HAIR-SUPPLEMENTING AND STYLING HAIRPIECE
A hairpiece for supplementing the natural hair of a wearer person. The hairpiece comprises a support net formed by interconnected strands. The net is shaped to conform with the scalp of the wearer person. A plurality of bands of hair are permanently secured spaced-apart, to the strands of the support net. The bands of hair are disposed in a predetermined pattern to conceal the net while maintaining flexibility thereof. Independent attachment spring clips are permanently secured in an upper portion of the support net to removably secure the net in the wearer person's natural hair wherein the net and the attachment spring clips are substantially non-visible in the natural hair to supplement and provide styling to the natural hair.
This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 12/676,045, filed May 13, 2010
TECHNICAL FIELDThe present invention relates to a hairpiece for supplementing the natural hair of a wearer or person and wherein the hairpiece is provided with attaching spring clips which facilitate securement thereof while preventing damaging the natural hair and wherein a support form provides for the construction and styling of the hairpiece.
BACKGROUND ARTIt is known to enhance the appearance of a person by supplementing natural hair with one or more hair pieces whereby to increase the volume of hair by blending the hairpiece with the natural hair. These hairpieces are usually fabricated from natural hair or synthetic hair. Metal clips are used to attach these hairpieces to the natural hair and a typical example of such hairpiece and attachment clips is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,708,696. A disadvantage of such hairpiece is that the attachment clips are difficult to secure in a person's hair and they also damage the person's natural hair and cause hair loss particularly in the area where the hairpiece is attached. For a person who has very thin hair and who easily loses hair, this is a major disadvantage as while trying to conceal baldness or thinning hair, the hairpiece causes further loss of the natural hair of the wearer. As shown in that patent, a braided or plaited carrier strand is used to provide attachment of a plurality of hair switches thereto by support rings which are linked through the closed loop of the carrier strand. The formation of these loops causes aggravation to the scalp of the wearer as they are in direct contact and friction with the wearer's scalp. Also, a single strand of hair switches provides for limited cover and body to the natural hair. The carrier strand is attached by a large barrette at each end and these are not concealed by the hairpiece and become visible in the wearer's natural hair.
Attachment devices for known fashioning hairpieces of this type have not proven to adequately secure the hairpiece to permit extended wear, particularly during strenuous activities or during sleeping where the head is in contact with a pillow. Many of the known attachment devices are not readily securable by a wearer person and one has to visit a hair stylist to secure and style the hairpiece. If the hairpiece then becomes detached, the wearer person must remove the entire hairpiece and this normally causes damage to the wearer's hair and no longer provides enhancement.
Many types of artificial hairpieces are known for enhancing the appearance of a wearer and examples thereof can be referenced by U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,211 which shows an artificial hairpiece having an independent extension of synthetic human hair secured at one end to a stretchable, twistable and foldable elastic loop. Other examples of attachment hair clips or barrettes have been provided such as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,814.
There is also a need to provide a hairpiece which will permit the removable attachment of several hair switches or hair strands thereto to provide temporary styling and wherein the support base of the hairpiece can be modified to suit a specific wearer person. There is also a need to provide a hairpiece support form wherein the hairpiece can be temporarily attached thereto to provide combing or styling of the hairpiece or individual hair switches by the user person or by a hair stylist and wherein independent switches can be relocated easily unto the support base or interchanged with other switches, of different color for example, and in a simple effective manner by the wearer person.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTIONIt is a feature of the present invention to provide a hairpiece for supplementing natural hair to the scalp of the wearer person and which substantially overcomes all of the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art and provides the mentioned need.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a hairpiece for supplementing the natural hair of a wearer person and wherein the support base of the hairpiece is a support net which can accommodate a plurality of rows of strands of hair permanently secured thereto and which also permits the removable attachment of hair switches to provide styling in a simple and effective manner.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a hairpiece for supplementing the natural hair of a wearer person and wherein the hairpiece can be attached and styled by the wearer person and further modified by the wearer person.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide an attaching spring clip for attaching a hairpiece to a wearer person's natural hair in a substantially concealed manner and which is substantially non-damaging to the natural hair.
A still further feature of the present invention is to provide a hairpiece support form for constructing and styling the hairpiece and hair switches and which form can be used by the user person or a hair stylist at a comfortable position.
According to the above features, from a broad aspect, the present invention provides a hairpiece for supplementing the natural hair of a wearer person in a substantially concealed manner. The hairpiece comprises a support net formed by interconnected strands. The net is shaped to conform with a portion of the scalp of the wearer person. A plurality of bands of hair is permanently secured to the strands of the support net. The bands of hair are disposed in a predetermined pattern to conceal the net while maintaining flexibility thereof. Independent attachment means are permanently secured in an upper portion of the support net to removably secure the net in the wearer person's natural hair wherein the net and the attachment means are substantially non-visible in the natural hair to supplement and provide styling to the natural hair.
According to a further broad aspect of the present invention there is provided an attaching spring clip for securing a hairpiece in the natural hair of a wearer person. The spring clip has a pair of spaced-apart attaching legs provided with securement means. The attaching legs are disposed side-by-side in a common plane and define a passage therebetween. A pair of top leafs extend over a top surface of the attaching legs and are formed integral with the attaching legs from a common end thereof. The top leafs are interconnected to one another at a free end thereof by an integrally formed lip portion which is angulated outwardly of the attaching legs to form a mouth opening to facilitate the positioning of a swatch of natural hair, of substantially predetermined volume from a wearer person's scalp, in the clip. A hair biasing leaf is formed integral with one of the top leafs and has a curved section projecting between the attaching legs and in the passage from the common end thereof. The hair biasing leaf has an outwardly curved central portion extending between the pair of top leafs and terminates in a free end disposed between the attaching legs whereby to secure the spring clip to the swatch of hair when positioned under the pair of leafs and over the biasing leaf to secure the support net and bands of hair secured thereto in the natural hair of the wearer person.
According to a still further broad aspect of the present invention there is provided a hairpiece support form for constructing and styling a hairpiece. The support form defines three distinct working surface portions. A first of the surface portions is a curvate rearwardly inclined side surface portion having a wide top end tapering to a narrower bottom end for securing a support net of the hairpiece thereto. A second of the surface portion is a flat top inclined surface portion sloping rearwardly from a marginal edge of the wide top end of the first surface portion to secure hair switches thereto to effect a transformation or maintenance to the hair switches such as dyeing, washing, drying or waving. A third of the surface portions is a vertical inwardly inclined surface portion to provide a storage surface for retaining hair switches in a depending condition at an unobstructing position from a lower edge of the second surface portion. Means is provided to immovably attach the support forms to a stationary object.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to
As shown in these drawings, the support net has a generally truncated outline defined by a substantially straight upper edge 15, inwardly sloped side edges 16 and a shorter substantially straight lower edge 17. As shown in
With reference now to
As shown in
The spring clip is also provided with a pair of top leafs 26 and 26′ extending in substantially parallel relationship over a top surface of the attaching legs 23 and 23′ and formed integral with the attaching legs from a common bent end 27 thereof. The attaching legs 23 and 23′ are interconnected to one another at a free forward end thereof by an integrally formed lip portion 28 which is curved outwardly of the attaching legs, as better seen from
The spring clip 20 further comprises a hair biasing leaf 31 formed integral with one of the top leafs, herein leaf 26 and has a curved section as shown in phantom line in
Referring now to
It is also within the ambit of the present invention to provide bands of hair 36 of different widths and also of different color whereby to provide styling to the natural hair of the person. Because these bands of hair are secured spaced-apart in overlying relationship they completely conceal the support net as well as their attachment stitches to the support net.
With reference now to
The hair switches 46 are hereinshown secured to the interconnected strands 12 of the net 10 in a free area between the bands of hair, herein bands 36 and 36′. In order to do so, these switches 46 are secured to a connecting pin 48 which is illustrated in
The connecting pin 48 is simply formed from a stamping 49 of material capable of retaining its shape when formed, such as that of the spring clip 20 and is comprised of an attaching base 51 provided with holes 52 whereby to stitch the swatch 46 thereto. A top spring leaf 53 is formed integral from one end of the attaching band 49 from a common curved end 54. The free end of the biasing spring leaf 53 is upwardly turned at 55 to define a mouth or entrance opening 56 therebetween. Accordingly, this clip is easily removably secured to the intersecting strands 12 of the support net 10, as shown in
In order to facilitate the construction, washing, dyeing, repair and styling of the hairpiece 35 of the present invention, there is provided a support form 50 as illustrated in
As shown in
The support form 50 also defines a second surface portion which is a flat top inclined surface portion 74 which slopes rearwardly from a marginal edge 75 of the wide top end 71 of the first surface portion 70 to secure hair switches 46 thereto as illustrated in
A third of the surface portion is constituted by a vertical inwardly inclined surface 76 which provides for a storage or retention surface for retaining hair switches 46, as illustrated in
Summarizing the present invention, it comprises as well the method of constructing the hairpiece which includes the steps of forming a hair net with interconnected strands to delineate a truncated outline to the net and shaping the hair net to impart the rounded shape as illustrated in
The hairpiece of the present invention is then secured to the natural hair of a wearer person by forming a hair partition, such as the hair partition 44 illustrated in
To provide hair enhancing treatment or storage of the hairpiece 35 and the switches 46 of hair, the hairpiece and switches are removed from the wearer person's hair and placed onto the support form 50, as illustrated in
It is within the ambit of the present invention to cover any obvious modifications of the preferred embodiment described herein, provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A hairpiece support form for constructing and styling the hairpiece as claimed in claim 1, said support form defining three distinct working surface portions, a first of said surface portions being a curvate rearwardly inclined side surface portion having a wide top end tapering to a narrower bottom end for securing said support net thereto, a second of said surface portions being a flat top inclined surface portion sloping rearwardly from a marginal edge of said wide top end of said first surface portion to secure hair switches thereto to effect a transformation to said switches, and a third of said surface portions being a vertical inwardly inclined surface portion to provide a storage or retention surface for retaining hair switches in a depending condition at an unobstructing position from a lower edge of said second surface portion, and means to immovably attach said support form to a stationary object.
2. A hairpiece support form as claimed in claim 1 wherein said support form has a clamp secured to a lower end thereof, said clamp constituting said means to immovably attach said support form.
3. A hairpiece support form as claimed in claim 1 wherein said support form is constructed of a rigid foam material capable of receiving straight pointed pins therein to removably attach said support net and hair switches thereto, said foam material having an outer coating of polymeric material thereover and capable of resisting to die chemicals used to color hair secured to said support form.
4. A hairpiece support form as claimed in claim 1 wherein there is further provided a finger gripping indentation adjacent a top edge of said first surface portion to provide a finger grip.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 1, 2012
Publication Date: Sep 20, 2012
Inventor: Gael Betts (Lachine)
Application Number: 13/486,029