The present disclosure relates to a prosthetic hairpiece and headwear integrated apparatus, and more specifically to a headwear that may be removably coupled with prosthetic hairpieces of different designs, colors and shapes, to enable customization of user's hairstyle.
Many people wear headwear, for example, hats or caps, to cover their heads. While some people wear headwear to keep their heads warm or protect their hair from sunlight or pollution, others wear headwear as part of fashion accessory and/or to alter hairstyle. In addition, people suffering from hair loss prefer to wear headwear to hide bald patches on their heads. People may suffer from hair loss due to side effects of a medical treatment (e.g., chemotherapy), genetics, age, nutritional deficiency, and/or the like.
In general, people suffering from hair loss wear hair wigs to alter their appearance. Conventional hair wigs are difficult to attach to the head and may fall off if not attached properly. Further, a conventional hair wig typically includes a single style/color of hair strands, and hence provides limited options for a user to experiment with her looks.
An alternative to hair wigs is headwear (for example, caps or hats) with prosthetic hairpieces. Similar to hair wigs, conventional headwear is factory-fitted with a specific type of prosthetic hairpiece, having a single style, color, and/or length. This restricts the customization of user's hairstyle.
Thus, there is a need for an integrated headwear and prosthetic hairpiece apparatus that provides options to the user to customize hairstyle.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.
The detailed description is set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings. The use of the same reference numerals may indicate similar or identical items. Various embodiments may utilize elements and/or components other than those illustrated in the drawings, and some elements and/or components may not be present in various embodiments. Elements and/or components in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. Throughout this disclosure, depending on the context, singular and plural terminology may be used interchangeably.
The present disclosure is directed towards a prosthetic hairpiece and headwear integrated apparatus. The apparatus may include a headwear, which may removably couple with a prosthetic hairpiece. The headwear may be a baseball cap, a cadet cap/hat, a bucket hat, a beanie, a beret, a snapback, a trapper hat, a top hat, a fedora cap, a flat cap, a floppy hat, or any other type of cap/hat. The prosthetic hairpiece may include synthetic hair, human hair, or a combination of both. In some aspects, the headwear may include a plurality of fastening members that may removably couple with the prosthetic hairpiece. The plurality of fastening members may be disposed in an inner brim of the headwear, at a predetermined distance from each other and one over another, for example in a layered arrangement. Furthermore, the plurality of fastening members may include a plurality of strips of fastening elements that may enable the coupling of the prosthetic hairpiece with the plurality of fastening members.
In one or more aspects of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of fastening element strips may include same or different types of fastening elements. Examples of fastening elements include, but are not limited to, grommet, hook and eye fasteners, hook and loop fasteners, snap buttons, magnet-metal fasteners, and/or the like.
In some aspects, the plurality of fastening element strips may attach to the respective plurality of fastening members in a predetermined arrangement. For example, at least one fastening element strip of the plurality of fastening element strips may attach to a side portion, a front portion and/or a back portion of the headwear inner brim.
The present disclosure discloses an apparatus that enables a user to change hairstyle, by attaching different types of prosthetic hairpieces to the headwear. In particular, the apparatus enables the user to attach the different types of prosthetic hairpieces by using a plurality of different types of fastening elements in the same apparatus. Thus, the user is not required to use/purchase different headwear for different types of prosthetic hairpieces and/or fastening elements.
These and other advantages of the present disclosure are provided in detail herein.
The disclosure will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which example embodiments of the disclosure are shown, and not intended to be limiting.
In some aspects of the present disclosure, the headwear portion 102 may be a baseball cap, a cadet cap/hat, a bucket hat, a beanie, a beret, a snapback, a trapper hat, a top hat, a fedora cap, a flat cap, a floppy hat, or any other type of cap/hat. The headwear portion 102 may be made of a fabric including, but not limited to, polyester, nylon, cotton, wool, linen, and/or the like. To keep the headwear portion 102 light in weight, the headwear portion 102 may be made from a single fabric layer. Alternatively, the headwear portion 102 may be made from multiple fabric layers, to keep head of a user warm.
In one or more aspects, the headwear portion 102 may include an inner surface 106 and an outer surface 108. In particular, the inner surface 106 may be the surface that touches user's head when a user puts on the headwear portion 102. The outer surface 108 may be opposite to the inner surface 106. In some aspects, the outer surface 108 may include a plurality of designs, custom embroidery, prints, and/or the like, for aesthetic purposes.
The inner surface 106 may include an inner brim portion 110, and an inner crown portion 112. Similarly, the outer surface 108 may include an outer brim portion 114 and an outer crown portion 116.
In some aspects of the present disclosure, the inner brim portion 110 may include a first fastening member 118 and a second fastening member 120. The first fastening member 118 and the second fastening member 120 may be a strip of fabric, plastic or cloth that may be attached to the inner brim portion 110 by using a glue. In other aspects, the first fastening member 118 and the second fastening member 120 may be sewed or welded (e.g., by using ultrasonic welding) with the inner brim portion 110. A width of the first fastening member 118 and a width of the second fastening member 120 may range from a fraction of an inch to three inches.
In one or more aspects, the first fastening member 118 and the second fastening member 120 may attach to inner brim portion 110 such that the first fastening member 118 and the second fastening member 120 may be disposed one over another. In particular, the second fastening member 120 may be closer to the inner crown portion 112, and the first fastening member 118 may be farther from the inner crown portion 112. In other words, the first fastening member 118 may be attached closer to a distal end of the headwear portion 102, while the second fastening member 120 may be attached closer to a proximate end of the headwear portion 102.
In one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the first fastening member 118 and the second fastening member 120 may be disposed at a predetermined distance from each other. For example, the distance may be in the range of 0 to 5 inches. In some aspects, the distance may be based on the headwear size and design.
In accordance with additional aspects, the headwear portion 102 may include more than two fastening members (not shown in
In some aspects, the first fastening member 118 may include a first strip of fastening elements 122. The first strip of fastening elements 122 may be coupled to a first portion of the first fastening member 118. Specifically, as shown in
In some aspects of the present disclosure, the first fastening member 118 may include a plurality of strips of fastening elements (not shown in
Similarly, the second fastening member 120 may include a second strip of fastening elements 126. The second strip of fastening elements 126 may be coupled to a second portion of the second fastening member 120. For example, as shown in
Furthermore, as described above, the second fastening member 120 may include a plurality of strips of fastening elements (not shown in
In the embodiment shown in
In some aspects, the first strip of fastening elements 122 and the second strip of fastening elements 126 may include a plurality of fastening elements through which the prosthetic hair portion 104 may removably couple with the headwear portion 102. The number of fastening elements in each of the first strip of fastening elements 122 and the second strip of fastening elements 126 may depend on the headwear type, size, and/or design. The fastening elements may include hooks or eyes (corresponding to hook and eye type fastener), grommet, snap button, hook and loop, button loop, magnetic portion/elements, or ferrous metallic elements (corresponding to magnet and ferrous element type fastener), and/or the like. In some aspects, the fastening elements may be attached, glued, or sewed to the first and the second strip of fastening elements 122 and 126. Further, the first and the second strip of fastening elements 122 and 126 may include fastening elements of different sizes, depending on the headwear type, size and/or design.
In some aspects, the prosthetic hair portion 104 may include the corresponding attachment elements that may couple with the first strip of fastening elements 122 and the second strip of fastening elements 126. For example, as shown in
In some aspects, the prosthetic hair portion 104 may include a proximate end 132 and a distal end 134. The proximate end 132 may include a plurality of fastening members (e.g., a third fastening member) that may include, but is not limited to, eyes or hooks (corresponding to hook and eye type fastener), grommet, snap button, hook and loop, loops (corresponding to button loop fastener), ferrous metallic portion/elements or magnetic elements (corresponding to magnet and ferrous element type fastener), and/or the like. In some aspects, the fastening elements may be individually sewed to the prosthetic hair portion 104 or one or more hair strands of the plurality of hair strands 130.
In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, the first strip of fastening elements 122 and the second strip of fastening elements 126 may include same type of fastening elements, for example, hooks, as shown in
A person ordinarily skilled in the art may appreciate that since the plurality of hair strands 130 are removably coupled with the first strip of fastening elements 122 and the second strip of fastening elements 126, a user may change the hair strands (e.g., use hair strands having different style, color, and/or the like) to change the hair style. The user may wear the apparatus 100, when the plurality of hair strands 130 are coupled to the first strip of fastening elements 122 and the second strip of fastening elements 126. The user may use a tightening means 136 to “tighten” the grip of the headwear portion 102 around the head. Thus, in an aspect, users of different head sizes may use the headwear portion 102.
In some aspects, the headwear portion 102 may not include the tightening means 136, for example, in the case of beanies, bucket hats, and the like. For such headwear, the size of the headwear may be customized for each user head size.
In some aspects, the apparatus 200 may include a headwear portion 202, and a prosthetic hairpiece portion 204 that may couple with the headwear portion 202. The headwear portion 202 may include a first strip of fastening elements 206 and a second strip of fastening elements 208. In some aspects, the first strip of fastening elements 206 and the second strip of fastening elements 208 may include same type of fastening elements, for example, grommet, as shown in
A person ordinarily skilled in the art may appreciate that other types of fastening elements (examples mentioned in the description above), different from grommet, may be used in the headwear portion 202, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Further, the first strip of fastening elements 206 and the second strip of fastening elements 208 may include different types of fastening elements (not shown in
In some aspects, a length of the first strip of fastening elements 206 may be similar to (e.g., close to 80-85%) a length of the second strip of fastening elements 208. Furthermore, the second strip of fastening elements 208 may be disposed above the first strip of fastening elements 206, at a predetermined distance from each other. As described above in conjunction with
The arrangement of the first strip of fastening elements 206 and the second strip of fastening elements 208 provides an advantage to a user, such that the user may couple different hair strands, from the prosthetic hairpiece portion 204, to different fastening elements and change the hairstyle. For example, from a set of hair strands having same design, length, color, etc., the user may couple one or more hair strands to the second strip of fastening elements 208 and remaining hair strands to the first strip of fastening elements 206. Therefore, using the arrangement, the user may alter the length of the prosthetic hairpiece portion 204, by coupling one or more hair strands to the second or the first strip of fastening elements.
In addition, by using the apparatus 200, the user may use different types of hair strands, for example, having different color, style, length, etc., to change the hairstyle.
In some aspects, the user may sew one or more hair strands to an inner portion of the headwear portion 202 if the user wants to permanently attach the one or more hair strands to the headwear portion 202. In this case, the user may attach a mesh (not shown in
In an aspect of the present disclosure, the fastening member 300 may include three strips of fastening elements. In some aspects, the strips may be disposed adjacent to each other and one over another. For example, the fastening member 300 may include a first strip of fastening elements 302, a second strip of fastening elements 304, and a third strip of fastening elements 306, disposed adjacent to each other, as shown in
In one or more aspects, the first strip of fastening elements 302 may include snap buttons, the second strip of fastening elements 304 may include hooks, and the third strip of fastening elements 306 may include hook and loop. The strips of fastening elements may couple with a plurality of hair strands having corresponding fastening elements. For example, the first strip of fastening elements 302 may couple with a plurality of hair strands 308 (e.g., prosthetic hairpieces) having snap button fastening elements 310. The second strip of fastening elements 304 may couple with a plurality of hair strands 312 having loops 314, to couple with the corresponding hooks. The third strip of fastening elements 306 may couple with a plurality of hair strands 316 having hook and loop 318.
A person ordinarily skilled in the art may appreciate that the fastening member 300 may include more or less strips of fastening elements. Further, the strips may include different types of fastening elements, and the present disclosure is not limited to snap buttons, hooks and hook and loop. In additional aspects of the present disclosure, a single strip of fastening elements may include different types of fastening elements. For example, in an aspect (not shown in
In some aspects, the fastening member 300 may be sewed or glued to a headwear (e.g., the headwear portion 102), to enable a user to couple different types of hair strands or prosthetic hairpieces to the same headwear. For example, the user may couple one or more hair strands with loops 314 to the second strip of fastening elements 304, and may couple hair strands of a different style, color, and/or length, having snap button fastening elements 310 with the first strip of fastening elements 302. This way, the user may change the headwear look by using hair strands having different fastening elements. In addition, the user may use different sets of prosthetic hairpieces or wigs with the same fastening member 300. For example, the user may use a hairpiece/wig of a particular design and having snap buttons on one occasion and may change to a second hairpiece/wig with a different design and having hook and loop on another occasion.
The first fastening member 404 and the second fastening member 406 may be same as/similar to the fastening member 300 shown in
In some aspects, the plurality of strips of fastening elements 408a, 408b, 408c, 410a, 410b, and 410c may attach to the respective first fastening member 404 and the second fastening member 406, in an arrangement similar to the attachment arrangement of the first strip of fastening elements 122 and the second strip of fastening elements 126 with the respective first fastening member 118 and the second fastening member 120, as described in
Furthermore, in some aspects, the headwear portion 402 may include more than two fastening members (e.g., may include three or four fastening members). The number and arrangement of fastening members may depend on the headwear type, size and/or design.
Additional elements (e.g., inner brim portion, first portion/back portion of the first fastening member, second portion of the second fastening member, etc.) and arrangement of the elements of the headwear portion 402 are similar to the corresponding elements/arrangement of the headwear portion 102 shown in
In the above disclosure, reference has been made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, which illustrate specific implementations in which the present disclosure may be practiced. It is understood that other implementations may be utilized, and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, one skilled in the art will recognize such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.
It should also be understood that the word “example” as used herein is intended to be non-exclusionary and non-limiting in nature. More particularly, the word “example” as used herein indicates one among several examples, and it should be understood that no undue emphasis or preference is being directed to the particular example being described.
With regard to the processes, systems, methods, heuristics, etc. described herein, it should be understood that, although the steps of such processes, etc. have been described as occurring according to a certain ordered sequence, such processes could be practiced with the described steps performed in an order other than the order described herein. It further should be understood that certain steps could be performed simultaneously, that other steps could be added, or that certain steps described herein could be omitted. In other words, the descriptions of processes herein are provided for the purpose of illustrating various embodiments and should in no way be construed so as to limit the claims.
Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many embodiments and applications other than the examples provided would be apparent upon reading the above description. The scope should be determined, not with reference to the above description, but should instead be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is anticipated and intended that future developments will occur in the technologies discussed herein, and that the disclosed systems and methods will be incorporated into such future embodiments. In sum, it should be understood that the application is capable of modification and variation.
All terms used in the claims are intended to be given their ordinary meanings as understood by those knowledgeable in the technologies described herein unless an explicit indication to the contrary is made herein. In particular, use of the singular articles such as “a,” “the,” “said,” etc., should be read to recite one or more of the indicated elements unless a claim recites an explicit limitation to the contrary. Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments could include, while other embodiments may not include, certain features, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments.