GB2502352A

GB2502352A - A manual hair removing device

Info

Publication number: GB2502352A
Application number: GB201209290A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Kirby
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2012-05-24
Filing date: 2012-05-24
Publication date: 2013-11-27
Also published as: GB201209290D0

Abstract

A manual hair removal device 10 comprises a ribbon of material (24, fig 2) having a gripping surface (26, fig 2). The gripping surface (26, fig.2) has high shear friction properties. Hair may be removed by gripping hair using a finger or thumb against the ribbon (24, fig.2) at a surface 22. The ribbon (24, fig. 2) may be substantially non elastic along its length. The belt may be maintained in tension by tensioning means 14 which applies a tension to the ribbon, or by its own natural resilience. The gripping surface of the ribbon (24, fig. 2) may comprise a GSA adhesive, a latex based adhesive or an acrylic or acrylate adhesive. Preferably the adhesive has a high shear adhesion to peel adhesion ratio. Also disclosed is a continuous belt of ribbon suitable for use with device.

Description

Hair Removal Device This invention relates to hair removal devices, in particular this invention relates to devices for manually removing hair from the human body.

Many people remove hair from the human body, both for cosmetic and medical reasons.

There are currently a number of known methods for doing this, all of which have a number of problems associated therewith.

Shaving is probably the most common method, however the cut hairs quickly re-grow as a rough stubble. Friction methods to buff away hair result in a mixture of removal of the hair from below the skin surface and breaking the hair at or adjacent the skin surface. This method also results in quick re-growth as a rough stubble, although sometimes less intense than as a result of shaving.

Chemical dissolving agents also know as depilatories or depilatory creams are another method. These creams are messy and generally have a foul odour. They can cause irritation, particularly to sensitive areas such as under the armpits and bikini line and hair re-growth usually occurs in 210 3 days.

Pulsed light treatment can over time have partial permanent effect. However it is not suitable for all skin types and requires expensive equipment.

Tweezers are a good accurate method of removing hair but are suitable for using only on individual hairs.

Mechanical epilators are effective for treating large areas however can be painful. In addition, due to their mechanical movements which have fast moving parts for "grabbing" hairs many people are reluctant to use them in particularly sensitive regions, for example close to the genitalia.

Waxing is another effective method for large areas, however, due to the large numbers of hairs removed at a time it can be very painful for some people.

In addition to the above mentioned problems a number of the methods, waxing and epilating in particular, often do not remove 100% of hairs and also, instead of removing all hairs from the root, also break a number of the hairs at or adjacent the skin. This often necessitates secondary hair removal, for example using tweezers to remove any hairs that are missed, and again several days later to remove any hairs broken at skin level which have then re-grown.

It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a new method of manual hair removal that overcomes some of the problems associated with the prior art.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a manual hair removal device comprising: a ribbon of material having a griping surface having high shear friction properties; and device body having a gripping surface over which said ribbon passes such that! in use, hair can be gripped by a finger or thumb against said ribbon at said surface for removal.

The gripping surface may also have low peel adhesion properties, In one embodiment the ribbon may be substantially non elastic along its length and the device body may comprise a tensioning means to apply a tension to the ribbon. In an alternative embodiment the device body may have a fixed length and the ribbon may be elastic along its length such that it can be stretched over said body to apply a tension to said belt.

The ribbon may comprise a continuous belt.

The tensioning means may comprise a spring loaded element for applying a force against said ribbon.

In one embodiment the device comprises an elongate body about which the belt passes. The tensioning means may resiliently extend the length of the body.

The ribbon may be movable over the gripping surface to present a new area of the ribbon at the gripping surface. Where the ribbon is a belt it may be rotatable about the body to present a new area of belt at the gripping surface The belt may be provided with a removable release liner covering the gripping surface.

The ribbon comprises a latex based adhesive or alternatively it may comprise a GSA adhesive (gecko inspired synthetic adhesive) which is a hard polymer microfiber adhesive. It will be appreciated that non latex adhesives) in particular Acrylic or Acrylate adhesives can also be used. Suitable adhesives will have a good shear adhesion properties and lower peel adhesion properties.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a belt of material having a griping surface having high shear friction properties for use in the device of the first aspect of the invention, said ribbon being substantially non elastic along its length.

The gripping surface of the belt may also have low peel adhesion properties.

The belt of material may comprise a removable release liner covering the gripping surface. One end of the release liner can overlap the other end of the release liner to provide a grip for easy removal of said release liner. The belt can be folded at either end to flatten it, in a storage condition, and the overlap can be adjacent one of the folds.

In one embodiment the belt of material comprises a substrate and a coating, said substrate providing the non-elastic qualities arid said coating providing the high shear friction qualities. The belt may comprise GSA or the coating may comprise a latex based adhesive. As stated above, it will be appreciated that non latex adhesives in particular acrylic or acrylate adhesives can also be used. Suitable adhesives will have a good shear adhesion properties and lower peel adhesion properties.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the body of a device in accordance with the invention: Figure 2 is a perspective view of a belt in accordance with the invention; and Figure 3 is a partial cross view of another belt in accordance with the invention.

Referring to the figures a device body 10 is shown. The device body 10 is substantially elongate in shape and comprises a fixed portion 12 and a resiliently movable portion 14 located at one end of the device body. The resiliently movable portion is spring loaded such that it is resiliently held in a position extended from the fixed portion 12. The movable portion 14 can be moved towards the fixed portion and in doing so compresses a spring which then exerts an outward force on the movable portion 14 restoring it towards its extended position. The spring (not shown) is internally retained between the fixed portion 12 and the movable portion 14 in any suitable manner within the ability of the skilled person.

The device body 10 may be made form a plastics material and may for example be injection moulded.

The fixed part 12 of the body comprises a central portion 16 and two side portions 18, on either side of the central portion 16 and extending in a direction along the length of the fixed portion 12. A gap is formed between the central portion 16 and each side portion.

At one end of the fixed portion 12 the central portion 16 extends beyond the side portions 18, 20 so as to form a gripping surface 22 which is substantially planar.

In use a belt 24 (for example as shown in figure 2)is located on the body 12 and extends around the central portion 16, the gripping surface 22, and the movable portion 14. To locate the belt on the body 12 the resilient portion 14 is deformed towards the fixed portion 12 to shorten the overall length of the device body 10. The belt 24 s then slipped over the central portion 16, gripping surface 22 and movable portion 14, and the movable portion is released to tension the belt 24, It will be appreciated that the length of the belt when located on the device body 10 has a length greater that the device length with the movable portion 14 fully deformed towards the fixed portion 14 and has a length less than the device body 10 length with the movable portion 14 fully extended. In this manner the belt 24 is constantly maintained in tension when on the device. The belt passes around the central portion 16 of the device body lOin the gap between the central portion 16 and the side portions 18, 20.

A tapered wall section 38 extends from the side waIl 20 along the edge of the gripping surface 22. In use this side wall helps prevent the belt from slipping of that edge and maintains it centrally on the surface 22.

The belt 24 is substantially non elastic along its length, i.e. it can not readily be stretched along its length. In particular when locating the belt 24 on the device body tension is provided by the resilient nature imparted to the movable portion 14 by the spring, and not by any natural resilience along the length of the belt.

The external surface 26 of the belt 24 provides a gripping surface which has high shear friction properties. The belt 24 preferably comprises a layered structure which has a substrate 28, which is substantially non elastic along its length, and a gripping layer 30, for example a coating adjacent thereto. In one embodiment the gripping layer may comprise a latex based adhesive or GSA (gecko inspired synthetic adhesive hard polymer microfiber adhesives). In another embodiment the belt 24 may be made from Geckskin ® or a similar material that mimics the effect of the way in which a gecko's feet grasp a flat surface. Such substances are known in the art. It will also be appreciated that non latex based adhesives may be used as an alternative as some people suffer a skin reaction on contact with latex. Acrylic or acrylate adhesives would be suitable. It will be appreciated that it is important that that the adhesive used does not form a strong or permanent bond with the skin, and that the adhesive does not readily transfer from the belt to the skin upon contact. Accordingly the peel adhesion of the adhesive will be low in comparison to the shear adhesion.

A release liner 32 may be provided around the outer surface of the belt 24 to protect its outer surface prior to use, for example during transport. Preferably the release liner 32 is longer than the length of the belt 24 so that one end overlaps the other to form a tab 34 that allows for it to be easily gripped for removal.

In a particular example the belt may be folded so that it lies flat in transport and the fold may be positioned immediately adjacent the end of the release liner 32 to allow for particularly easy removal.

In use the belt 24 is extended over the device body 10 as described above. The release liner 32 is maintained on the belt 24 at this stage to protect the belts surface.

Once the belt 24 is located on the device body 10 the end 34 of the release liner is gripped and pulled by the user. This will result in the belt 24 rotating along the central portion 16 and around each end as the release liner 32 is removed. The device is then ready for use.

To remove hair the user places either the tip 36 or the side surface 40 of the device next to the skin adjacent the hairs to be removed and traps the hairs against the belt 24 adjacent the gripping surface 22 with a finger or thumb. A quick plucking motion while maintaining pressure on the hair with the linger or thumb will remove the hair by the root. As the surface of the belt 24 has high shear friction, pressure exerted manually by the finger or thumb to retain the hair against the belt enables it to be grasped sufficiently to remove it. Due to the area of the area of the gripping surface 22 of the device a number of hairs can be trapped and removed in a single motion. This is beneficial over for example normal tweezers as, as tweezers have a hard surface and when removing more than one hair at a time the hardness (and sharpness) of the edge of the tweezers where they grip the hair, combined with the different directions in which hairs usually grow often results in at east some of the hairs snapping. Furthermore as hairs at different stages of initial growth have different thicknesses, when using tweezers, due to the hard nature of the gripping surfaces only the thickest hair is usually properly gripped in a manner sufficient io remove it.

Either the tip 36 or the side 40 of the gripping surface 22 may be worked against the skin when removing hair. As the tip 36 of the device has a relatively small surface area, although there may be some adhesion of the belt 24 to the skin when working with the tip, due to the small surface area, and lower peel adhesion, the belt 24 will not stick readily to the skin in a manner that will unduly pull at the skin when hairs are being removed. when working with the side 40 of the gripping surface 22 it will be appreciated that the belt 24 does not extend over the side surface and accordingly adhesion of the belt 24 to the skin is minimised. As the hair experiences shear forces against the surface it is retained and can be plucked.

Furthermore the feedback that the user has by using a finger or thumb to trap the hair against the gripping surface gives users a high sense of confidence when using the device in sensitive areas, for example close to, or on, the genitalia.

When a non elastic belt is used, when pulling against the hairs to remove them the belt cannot be stretched and the force exerted on the device body 10 is transmitted directly into the hair furthermore as release liners used with adhesives are commonly non elastic, the paring of a non elastic belt with the release liner enables it to be easily handled and loaded prior to the release liner being removed. With an elastic belt it may be necessary to remove the release liner prior to loading the release liner on the body 10.

It will be appreciated that when an elastic belt is used the body will be substantially the same except in so far as it will not include the resilient portion 14 and the belt will be loaded upon the body by stretching it over the body.

After a period of time an area of the belt will start to loose its grip as the coating becomes contaminated and/or degraded. The amount of time that this takes will be dependant upon the coating on the belt that gives it its shear friction properties, the amount of hair being removed etc. After an area becomes less effective due to contamination/degradation the user can simply rotate the belt 24 on the device body 10 to present a new area at the gripping surface 22. The side portions 18, 20 protect the part of the belt that is not currently being used to prevent its degradation during use.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1 A manual hair removal device comprising: a ribbon of material having a gripping surface having high shear friction properties; and a device body having a gripping surface over which said ribbon passes such that, in use, hair can be gripped by a finger or thumb against said ribbon at said surface for removal.
2 A manual hair removal device according to claim I wherein the gripping surface has low peel adhesion properties.
3 A manual hair removal device according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said ribbon is substantially non elastic along its length and wherein the device body comprises a tensioning means to apply a tension to the ribbon.
4 A manual hair removal device according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the device body has a fixed length and said ribbon is elastic along its length such that it can be stretched over said body to apply a tension to said belt.
A manual hair removal device according to any preceding claim wherein said ribbon comprises a continuous belt.
6 A manual hair removal device according to claim 3 wherein the tensioning means comprises a spring loaded element for applying a force against said ribbon.
7 A manual hair removal device according to claim 6 wherein the device comprises an elongate body about which the belt passes.
8 A manual hair removal device according to claim 7 wherein and the tensioning means resiliently extends the length of the body.
9 A manual hair removal device according to any preceding claim wherein the ribbon is movable over the gripping surface to present a new area of the ribbon at the gripping surface, A manual hair removal device according to claim 9 wherein the belt is rotatable about the body to present a new area of belt at the gripping surface 11 A manual hair removal device according to any preceding claim wherein the ribbon is provided with a removable release liner covering the gripping surface.12 A manual hair removal device according to any preceding claim wherein the ribbon comprises a latex based adhesive a GSA adhesive or an acrylic or acrylate adhesive.13 A manual hair removal device according to any preceding claim wherein the ribbon comprises an adhesive having a high shear adhesion to peel adhesion ratio.14 A belt of material comprising a continuous ribbon of a substrate and an adhesive coating thereon, said coating forming a griping surface having high shear friction properties for use in the apparatus of claims ito 13.A belt of material according to claim 14 wherein the gripping surface has low peel adhesion properties.16 A belt of material according to claim 14 or 15 wherein said substrate is substantially non elastic along its length.17 A belt of material according to ay one of claims 14 to 16 further comprising a removable release liner covering the gripping surface.18 A belt of material according to claim 17 wherein one end of said release liner has overlaps the other end of the release liner to provide a grip for easy removal of said release liner.19 A belt of material according to claim 18 wherein said belt is folded at either end to flatten it and said overlap is adjacent one fold.A belt of material according to any one of claims 14 to 19 wherein said adhesive comprises a GSA adhesive.21 A belt of material according to any one of claims 14 to 19 wherein said coating comprises a latex based adhesive.22 A belt of material according to any one of claims 14 to 19 wherein said coating comprises an acrylic or acrylate adhesive 23 A belt of material according to any one of claims 14 to 19 wherein said coating comprises an adhesive having a high shear adhesion to peel adhesion ratio.