whole body massages. If these areas could be covered by some sort of minimal clothing, then the spa users could confidently ask for massages of parts of the body that are left exposed and not covered.
Conventional transparent undergarments made from polypropylene plastic have sides and straps that interfere with massages, and are not biodegradable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONBriefly, a clothing embodiment of the present invention comprises biodegradable non-transparent fabric cloth patches to cover the breasts of females and the genitals of males and females. Each patch is equipped with a high-tack painless adhesive along its edges to secure them to the skin a user for a single use. After one use lasting no more than a few hours, the patches are discarded as biodegradable waste. Fabric versions of the cloth patches have stitched edges, darts, and liners. Paper versions have multiple layers and finished edges.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments that are illustrated in the various drawing figures.
Each patch 101-103 is equipped with a high-tack painless adhesive strips 104-106 along its edges to secure them to the skin a user 108 for a single use. Such tapes are otherwise commonly known as “fashion tape.” Darts can be included to help fit contours. Stitchings 110-112 are used to finish the edges, and elastic gathers 114 can be included. After one use lasting no more than a few hours, the patches 101-103 are discarded. Fabric versions of the cloth patches have stitched edges, darts, and liners. Paper versions have multiple layers and finished edges.
The high-tack painless adhesive strips 104-106 are peel-off, pressure sensitive types that can be based on 2-octyly-cyanoacrylate type medical tissue adhesives. A LEUKO spray tissue adhesive, and NILTAC or LEUKO tape remover can be used to assist application and removal of the clothing 100.
The high-tack painless adhesive strips 104-106 are necessarily configured to contact areas of the user's skin with little or no hair, e.g., above and outside the normal line of pubic hair, outside the areola, and above the natal cleft. Adhesive contact with large hairs or excessive numbers of hairs can exacerbate any otherwise minimal pain when removing the clothing.
Biodegradable and disposable paper or fabric cloth is a good material to use in all the embodiments described here since it can be inexpensive, hypo-allergenic, inherently hygienic, and environmentally sustainable “green” product. A similar material is used in disposable baby diapers.
Peel-off pressure sensitive adhesive strips 526 and 528 are used to firmly attach the bottom 500 to the skin of a user. In one embodiment, these peel-off pressure sensitive adhesive strips 526 and 528 are intended for one-time use and the bottom 500 is disposable.
Peel-off pressure sensitive adhesive strips 618-621 are used to firmly attach the tops 600 and 601 to the skin of a female user. In one embodiment, these peel-off pressure sensitive adhesive strips 600 and 601 are intended for one-time use and the tops 600 and 601 are disposable.
Referring now to
Peel-off pressure sensitive adhesive strips 740-743 are used to firmly attach brief 700 to the skin of a user. In one embodiment, these peel-off pressure sensitive adhesive strips 740-743 are intended for one-time use and brief 700 is disposable.
In general, embodiments of the present invention minimally protect the privacy of its wearers, allow access by masseuse to necessary parts of the body, are low cost and make biodegradable disposability practical and encourage widespread use, are comfortable to wear, hypoallergenic, and have a near universal fit for a wide variety of users.
Although the present invention has been described in terms of the presently preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be interpreted as limiting. Various alterations and modifications will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art after having read the above disclosure. Accordingly, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as covering all alterations and modifications as fall within the “true” spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A genital covering, comprising:
- a front panel for covering the pubic area of a user;
- an extension from the bottom of the front panel for covering and continuing over the natal cleft of said user;
- a first peel-off, pressure-sensitive high-tack painless adhesive strip disposed on the top inside edge of the front panel; and
- a second peel-off, pressure-sensitive high-tack painless adhesive strip disposed on the distal inside edge of the extension;
- wherein, the first and second painless adhesive strips provide a one-time means for securing the genital covering to said user above and outside the pubic area and above said natal cleft.
2. The covering of claim 1, further comprising:
- a biodegradable, hypoallergenic, non-transparent material used throughout for the front panel and extension.
3. The covering of claim 1, further comprising:
- a fabric of Lyocell fiber used throughout for the front panel and extension.
4. The covering of claim 1, further comprising:
- a strapless, universal fit configuration for use by a wide variety of users.
5. A minimal covering for a female, comprising:
- a front panel for covering the pubic area of a user;
- an extension from the bottom of the front panel for covering and continuing over the natal cleft of said user;
- a first peel-off, pressure-sensitive high-tack painless adhesive strip disposed on the top inside edge of the front panel;
- a second peel-off, pressure-sensitive high-tack painless adhesive strip disposed on the distal inside edge of the extension;
- a pair of breast coverings;
- a third and a fourth peel-off, pressure-sensitive high-tack painless adhesive strip disposed on the inside edges of the breast coverings;
- wherein, the first and second painless adhesive strips provide a one-time means for securing the front panel and extension to said user above and outside the pubic area and above said natal cleft; and
- wherein, the thirds and fourth painless adhesive strips provide a one-time means for securing the breast coverings around and outside the areola of said user.
6. The covering of claim 5, further comprising:
- a biodegradable, hypoallergenic, non-transparent material used throughout for the front panel, extension, and pair of breast coverings.
7. The covering of claim 5, further comprising:
- a fabric of Lyocell fiber used throughout for the front panel, extension, pair of breast coverings.
8. The covering of claim 5, further comprising:
- a strapless, universal fit configuration for use by a wide variety of users.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 22, 2009
Publication Date: Jul 22, 2010
Inventor: Elaine Andrews (Petaluma, CA)
Application Number: 12/321,558
International Classification: A41D 1/00 (20060101); A41B 9/04 (20060101); A41C 3/00 (20060101);