Foiling Board

Abstract

A foiling board has a foil platform and a foil clamp. The clamp is engaged upon the board by a clamp attachment member. An optional foil roll holder with roll of foil is provided underneath the board. A method of hair dressing on a head has the following steps; clamp a set of foils onto a foiling board; section a portion of hair in a conventional way, and place a front edge of the foiling board with an exposed foil clamped to it under the section of hair; while holding the board to the head, apply conventional hair dressing substance, wrap exposed foil around treated hair; and release exposed foil from clamp.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent application 62/138,281 filed Mar. 25, 2015which is hereby incorporated by this reference as if fully set forth herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to the hair dressing industry; more particularly, it relates to a hair foil application board.

BACKGROUND

In the hair color industry, a technique called foil highlighting is used to create streaks of light and dark colors in the hair. The standard application is done by tearing pieces of foil into various lengths, sectioning the hair with a wire tail comb, lifting that small section up away from the head then by using your other hand, sliding a piece of foil under that hair section and painting hair color onto the hair against the foil. The foil is then folded in half trapping that hair strand sections and keeping them separate from the rest of the hair. This application is then repeated until the entire head is complete.

The problem with this method is that it is difficult to master and is time consuming. The average application time is one, to two hours. Conventionally, a piece of cardboard is used with a piece of foil on it to trap the hair against the board. This does make application a little easier on long hair. However, on short hair it is relatively ineffective, is still difficult to master and does not speed the process up. The foils are used one at a time on the cardboard and they have to be manually placed and the cardboard can slide around on the head causing the foil to slip, with undesirable results such as falling off or otherwise causing a mess.

Highlighting, lowlighting, and coloring hair with foils is currently a time and labor intensive process that begins before the client enters the salon. In preparation for a foil highlighting session the artist must dispense, cut and stack the foils. The foil stack must be placed on an available work surface (backbar/cart/or the like), and for each highlight/lowlight/color area the foregoing process is repeated as needed. Then during the work session the artist must select/grasp foil from work surface, position and secure foil to isolate application area, brush on bleach or color or the like, and then fold over the foil to completely isolate application area. And this series of steps is repeated as necessary to complete the artist's job.

DISCLOSURE

One embodiment disclosed is a foiling board that is a Plexiglas or other plastic board, clear or colored, that may be readily cleaned off and reused. Preferred foiling boards come in varying lengths, and advantageously an edge of the board is just sharp enough to use for precutting foil pieces with some precision. A from end of the board is beveled so that it rests easily on, and grips against, the scalp. Disposed rearwardly from this front end of the tool there is a retaining clip for stacking enough foil pieces under the clip for a complete day's work without any of the foils falling off while the board is in use. Preferably the clip is adjustable in its front-to-rear positioning to accommodate the artist's choice of foil length for a particular application. It is also desirably adjustable in tension, so that a clip resilience range can selectably be set by the artist to accommodate different thicknesses of foil packs, that is, the range of the number of foils the artist chooses to use. An artist can use a stack of foils or papers and the clip holds them in place at just the correct tension to release them one at a time.

This makes using this tool on short or long hair equally facilitated, and the artist may dispense the foils onto the hair one at a time. This cuts a significant amount of time from the average one to two hour application, down to about 20 minutes with practice, and effectively quadruples a hairstylist's potential income per hour.

Another embodiment is made from re-usable plastic or plastic coated cardboard so that it can be easily cleaned and sanitized. At the head or front end of the board it is beveled so that it rests easily on the scalp. On the underside of the board is attached a pre-sized full roll. This roll is advantageously slid into a compartment through a cap and slit on one side of the tool. It is held to place with a retaining clip on each side, similar to an upside down adding machine tape, or a compression fitting or a pin, allowing for the foil to roll up over either the back or the front of the board. Desirably the foil is feed up onto the board through a slit in the board.

If the artist prefers to pull the foil from the back of the board, the foil is fed to the front beveled edge. The foil is then folded over the front end by approximately half inch to secure it for application. If the artist prefers to pull the foil from the front, it is simply secured at the back either by a clip or by fingers. The hair is then sectioned conventionally and the front end of board is rested against the customers scalp. The back end of the board is rested at the artist abdomen or collar bone, or other body location most comfortable for the artist. The clip or slit across the board at the back works like a dispenser as the stylist lifts the foil and folds it.

The tension on the adjustable clip is preferably set by having the clip at in optimal range of degree angles to the head. The board keeps the foil or paper from falling off.

In one embodiment the dimensions of the board are 110 mm wide×450 mm long. The compartment (optionally triangular shaped in cross-section) that holds the foil is 50 mm at the edge. A 75 mm diagonal fold re-attaches to the underside of the board, and flaps or caps on each side conceal the foil roll or self-feeding sheets (stacked and arranged like tissues in a tissue dispenser).

The disclosed foiling board and its clip and or foil roll holding accessories eliminate much if not all of the conventional prep work, take control of the application area, allow the artist to brush more accurately, and above all, save time and improve style end result.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A,B,C are top, bottom and side views of an aspect of the disclosed board.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another aspect of the disclosed board.

FIGS. 3A,B are schematic views of another aspect of the disclosed board.

FIGS. 4A-F are perspective, sectional and exploded views of another aspect of the disclosed board.

FIGS. 5A,B are schematic views of another aspect of the disclosed board.

FIGS. 6A,B are schematic views of another aspect of the disclosed board.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another aspect of the disclosed board.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of another aspect of the disclosed board.

FIG. 9 is a side view of another aspect of the disclosed board.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of another aspect of the disclosed board.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of another aspect of the disclosed board.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosed foil board is further described by reference to the drawing figures.

FIGS. 1A,B,C are top, bottom and side views respectively of one embodiment of the foiling board. In the top view the elongated foiling board platform is seen with foil-holding clip or clamp at the left of the board as seen. In the bottom view of the board and centered (for this illustration) on the bottom of the board is a casing for a roll of foil (with roll of foil not illustrated). In the side view, both clip and casing can be seen. In the side view the roll of foil is schematically illustrated inside the casing.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the foiling board and clip. The illustrated board has running along its axis a series of paired, spaced apart holes. Each pair of holes is for mating and engaging with corresponding paired pins on the bottom of the clamp, at the end of the clamp which rests upon the board platform. The clip has a spring foot section (with pins) and an arcuate armature section leading to a foil pressing or clamping section (illustrated here with two presser feet), under which the sheets of foil are lightly clamped for relatively easy slip release of each succeeding foil sheet. The entire pack of foils (see also FIG. 10) can be released, or a new pack inserted, by light pressure on the thumb plate of the clamp, seen at the juncture of the foot section and armature section at the rear of the clamp.

FIGS. 3A,B are schematic views of alternate aspects of the foil roll dispenser or casing. FIG. 3A shows the casing with side door or panel open to review the foil roll and roll hanger mechanism. Dotted arrow is the direction of panel swing to close the casing. Two solid arrows are the direction the foil is dispensed, up and over the front of the board to be retained temporarily under the clip. FIG. 3B shows the casing closed, and optional foil dispensing slit in rear of casing, and optional serrated teeth for cutting the foil for each foil application.

FIGS. 4A and B show respective top and bottom views of an alternate foiling board. A simple band-like clip is provided for slidable engagement along the top of the board. The clip having arms that wrap around the edges of the board (see FIG. 4C). The bottom of the board has roughly U channel rails with openings facing each other (see also FIG. 4D) in which the tabs at the bottom right and left of FIG. 4E are slidably engaged. The tabs are on the part of the foil casing that engages with the bottom of the board. Also in the casing (4E) is the foil roll and roll holder (see also FIG. 4F).

FIGS. 5A,B are schematic views of an alternate foiling board. Foil is fed from a hanger mechanism or casing (not illustrated) over the back of the board, under a clip and along the top of the board to folded just under the front. An alternate foil roll is loaded with pre-cut foils such that dispensing a top foil uncovers and pre-unrolls a next foil. With this arrangement, no foil cutting is required during application. Rolls are available with different pre-cut lengths for different kinds of application (for example, longer or shorter hair).

FIGS. 6A,B are schematic generalized views of the foil board in application. The board is placed against the scalp (6A) and the hair is laid over the foil (6B).

FIG. 7 illustrates a sliding lock adjustable tension clip. A lockable clip body holds a sliding clip finger that can be extended or retracted, depending on desired tension. Alternatively, the clip finger is a relatively constant length, and the sliding lock piece is movable in the body slot to exert differing clip tension in a well know way on the clip finger.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are respective top and side views of an alternate foiling board. The clamp is slidable in a longitudinal slot in the board along or generally parallel to an axis of the board. A tab on the bottom of the clamp is engagable in the slot and disengagable via an enlarged segment of slot width, shown here at the end of the slot. In this embodiment the clamp and tab are twisted for insertion and removal from the board.

FIG. 11 is a shorter version of the foiling board.

In compliance with the statute, the invention has been described in language more or less specific as to structural features. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the specific features shown, since the means and construction shown comprise preferred forms of putting the invention into effect. The invention is, therefore, claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the legitimate and valid scope of the appended claims, appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents.

Claims

1. A foiling board comprising a foil platform and foil clamp, the clamp engaged upon the board by a clamp attachment member.

2. The foiling board of claim 1, further comprising the clamp attachment member being slidably engaged upon the foiling board.

3. The foiling board of claim 1, further comprising a foil roll holder, the foil roll holder engaged underneath the board.

4. The foiling board of claim 3, further comprising a roll of foil dispensable from the foil roll holder.

5. The foiling board of claim 1, further comprising a stack of foils releasably held to the board by the clamp.

6. A method of hair dressing on a head, the method comprising the following steps:

a) clamp a set of foils onto a foiling board;

b) section a portion of hair in a conventional way, and place a front edge of the foiling board with an exposed foil clamped to it under the section of hair;

c) while holding the board to the head, apply conventional hair dressing substance, wrap exposed foil around treated hair; and

d) release exposed foil from clamp.