P/00/012 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 ORIGINAL COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Invention Title: "A METHOD OF ATTACHING HAIR EXTENSIONS" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: 1 A METHOD OF ATTACHING HAIR EXTENSIONS The invention relates to a method of attaching natural or artificial hair extensions to natural hair growing on a subject's head (hereinafter "scalp 5 hair"), to enhance the length or thickness of the scalp hair. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A system for applying hair extensions to scalp hair is covered by US 6, 938,624 which describes the use of a threading tool to feed scalp hair 10 through a flared tube which is preferably formed of malleable copper, aluminium or like bendable metals or alloys. The hair extension comprises multiple strands of hair held in a discrete bundle by a thermoplastic binding material at one end which is inserted into the tube. The tube is crushed flat, trapping the threaded scalp hair and hair extension within the 15 crushed structure. The removal of the hair extension is facilitated by use of a removal tool designed to open the crimped flared tube. United States patent US 5,107,867 is for a reversible process for attaching extensions to human hair in which strands of supplemental hair are joined with a thermostable adhesive to form a "plug" of supplemental 20 hair; a coating of thermosetting adhesive is applied over the thermostable adhesive and cured; strands of a subject's scalp hair are threaded through a section of heat shrinkable tubing; the plug of supplemental hair is inserted into the heat shrinkable tubing; and heat is applied to the tubing so that the thermosetting adhesive liquefies and joins the plug of 2 supplemental hair and scalp hair; and the heat shrinkable tubing shrinks in size to compress and seal the junction. The permanent extension can be removed by reapplication of heat to the tubing. US patent 5,894,846 describes a method of attaching hair extensions 5 to strands of knotted, scalp hair using heat shrinkable tubes. The hair is first knotted to form an enlarged portion that is readily trapped in the tubing after heat is applied to cause shrinking of the tubing. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 10 According to the present invention there is provided a method of attaching natural or artificial hair extensions to a subject's scalp hair, to enhance the length or thickness of the scalp hair, which method includes the following steps: providing a plug of supplemental hair which comprises strands of 15 natural or artificial hair joined together with a thermostable adhesive at or near a first end of the plug; providing a section of tubing which is of a thermoplastics material and which has a lining of a thermosetting material adherable to natural or synthetic hair; 20 threading a bundle of strands of the subject's scalp hair through the section of tubing; inserting the first end of the plug of hair into the section of tubing with the bundle of scalp hair; joining together the plug of supplemental hair and the scalp hair, by 3 e heating the section of tubing so that it softens, or at least partially melts, sufficiently to allow compression of the tubing by mechanical pressure, e thereafter applying mechanical pressure to the softened or 5 partially melted section of tubing so that the thermosetting tube lining material is compressed or partially flattened onto the plug of supplemental hair and the scalp hair; and * maintaining pressure on the section of tubing for a suitable period of time while the thermosetting material cools, thereby to join 10 together the plug of supplemental hair and the bundle of scalp hair. The tubing may be of a thermoplastic material with a suitable melting point. The tube lining may be of a suitable material for adhering to the scalp hair, and to the natural or artificial hair of the plug. For example, the tubing may be of polypropylene, and the tube lining may be keratin. 15 Preferably the tubing has an external diameter of between 3 mm and 6 mm and the length of the sections of tubing is between 7 mm and 9 mm. The mechanical pressure may be applied by hand, for example by pressing the softened or partially melted section of tubing between forefinger and thumb. The hand or fingers of a stylist operating the method 20 of the invention, may be protected against heat, by means of a glove for example, or finger-sized strips of silicon sheet, or the like. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A specific embodiment of the method of the invention is now described by way of the following non-limiting example, and with reference 4 to the following schematic diagrams in which: Fig. 1 is a three-dimensional view from one side, of the head of a subject in the process of having hair extensions, in the form of plugs of natural or artificial hair, attached to scalp hair by a hair stylist; 5 Fig. 2 to 6 are step-by-step illustrations of the present innovative method of connecting a plug of natural or synthetic hair, to a bundle of strands of scalp hair, using a section of tubing which is of a plastics material and which has a lining of a suitable material for adhering to the scalp hair, and to the natural or artificial hair of the plug; 10 Fig. 7 shows a heating tool being applied to the section of tubing; Fig. 8 shows the pressure being applied to the hot, deformable, section of tubing by a forefinger and thumb of the stylist; Fig. 9 shows the plug of hair effectively attached to the bundle of scalp hair; and 15 Fig. 10 shows two strips of silicon sheeting which can be used as heat protection for the forefinger and thumb while applying pressure to the section of tubing as shown in Fig. 8. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 20 This is one example of the present invention, for attaching hair extensions to a subject's scalp hair 10, to enhance the length or thickness of the scalp hair. The hair extensions are provided as plugs 12 of supplemental hair, each plug 12 comprising a bundle of about twenty five to fifty strands of 5 natural or artificial hair 14 joined together at a first end 16 of the plug, with a thermostable adhesive. Alternative embodiments may include larger or smaller hair bundles. Sections of tubing 18 which may be of polypropylene or other plastics 5 material, and which are lined with a suitable material, such as keratin, for adhering to the scalp hair and to the natural or artificial hair of the plug, are provided for use in the method of the invention. The tubing has an external diameter of about 4 mm, and the sections of tubing are about 8 mm in length. 10 A threading tool 20 is also provided for use in the method of the invention, for threading strands of scalp hair through the sections of tubing 18. The threading tool 20 comprises a length of nylon line 22 attached as a loop 24 to a suitable weight 26. As a preliminary step, the threading tool 20 is "loaded" by passing the 15 loop 24 through a number of sections of the tubing 14. The tool 20 is shown partially loaded in Figs. 1-5. As further preliminary steps, a hair stylist (a) identifies those sections of the subject's head 30 which are to have hair extensions attached to scalp hair 10, (b) within one of those sections, makes a parting 32 20 horizontally across, or circumferentially around (as shown in Fig. 1) the subject's head 30, (c) maintains the parting 32 by means of long hairclips or the like (not shown), and (d) identifies substantially uniformly spaced and discrete bundles 34 of about twenty-five to fifty strands of scalp hair for joining to plugs 12 of supplemental hair.
6 The stylist then carries out the following procedure according to the method of the invention, i.e. he/she (i) selects a bundle 34 of scalp hair, and pulls it through the threading loop 22, as shown in Fig. 2; 5 (ii) pushes one of the sections of tubing 14 along the loop 22 and onto the bundle 34 of scalp hair to a position adjacent the scalp as shown in Figs. 3-4; (iii) draws the bundle 34 of scalp hair through the tubing 14 as shown in Figs. 4-5; 10 (iv) inserts the first end of the plug 12 into the section of tubing 14, as shown in Fig. 6, with the bundle 34 of hair; (v) heats the section of tubing 14, with a heating tool 36 as shown in Fig. 7, until the tubing (including the tube lining which is not shown) gets hot and is seen to start bubbling. 15 (vi) thereafter uses his/her thumb and forefinger as shown in Fig. 8 to apply sufficient pressure to the hot, bubbling tubing 14 for about two seconds so that the tubing is partially flattened onto the plug 12 and bundle 34 of scalp hair, and the keratin lining binds to the plug and the scalp hair; and 20 (vii) allows the tubing 14 to cool for about one minute. Thus the plug 12 of supplemental hair and the bundle 34 of hair are joined together as shown in Fig. 9. Steps (i) to (vii) are repeated as often as might be appropriate and desired by the subject and stylist. Scalp hair above the attached hair 7 extensions are combed or brushed down to hide the regions of attachment. Two strips 38 of silicon sheeting are shown in Fig. 10, and these can be used to protect the finger and thumb of the stylist while pressure is 5 being applied to the hot sections of tubing 18 (steps (vi) and (vii) above). The heating tool 36 does not form part of the invention, and any other convenient means may be employed for suitably heating the tubing 14 with its lining. The hair extensions can be removed as follows. 10 The sections of tubing 18 holding together the plugs and bundles of scalp hair, can be released one at a time, for example with the aid of so called hair extension pliers, or a similar tool. The jaws or nose of the pliers are dipped into a solvent or so-called remover solution before gripping and squeezing the section of tubing 18, thereby releasing it from the scalp hair 15 and from the plug of supplemental hair. The plug can then be separated from the section of tubing, by loosening and releasing the supplemental hair from the scalp hair. This specification should be interpreted as not being limited to the above example or the presently preferred embodiment or specific 20 collection of features. The advantages of the invention include its efficacy for attaching natural or artificial hair extensions to scalp hair without causing unwarranted damage to the scalp hair, and its ready reversibility in that 8 the hair extensions can be removed with no more effort than is invested in attaching the extensions.