CLEAN-NECKS SYSTEM

Abstract

Clean-Necks System is a hair cutting method and apparatus that may be used by an individual to accurately trim his or her own hair. The clean-necks system may fasten around an individual's head using hook and loop fasteners. In a size-adjustable embodiment, notches found on the back may adjust the size of the unit, allowing use of the product by both adults and children. The bands that hold the clean-necks system around an individual's head may be elastic and flexible for comfort. A curved sloping guard may be attachable on the back of the clean-necks system whereby the curved sloping guard may be adjusted as desired by the user and may provide a cutting line. Once the clean-necks system is comfortably in place, individuals may utilize standard beard or hair trimmers and follow the curved sloped guard to cleanly remove hair from their neck in a straight line. Hair that is contained above and within the clean-necks system will be protected from unintentional shaving or cutting by the user.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is related to and claims priority from prior provisional application Ser. No. 61/175,044, filed May 14, 2009 which application is incorporated herein by reference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 37 CFR 1.71(d).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of hair cutting devices and more specifically relates to a method and apparatus to retain hair to assist in cutting or shaving one's own head and neck.

2. Description of the Related Art

Attempting to cut one's own hair may prove to be a difficult task, especially trying to trim areas on the nape of the neck. A significant amount of individuals may go to a barbershop or a salon to have this small maintenance task performed. This may cause a user to pay for an entire haircut when they only receive a small trim. Those that wish to perform the trimming at home may end up with a slanted hairline or may accidentally cut or shave pieces of hair, thereby creating unattractive bald spots. One may be able to trim their hair at home, but may require another individual to do so. This may not be possible for those that live alone. If another person's assistance is employed who is inexperienced at cutting hair, this may still result in a poor haircut. A need exists for a simple, inexpensive way for a person to uniformly trim the hair on their neckline without needing assistance from another individual.

Various attempts have been made to solve the above-mentioned problems such as those found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,954,063, 5,865,192, 5,566,689, 3,351,073, 2,542,450, 5,577,520, 1,024,506. This prior art is representative of hair retaining devices to assist in cutting or shaving one's own head and/or neck hair. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed.

Ideally, a hair retaining device should be user-friendly and, yet, would operate reliably and be manufactured at a modest expense. Thus, a need exists for a reliable hair retaining device to assist in cutting or shaving one's own head and neck hair and to avoid the above-mentioned problems.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known hair cutting devices art, the present invention provides a novel hair cutting apparatus. The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a size adjustable and/or non-adjustable hair retaining apparatus that effectively shields hair from being trimmed so one can easily and efficiently shave the nape of one's neck.

Clean-Necks System is a device and method that may assist an individual in cutting one's hair or shaving one's neck. The Clean-Necks System may generally comprise an adjustable or non-adjustable elastic band with an attached plastic, curved sloping guard that may retain hair that the user does not wish to shave or cut. The present invention may be utilized in conjunction with a beard and/or hair trimmer to trim the neck hair on an adult or child. The Clean-Necks System may assist individuals in receiving a professional looking trim for home or personal use. The present invention is adapted for use without the need for assistance of another but alternately may also be used in hair salons or barber shops.

In order to achieve the desired result of a professional looking hair and neck trim, Clean-Necks System may comprise a guiding apparatus along the back of the elastic hair retaining device that may be used for accurately and efficiently shaving the nape of the neck. The Clean-Necks System may further comprise a circular elastic flexible band which may comfortably fasten around a user's head using hook and loop fasteners or other suitable attaching means. In certain embodiments, the device may comprise a plurality of notches found along the back of the elastic band providing a user-preferred size adjustable means. The system may be ‘turned-around’ or rotated, position adjusted to allow the user to cut his/her front bangs, providing a user-determined guiding means for cutting hair at various positions on the head of the user(s).

Clean-Necks System may further comprise a plastic, curved sloping guard which may be located along the back of the flexible, elastic band. The plastic, curved sloping guard further comprises a cutting line to ensure an accurate, clean and professional shave of one's own neck while in use.

The present invention holds significant improvements and serves as a self-hair cutting method and apparatus. For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments and method(s) of use for the present invention, Clean-Necks System, constructed and operative according to the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows the clean-necks system secured to a head of an adult in an in-use condition providing a cutting line for self-shaving one's neck according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the clean-necks system in a closed-state according to an embodiment of the present invention of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the size-adjustable plastic, curved sloping guard according to an embodiment of the present invention of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a flexible, elastic band of the clean-necks system in an open-state according to an embodiment of the present invention of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating the clean-neck system worn by an adult according to an embodiment of the present invention of FIG. 1.

The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like designations denote like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As discussed above, embodiments of the present invention relate to a hair cutting method and apparatus and more particularly to a hair cutting method and apparatus as used to provide assistance in accurately and shaving and trimming the hair off one's own neck.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 5, illustrating clean-necks system 100 in an ‘in-use’ condition 150 as being used by an adult male. A clean-necks system 100 is provided herein for protecting and guiding user 110 while cutting or shaving hair 120 comprising at least one size-adjustable 340 curved slope guard 210; at least one circular shaped flexible elastic band 205; and at least one fastening means. Size-adjustable 340 curved slope guard 210 may be attachable to flexible elastic band 205 and is securable around head 115 of user 110 via hook and loop fastener 402 or other suitable fastener means thereby creating a boundary hair cutting line 220 for cutting the hair 120 of the user 110. Once the clean-necks system 100 is secured to head 115 of user 110, any hair 120 contained above the curved slope guard 210 may be protected from being unintentionally cut or shaven while in use in conjunction with an electric hair shaver 140. It should also be appreciated the that present system may be ‘turned-around’ or rotated, position adjusted to allow user 110 to cut his/her front bangs of hair 120. In this way the instant invention provides a user-determined guiding means for cutting hair 120 at various positions on head 115 of user(s) 110.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3 showing an enhanced view of the curved sloped guard 210 of the clean-necks system 100. The curved slope guard 210 may comprise a first outer slope guard 315 and a second inner slope guard 320 which in size-adjustable version 340 are adjustable in relation to each other. First outer slope guard 315 may comprise a plurality of apertures 335 and second inner sloping guard 320 may comprise an equal number of detents 330. Size-adjustable version 340 of the clean-necks system 100 may be adjusted around the head 115 of the user 110 by slidably fitting the second inner slope guard 320 into the first outer slope guard 315 which may be secured by the detent 330 of the second inner slope guard 320 into aperture 335 of first outer slope guard 315. Curved slope guard 210 may be constructed of a semi-rigid material (ie. plastic). It should be appreciated that the present invention may comprise plastic or other suitable material such as cloth or rubber or other.

Referring now to FIG. 4, showing clean-necks system 100. Clean-neck system 100 may be sold as kit comprising the following parts: at least one clean neck system 100 and at least one set of user instructions. Clean-necks system 100 may be sold in size-adjustable version 340 to fit a range of head 115 sizes. Alternately, clean-necks system 100 may be sold in a non-size adjustable version 345.

A method of cutting hair 110 using clean-necks system 100 may comprise the following steps; step one attaching of clean-necks system 100 around head 115 of user 110 via a hook and loop fastener 402 or other suitable fastening means; and step two user 110 positioning a curved slope guard 210 in a user-preferred position whereby contained hair 120 is prevented from being cut or shaven as user 110 cuts or shaves his or her own hair 120 using an electric hair shaver 140 or other hair cutting or shaving means.

Clean neck system 100 may be manufactured and provided for sale in a wide variety of sizes and shapes for a wide assortment of applications in non-adjustable and adjustable versions as described above. Upon reading this specification, it should be appreciated that, under appropriate circumstances, considering such issues as design preference, user preferences, marketing preferences, cost, structural requirements, available materials, technological advances, etc., other kit contents or arrangements such as, for example, including more or less components, customized parts, different color combinations, parts may be sold separately, etc., may be sufficient.

It should be noted that the steps described in the method of use can be carried out in many different orders according to user preference. Upon reading this specification, it should be appreciated that, under appropriate circumstances, considering such issues as design preference, user preferences, marketing preferences, cost, structural requirements, available materials, technological advances, etc., other methods of use arrangements such as, for example, different orders within above-mentioned list, elimination or addition of certain steps, including or excluding certain maintenance steps, etc., may be sufficient.

The embodiments of the invention described herein are exemplary and numerous modifications, variations and rearrangements can be readily envisioned to achieve substantially equivalent results, all of which are intended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application.

Claims

1. A clean-necks system for cutting or shaving hair comprising:

at least one size-adjustable curved slope guard;

at least one circular shaped elastic band; and

at least one fastening means;

wherein said size-adjustable curved slope guard is attachable to said elastic band and is securable around the head of an individual via said fastening means thereby creating a boundary means for cutting the hair of the individual.

2. The clean-necks system of claim 1, wherein said clean-necks system allows said individual to accurately shave his or her own hair without the assistance of another.

3. The clean-necks system of claim 1, wherein said size-adjustable curved slope guard prevents hair from above said boundary means from being cut.

4. The clean-necks system of claim 3, wherein said size-adjustable curved slope guard provides a cutting line to ensure a clean and accurate shave or trim.

5. The clean-necks system of claim 3, wherein said size-adjustable curved slope guard comprises a first outer slope guard and a second inner slope guard which are adjustable in relation to each other.

6. The clean-necks system of claim 5, wherein said first outer slope guard comprises a plurality of apertures and said second inner sloping guard comprises an equal number of detents.

7. The clean-necks system of claim 6, wherein said second inner slope guard is slidably fitted into said first outer slope guard and is secured by said detent in said aperture.

8. The clean-necks system of claim 7, wherein said size-adjustable curved slope guard is size adjustable to fit a range of head sizes.

9. The clean-necks system of claim 1, wherein said elastic band comprises a flexible comfort fit.

10. The clean-necks system of claim 1, wherein said fastening means comprises a hook and loop fasteners.

11. The clean-necks system of claim 1, wherein said curved slope guard is plastic.

12. A clean-necks system for cutting or shaving hair comprising:

at least one non-adjustable curved slope guard;

at least one circular shaped elastic band; and

at least one fastening means;

wherein said non-adjustable curved slope guard is attachable to said elastic band and is securable around the head of an individual via said fastening means thereby creating a boundary means for cutting the hair of the individual.

13. The clean-necks system of claim 12, wherein said fastening means comprises a hook and loop fasteners.

14. A method of cutting hair using a clean-necks system comprising the following steps:

attaching said clean-necks system around a user's head via a fastening means;

said user placing a curved slope guard in a user-preferred position whereby contained hair is prevented from being cut or shaven as said user cuts or shaves his or her own hair.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said user performs a hair cut using a non-adjustable version of said clean-necks system.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said user performs a hair cut using a size-adjustable version of said clean-necks system.