Garment for Retaining Long Hair Including Braids or Dreadlocks
A garment for retaining long hair is disclosed and claimed. The garment includes a tubular sleeve formed of a lightweight flexible material. The tubular sleeve includes an open front, an open rear, a body therebetween, and an inside surface. The open front is configured to extend across a wearer's forehead. The body extends from the open front over substantially the entire region of the wearer's head. A pocket is attached to the inside surface of the tubular sleeve and includes an opening The pocket is arranged for retaining long hair such as braids or dreadlocks.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/369,210 filed Jul. 30, 2010.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT“Not Applicable”
INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISK“Not Applicable”
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe invention relates generally to garments that are arranged to be worn on the head, and more particularly to a garment for retaining long hair that may include portions configured as braids or dreadlocks.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONLong hair that has been braided or arranged into dreadlocks or braids can become very unmanageable and can get in the way of daily activities. It can be very difficult for a person with such long or braided hair or dreadlocks to cook, clean, eat, and participate in sports or dancing. Such long hanging hair is very dangerous around stoves and grills. Many people with such long braids or dreadlocks have problems at the dinner table, where hair can get into food. Long hair can get in people's eyes during windy days. Long hair can become trapped when sitting in an upright position, or can easily become dirty upon contact with surfaces, such as walls or seat backs.
Scarves can come loose and slip off the hair. Rubber bands, barrettes, and scrunchies have a potential to break when holding large amounts of hair, such as dreadlocks and braids. This is even more of a problem when the hair is extremely thick.
Garments to fasten locks of hair in a pony tail, braids or dreadlocks are generally well known, but suffer from a number of drawbacks. Many hair ties have as their predominant tying feature some sort of elastic band that requires the wearer to loop and twist about a lock of hair. These hair ties are sometimes difficult to apply. In addition, some of the elastic band hair ties on the market have numerous small metal pieces on the elastic loop, which can pull out or damage the hair. Other hair ties require knots that must be tied by the wearer in order to properly secure the hair in a pony tail. Some are difficult to tie to the hair, and sometimes the wearer may need assistance from a second person to help attach the hair tie. In addition, certain hair ties are unreliable in that they fail to remain in place on the braids or dreadlocks. This drawback requires the wearer to adjust the hair tie intermittently. Some hair ties also provide limited flexibility to adjust and allow the wearer to choose different amounts of hair that may be fastened by a single hair tie at any one time. It is accordingly a primary objective of the present invention to provide a hair retaining garment which will avoid the drawbacks stated above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA garment for retaining long hair is disclosed and claimed. The garment includes a tubular sleeve formed of a lightweight flexible material. The tubular sleeve includes an open front, an open rear, a body therebetween, and an inside surface. The open front is configured to extend across a wearer's forehead. The body extends from the open front over substantially the entire region of the wearer's head. A pocket is attached to the inside surface of the tubular sleeve and includes an opening. The pocket is arranged for retaining long hair such as braids or dreadlocks.
Referring now to
The garment 10 including the tubular sleeve 18 and pocket 42 are preferably made of a lightweight, flexible material which is fairly wrinkle resistant. A preferable material is nylon, such as Spandex®. The material should be breathable to allow air transfer between a wearer's head and the surrounding air. By utilizing this type of material, the garment 10 can be folded, rolled up or bunched into a compact package and carried in one's pocket or purse. Since the material of the garment 10 is wrinkle resistant, the garment 10 can simply be shaken out and worn when needed. The material of the garment 10 is comfortable to wear upon a head and soft when contacting the wearer's skin. Other suitable fabrics include, but are not limited to, cotton and terrycloth. The material of the garment 10 may be absorbent to soak up water or other liquids to prevent them from wetting or contacting the wearer's hair 34, for instance, if wearer is washing her face 38. Alternatively, the garment 10 may be made of other fabrics such as leather, rubber such as latex or silicone, polyester, cotton blends, satin, silk, velvet, wool, etc. Alternatively, the sleeve 18 can be manufactured in a tubular shape using a thermal molding process.
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Because the open end 46 of the pocket is elasticized, varying lengths of hair arranged in braided hair, dreadlocks, or not arranged may be retained within the pocket 42.
A method of wearing or using the garment of the present invention is described. First, the garment of the present invention is provided. The garment 10 includes the tubular sleeve 18 for fitting over the wearer's head 14 and an attached or integral pocket 42 to accommodate the hanging portions of the wearer's hair 34, which may be in the form of a pony tail, braids, extension braids, hair extensions, or dreadlocks. The garment 10 is held in the user's hands in a condition as best shown in
In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments of the present invention have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Thus, while preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it is clear that the invention is not so limited. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions, and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of present invention.
Claims
1. A garment for retaining long hair comprising:
- a. a tubular sleeve formed of a lightweight flexible material, said tubular sleeve having a open front, an open rear, a body therebetween, and an inside surface, said open front configured to extend across a wearer's forehead, said body extending from said open front over substantially the entire region of the wearer's head; and,
- b. a pocket attached to the inside surface of said tubular sleeve and including an opening, said pocket arranged for retaining long hair such as braids or dreadlocks.
2. The garment of claim 1, wherein said pocket includes an elastic opening end.
3. The garment of claim 1, wherein the open front is elasticized.
4. The garment of claim 1, wherein said tubular sleeve and said pocket are formed of a material selected from the group consisting of cotton, terry cloth, nylon, Spandex, an absorbent material, leather, satin, rubber, polyester, silk, wool and velvet.
5. The garment of claim 1, wherein said tubular sleeve and said pocket are formed of a wrinkle-resistant, breatheable material.
6. The garment of claim 1, wherein said garment may be rolled or bunched into a compact package for storage in a wearer's pocket.
7. The garment of claim 1, wherein said tubular sleeve is manufactured in a tubular shape from a molding process.
8. The garment of claim 1, wherein said tubular sleeve is formed of a fabric attached to itself at opposite ends by stitching to form a tubular shape.
9. The garment of claim 1, wherein said pocket is attached to the tubular sleeve inside surface by stitching.
10. The garment of claim 1, wherein said pocket is arranged for retaining dreadlocks or braids.
11. The garment of claim 1, additionally comprising a brim located at the front opening, said brim containing an elastic band disposed therein.
12. The garment of claim 11, wherein said front opening is folded upon itself to create said brim.
13. A method for retaining long and hanging hair such as braids and dreadlocks within a garment, the method comprising:
- a. providing a garment including a tubular sleeve having front opening on which a brim is located, a rear opening, and a pocket having an elastic opening attached to the inside surface of the sleeve;
- b. holding the garment in a wearer's hands with the front opening facing away from the user;
- c. placing the sleeve over the wearer's head with the brim positioned over the wearer's forehead;
- d. pulling the rear opening of tubular sleeve back to cover the remaining portion of the wearer's head;
- e. gathering hanging portions of the hair into a bun at the rear portion of the head;
- f. pulling the elastic opening of the pocket 42 out from within the tubular sleeve to create a cavity;
- g. depositing the bun into the pocket to encapsulate the hair; and,
- h. pulling the pocket up over the hair so that the garment completely covers the hair.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 20, 2011
Publication Date: Feb 2, 2012
Inventor: Denise D. Holland (Cherry Hill, NJ)
Application Number: 13/186,674