Microfiber Cosmetic Textile and Methods of Use
A cloth for skin cleansing, particularly for removing makeup and eyelash adhesive, provides a double-sided plush microfiber cloth with a preferred fiber composition of 80% polyester and 20% polyamide monofilament composite. The preferred size is 20×20 cm, 280 gsm, with monofilament fineness of less than 0.1 dtex.
This application is a continuation-in-part of related U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/788,788 filed Mar. 15, 2013 by the same inventor and having the same title, and claims priority from and the benefit from said related application, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELDThis disclosure relates generally to textiles and more particularly to a cosmetic cloth for removing makeup and mascara.
BACKGROUNDCloth as used herein refers generally to a pliable material usually made by weaving, felting, or knitting natural or synthetic fibers and filaments or something with like physical properties. The present cloth provides a material that is suitable for absorbing liquids (drying), cleaning, and polishing, and finds particular utility for cleaning human skin. The cloth is preferably of the microfiber type. The particular type of microfiber in an exemplary embodiment is a blend of microscopic polyester and polyamide fiber which is split and then woven into hooks and loops to create tiny scoops that attract particles and absorb liquid. Example microfiber patents include U.S. Pat. No. 7,044,173 titled Microfiber Towel with Cotton Base; U.S. Pat. No. 6,258,455 titled Antimicrobial Ultra-micro fiber Cloth; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,411 titled Cleaning Cloth, which are all herein incorporated in their entirety by reference.
Cosmetics (colloquially known as makeup or make-up) are care substances used to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. They are generally mixtures of chemical compounds, some being derived from natural sources, many being synthetic. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates cosmetics, defines cosmetics as “intended to be applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance without affecting the body's structure or functions.” This broad definition also includes any material intended for use as a component of a cosmetic product. The FDA specifically excludes soap from this category.
Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and gels, deodorants, hand sanitizer, baby products, bath oils, bubble baths, bath salts, butters and many other types of products. A subset of cosmetics is called “makeup,” which refers primarily to coloring products intended to alter the user's appearance. Many manufacturers distinguish between decorative cosmetics and care cosmetics.
Most cosmetics are distinguished by the area of the body intended for application. The forms of cosmetics relevant to the present disclosure are, without limitation:
Primer, come in various formulas to suit individual skin conditions. Most are meant to reduce the appearance of pore size, prolong the wear of makeup, and allow for a smoother application of makeup, and are applied before foundation.
Concealer, makeup used to cover any imperfections of the skin. Concealer is often used for any extra coverage needed to cover blemishes or other marks. Concealer is often thicker and more solid than foundation, and provides longer lasting, more detailed coverage. Some formulations are meant only for the eye or only for the face.
Foundation, is used to smooth out the face and cover spots or uneven skin coloration. Usually a liquid, cream, or powder, as well as most recently a light and fluffy mousse, foundation also provides excellent coverage. Foundation primer can be applied before or after foundation to obtain a smoother finish. Some primers come in powder or liquid form to be applied before foundation as a base, while other primers come as a spray to be applied after the foundation to help the makeup last longer.
Face powder is used to set the foundation, giving it a matte finish, and also to conceal small flaws or blemishes.
Rouge, blush or blusher is cheek coloring used to bring out the color in the cheeks and make the cheekbones appear more defined. Rouge comes in powder, cream, and liquid forms.
Contour powder/creams are used to define the face. They can be used to give the illusion of a slimmer face or to modify a person's face shape in other desired ways. Usually a few shades darker than one's own skin tone and matte in finish, contour products create the illusion of depth. A darker toned foundation/concealer can be used instead of contour products for a more natural look.
Highlight, used to draw attention to the high points of the face as well as to add glow to the face, comes in liquid, cream, and powder forms. It often contains shimmer, but sometimes does not. A lighter toned foundation/concealer can be used instead of highlight to create a more natural look.
Bronzer is used to give skin a bit of color by adding a golden or bronze glow. It comes in either matte, semi matte/satin, or shimmer finishes.
Mascara is used to darken, lengthen, and thicken the eyelashes. It is available in natural colors such as brown and black, but also comes in bolder colors such as blue, pink, or purple. There are many different formulas, including waterproof versions for those prone to allergies or sudden tears. It is often used after an eyelash curler and mascara primer. [2] Many mascaras now have certain components intended to help lashes to grow longer and thicker.
Eyelash glue, or adhesive, is used to adhere false lashes to the eyes. It comes in either clear or colored formulas.
Eyeliner is used to enhance and elongate the size of the eye.
Eyebrow pencils, creams, waxes, gels and powders are used to color and define the brows.
Cosmetics can be also described by the physical composition of the product. Cosmetics can be liquid or cream emulsions; powders, both pressed and loose; dispersions; and anhydrous creams or sticks.
Makeup remover is a product used to remove the makeup products applied on the skin. It is used to clean the skin before other procedures, like applying bedtime lotion. Removing makeup as completely as possible is considered beneficial for skin health, particularly for makeups that contain comedogenic (pore clogging) talc, as well for subsequent application of makeup or cosmetics. The present disclosure provides a textile cloth for the effective removal of cosmetics from the skin.
The present disclosure describes the result of over years of experience in skincare specialties including, clinical facials, chemical peels, eyebrow design and particularly eyelash extensions. Current state-of-the-art eyelash technology involves the meticulous application of semi-permanent, high fashion synthetic fiber, silk or mink lashes to each individual natural lash to create volume and length. Successful exploitation of this technology by a makeup artist requires a high degree of artistic skill.
In an effort to advance eyelash technology, the present inventor sought a chemical free, noninvasive, inexpensive way to safely and thoroughly remove makeup and other cosmetics. Through an iterative process of trial and error, informed by knowledge and experience, and sampling numerous textiles of microfibers, GSM weights and DTEX counts, the present inventor developed the present cloth, a safe effective microfiber yarn weave for use as a cosmetic and makeup removal adjunct. A durable microfiber weave for use to cleanse and remove all cosmetics from the skin was the result. A cloth of the present disclosure achieves the advantages of cost efficiency, reusability, environmental friendliness and is effective when used with only water.
SUMMARYAn exemplary embodiment of a cloth for skin cleansing, particularly for removing makeup and eyelash adhesive, provides a double-sided plush microfiber cloth with a preferred fiber composition of 80% polyester and 20% polyamide monofilament composite. The preferred size is 20×20 cm, 280 gsm, with monofilament fineness of less than 0.1 dtex which is one-tenth of typical fiber fineness. The cloth fibers are 1/100th of a human hair.
The composite fiber is high density, the surface area is large when clean, decontamination is rapid, clean dry, transparent like new, mildew-resistant and withstands many washings. One measure of cleansing effectiveness is the absorbency or “suction” the cloth fibers exhibit to draw fluid and suspensions into the cloth. It has been determined that the absorption suction of the present cloth is five times stronger than typical makeup cloths. The cloth is durable for reuse and washing is three times faster than that of typical makeup removal cloths. The present cloth is very soft yet tough making it a useful cleaning product for the skin.
In addition to skin cleansing and removing all makeup from the skin, the cloth may safely be used around the eyes without disrupting eyelash extensions and the eyelash adhesive. Although medicated embodiments are contemplated, even the preferred unmedicated embodiments are useful on acne and to promote skin cell turnover, as well as a pre-shaving treatment prior to shaving to prevent ingrown hairs and razor bumps, even for men. Further uses include without limitation kids clean up and baby wipes, and gyms. The cloth is not bulky making it easy to travel with and would make an ideal courtesy amenity at hotels, spas, salons and the like.
DETAILED DESCRIPTIONYarns come in different sizes. They can be quite thick, or they can be very thin. Since by their very nature textile yarns are soft and squashy, the ‘thickness’ of a yarn cannot be easily measured by yarn diameter. But textile yarns are often sold on a weight basis, so it is natural to express the size of a yarn in terms of its weight or mass. The two basic ways of doing this are by indicating either how much a given length of yarn weighs (the direct system) or what the length of yarn will be in a given weight (the indirect system). These two broad yarn count systems are expressed below:
Because a textile yarn is usually a very slender assembly of tiny fibers, it is conceivable that the weight of a yarn in a given length will be very small while the length of a yarn in a given weight will be quite large. Consequently, the yarn count figures would get either incredibly small (direct system) or large (indirect system) unless special units are used. Over the years, many different units have been used in different sectors of the textile industry.
Direct Count Systems
The direct systems are based on the weight or mass per unit length of yarn. Some typical direct systems are given below, together with their definitions. Please note that while the weight unit is gram, different lengths are used in the definitions.
Tex (g/1000 m)
This is the mass in gram of one kilometer, or 1,000 meters, of the product.
If one thousand meters of yarn weigh 20 grams or one hundred meters of the yarn weigh 2 grams, the yarn would be 20 tex. On the other hand, if 100 meters of yarn weigh 5 grams, then the count of the yarn will be 50 tex.
Dtex (g/10,000 m)
This is called deci-tex. It is the mass in gram of ten kilometer, or 10,000 meters, of the product. It is a smaller unit than tex (1 tex=10 dtex), and is usually used for fibres and filament yarns.
A 167 dtex polyester filament would weigh 167 grams for every 10,000 meters of the filament.
Ktex (g/m)
This is called kilo-tex. It is the mass in gram of one meter of the product. It is a much larger unit than tex (1 ktex=1,000 tex), and is usually used for heavy products such as slivers.
If a sliver weighs 5 grams per meter, then the count of this sliver would be 5 ktex.
The tex system (tex, ktex, dtex) is the preferred standard system. By definition,
1 ktex=1,000 tex=10,000 dtex
Denier (g/9,000 m)
Denier is also used extensively in the industry, particularly for manufactured fibers and silk. It is the mass in gram of nine kilometers, or 9,000 meters, of the product.
By definition,
1 dtex=0.9 denier
If a 300 denier yarn is made up of 1.5 denier individual filaments, there will be a total number of filaments in the yarn.
Indirect Count Systems
Indirect count systems are not as straightforward as the direct ones. In the early history of yarn manufacture, different spinners, often geographically and culturally isolated from one another, devised their own ways of measuring yarn thickness. Consequently, there are numerous indirect count systems that have been, and continue to be, used in the industry. Some examples are given below, together with the mass and length conversions,
Commonly Used
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- Metric (Nm) meters/gram
- English Cotton (Nec) No. of 840 yard hanks per pound
- Worsted (Nw) No. of 560 yard hanks per pound
The metric count (Nm) is relatively straightforward. It is the length in meter of one gram of the product. For example, if one gram of yarn measures 40 meters, then the metric count of this yarn would be 40 Nm.
Similarly, if one pound of cotton yarn measures 1,680 yards, or two hanks of 840 yards, the English cotton count of this yarn will be 2 Nec. Please note that a hank of yarn is an unsupported coil consisting of wraps of yarn of a certain length.
Less commonly used:
Occasionally used in the woolen industry
The strange length units such as 840 yard hank and 560 yard hank came about from historical contingency. The first mass-production spinner—the spinning—jenny was able to spin yarns simultaneously onto several bobbins and filled the bobbins up at the same time. The bobbins were changed after 840 yards of cotton yarns were wound onto them. To estimate the thickness of the yarns, the spinner simply counted how many full bobbins were needed to balance a weight of one pound. For example, if 6 bobbins were needed to make up one pound, the yarn would be called a 6s yarn. Similarly a 20s worsted yarn means one pound of this yarn would fill up 20 bobbins, each with 560 yards of yarn wound on.
Conversion Between Different Yarn Counts
It is often necessary to make conversions between different yarn count systems. For this purpose, the following mass (weight) and length conversions are needed:
1 yard (yd)=0.9144 m
1 pound (lb)=0.4536 kg
1 ounce (oz)= 1/16 lb
1 dram 9dr)= 1/16 oz
1 grain (gr)= 1/7000 lb
Fabric GSM stands for fabric weight in grams per square meter. One can determine GSM for woven and knitted fabric using following methods.
By Means of Instruments
Apparatus required:
Round GSM cutter and Weighing Balance.
Method: Cut 5 swatches from different place of the fabric. Weight all test swatches accurately and calculate average weight of swatches. Multiply average weight of swatches by 100 to calculate GSM of the sample fabric. (Normally, area of round GSM cutter is 1/100 square meters.)
By Using Formula
You can measure fabric weight per square meter by using following method:
weigh the fabric in grams (G) and measure the length in meters (L) and width in meters (W) and calculate:
GSM=G/L×W.
Product testing of the present cloth on clientele, each with specific skin care needs, proved over an eight month period that the cloth of the present disclosure was highly effective for facial cleansing. The present cloth provides a technological approach to tacky chemical-laden wipes: a specially-woven, reusable makeup removal/facial cleansing cloth that traps makeup, removing it completely, while exfoliating and rejuvenating your complexion. These disease fighting microfibers absorb more particles of oil, dirt, and bacteria than other known fabrics, preventing contaminants from spreading all over the surface of one's skin. Just add water, use, rinse, let dry, repeat. The cloth is machine washable and conveniently portable.
The skin is the largest organ of the human body, and a reusable skin-care cloth provides the largest organ with a first line of defense against dirt, germs, and acne. Makeup will be hooked on the tiny nanofibers of the cloth and removed from the skin.
In a preferred exemplary embodiment, the cloth is a double-sided plush microfiber with a composition of 80% polyester/20% polyamide, preferred width is 20×20 cm, 280 gsm, monofilament fitness is less than 0.1 dtex which is one-tenth of typical makeup cloth fiber fineness. The composite fiber is high density, the surface area is large when clean, decontamination is rapid, clean dry, transparent like new, no mildew and long washing durability. It has been determined that the absorption suction is five times greater than typical cloth materials. The cloth is reusable and durable. Washing the cloth for reuse is three times faster than a typical make-up removal cloth; that is, removing make-up from a soiled cloth is relatively easy. The clean cloth is very soft yet tough making it an ideal cleaning product for the skin.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the textile described herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
Claims
1. A microfiber cloth suitable for cleaning human skin, the cloth comprising:
- a. woven microfibers with a composition of 80% polyester and 20% polyamide monofilaments;
- b. monofilament fineness of less than 0.1 dtex; and
- c. a fabric weight of approximately 280 gsm.
2. The cloth of claim 1, wherein the fabric weave is high density.
3. The cloth of claim 1, wherein the cloth is reusable.
4. The cloth of claim 1, wherein the cloth is plush.
5. The cloth of claim 1, wherein the cloth is double-sided.
6. The cloth of claim 1, wherein the cloth is machine washable.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 14, 2014
Publication Date: Oct 30, 2014
Inventor: Keri Burt (Lakeway, TX)
Application Number: 14/211,904
