Patent Application
20190261714
The present invention relates generally to artificial hair, and more particularly, to an artificial hair apparatus and method of manufacturing the artificial hair apparatus with an improved closure, which allows users with different head sizes to use and secure the hair apparatus.
Wigs are used by people to enhance their appearance and to conceal their natural hair. Wigs generally include multiple strands of hair attached to a cap to form a unit that can be secured to an user's scalp. Attachable hair locs and hair extensions are also used by people to either conceal or supplement their natural hair. In some cases, people use wigs when they are experiencing baldness or thinning of their natural hair. For those experiencing baldness or thinning of natural hair, use of wigs provides an alternative to use of potentially dangerous hair growth drugs or chemicals, or uncomfortable hair plugs. In other cases, people use wigs for temporary purposes when they are undergoing medical treatments that result in loss of their hair, such as chemotherapy.
Wigs are also used to provide a user with an alternative hair color in order to improve their appearance. Furthermore, wigs can be used by people to present an alternative texture to their own hair, such as changing their hair from straight to curly, add length or volume to their hair, or make the hair appear softer or thicker. Just as many people enjoy accessorizing their wardrobe, people who wear wigs enjoy changing and enhancing their appearance.
Actors and other performers use hair wigs to quickly change their appearance (onstage or offstage), create a particular visual look, persona, or alter their appearance in order to fit a particular character or adhere to a hair style used in another country or during different historical period. By utilizing wigs made with different color hair, it is possibly to quickly and safely alter color, appearance and a look of one's own hair, without undergoing expensive and uncertain highlight and color treatments.
Some of the feature that many users look in a hair wig is the ability to put it on quickly over their hair, and secure it in place, so that the wig will not move while a person is in motion, playing sports, driving, or moved by a gust of wind. Furthermore, it is also important to many users that the wig may be taken off quickly, or changed to another wig, having a different hairstyle.
Another feature that users look for in a wig is cost-effectiveness and the ability to quickly attach synthetic or real hair braids to the netting, and create intricate patters of braids, while security keeping the netting covering over person's own hair. Furthermore, the wig preferably should not create any undesired tension on the user's scalp or nature hair under the wig.
Also, it is desirable to provide a universal size wig with a closure that can be adjusted to securely fit on the heads of different users, with different head sizes.
Accordingly, embodiments of the invention described herein provide a hair apparatus. The apparatus comprises: a cap layer cap layer configured to fit around a circumference of a user's head; at least one lace part disposed in a front portion of the cap; and a plurality of hair combs attached in a bottom or side part, to the inside surface of the cap layer.
The way the present invention addresses the above and other needs, and various other aspects, features and advantages of certain embodiments will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The following detailed description of certain embodiments will be made in reference to the accompanying drawings. In the detailed description, explanation about related functions or constructions known in the art are omitted for the sake of clearness in understanding the concept of the invention, to avoid obscuring the invention with unnecessary detail.
Embodiments of the invention, as further described herein, provide advantages over conventional wigs. The embodiments described herein include wig apparatuses, methods of manufacturing wigs, kits for assembling wigs, methods of assembling kits for wigs, and packaging for wigs and wig kits.
In particular, certain embodiments described herein provide a wig configured to include artificial hair of varying lengths. Artificial hair of a certain length conceals the wig's cap (mesh) layer resulting in an improved natural appearance of the wig. The artificial hair that conceals the cap layer may be coupled to the wig such that it is adjustable, which allows a user of the wig to customize the wig to his or her own preferences.
In addition, the present invention may utilize either the synthetic hair, human or animal hair (real hair), or a combination of the artificial and real hair in a wig that is constructed in accordance with the present invention.
The phrase “artificial hair,” as used herein, refers to synthetic hair products as well as human hair or animal hair, and combinations thereof, and may be embodied in various traditional hair colors, such as black, brown, blonde, and red, as well as non-traditional hair colors, such as blue, green, and purple, and combinations thereof, including individual strands of hair having two or more colors.
The term “user,” as used herein, refers to any purchaser of the wig configured according to any of the embodiments disclosed herein, including, but not limited to, individual members of the public, wholesale distributors, retail merchants, manufacturers, importers and exporters of the wig and related components of the wig.
According to embodiments described below, the wig includes an adjustable closure, such as a drawstring, allowing the cap, to which the hair bundles are attached, to stay securely on the head of many users with different head circumferences.
The at least one embodiment includes an adjustment member for adjustably securing the wig to a user's head. The adjustment member may include elastic and inelastic regions, and allows the wig to retain proper and comfortable positioning on the user's head for a natural appearance and comfortable fit.
According to still further embodiments, the wig includes a light weight cap, with a draw string that can be adjusted to securely fit the cap for any head size, shape or circumference. The cap may be tightened around a person's head using a drawstring fitted through the lower edge of the cap's circumference and held in tight (non-releasing) position by one or more drawstring closures.
The cap may be constructed of a material that is flexible, but is also sufficiently rigid so that it does not collapse when placed on a surface without any additional supporting structure such as, for example, a mannequin's head or other suitable object. The cap may be made of net or stocking materials, and also include lace parts at the top or edge of the cap, for better fit and aesthetic reasons.
The user may easily attach, by crocheting, gluing or other attachment methods, the artificial or real hair to the cap without the need for additional supporting structure.
In an further embodiment, the wig is configured to cover a portion of the user's scalp. This partial scalp-covering wig is useful for people that have partial balding or thinning of a portion of the natural hair on their scalp. The partial wig that bald spots and/or areas of thinning hair, but does not cover the user's entire head. The partial wig may also be used to provide a user with a portion of artificial hair that has a color contrasting with the user's natural hair. Thus, the partial wig may be used by a user whether or not they have bald spots and/or areas of thinning hair in order to add a streak of color to their natural hair.
Reference to individual embodiments, whether by number of embodiment or relevant feature of the embodiment, is used for convenience in describing such embodiments. Moreover, reference to individual embodiments does not indicate that any of such embodiments are preferred over any other embodiments. Furthermore, each individual embodiment may be combined with any other individual embodiment whether or not expressly stated.
The cap may include at least one lace part 120 in the front portion of the cap, or around or near the outer edge of the cap, for a more natural fit and appearance of the hair line.
Also, the artificial hair apparatus 100 includes various components designed to hold the artificial hair apparatus 100 to a user's scalp in a comfortable and natural-appearing manner.
The cap layer 205 is configured to fit around a circumference of a user's head and is the foundation upon which each of the other components of the artificial hair apparatus 200 are attached. The cap layer 205 is configured as a half-spherical shape, dome shape or other shape that corresponds to the shape of a human head. The cap layer 205 of the cap is constructed out of a flexible material, such as netting, cotton, nylon, or other suitable fabrics and blends thereof.
The cap layer 205 may have an elastic band 255 on each side, or sewn in around the full circumference of the user's head. Furthermore, it may include multiple lace portions 220, arranged on the outer edge of the cap 200. Additional lace portions 225 may be added in other locations of the cap 205, such as, for example, in the middle of the cap, separating the right and left parting of the hair.
A plurality of hair combs 210 and 212 may be attached in the bottom or side part, to the inside surface of the cap layer 205 of the cap, to hold the hair apparatus 200 securely in place by being detachably connected, and in contact with the person's own hair under the hair apparatus cap layer 205 of the hair apparatus 200.
The structure, placement and use of the hair combs that may be utilized in at least one embodiment of the present invention is described and illustrated with reference to
An elastic band or drawstring 360 may be fitted through the enclosure 340 on the outer edge of the cap. The enclosure 340 may be formed by the multiple layers of a cap, or formed by rolling the outer edge and stitching or otherwise fixing the edge to form a tubular enclosure through which a drawstring 360 is fitted.
Referring to
The lower edge of the cap layer 405 has an elastic band or a drawstring 460, which can quickly tighten and secure the hair apparatus 400 around the circumference of the user's head. The hair apparatus 400 may be quickly secured on top of the user's head with a drawstring 460 and also using one or more drawstring closures or stoppers, which prevent the drawstring from slipping back into the enclosure 460. This allows to fit the same hair apparatus 400 for people with different head sizes, without any customization or special fitting.
The drawstring closures/stoppers 565 are as illustrated in
The hair combs may have different lengths or different number of hair teeth or connecting members (for attachable connection to the person's own hair). Also, different types of combs may be used. Other known types of combs may also be utilized to hold the hair apparatus securely in connection with the person's own hair.
Multiple artificial hair groups, arranged either as a straight hair, or as locs or braids, may be crocheted or glued onto the cap layer, in various parts of it, as shown in
The cap layer 505 maintains a shape such that the user is able to attach the artificial hair, locs or braids to the cap layer 505. Furthermore, the positioning of the artificial hair on the cap layer 505 will not change significantly when the user places the cap 500 layer onto his or her head.
In particular, the embodiments described herein provide an artificial hair apparatus configured to include artificial hair of varying lengths that is adjustable. This allows the user of the artificial hair apparatus to customize it to a user's own preferences. The artificial hair apparatus may further include elastic and inelastic regions that allow the apparatus to retain proper and comfortable positioning on the user's head for a natural appearance and comfortable fit. Furthermore, a more secure fit is provided by the drawstring and the drawstring closures or stoppers that hold the hair apparatus in a tight and secure position. The combs, incorporated into the hair apparatus, provide additional security by connecting to the owner own hair under the hair apparatus.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/666,484 filed on May 3, 2018, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62666484 | May 2018 | US |
