GB2558729A

GB2558729A - Hairbrush

Info

Publication number: GB2558729A
Application number: GB1718202.3A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Helen Ferns Joanne; George Rusden Anders
Original assignee: Hairshark Ltd
Current assignee: Hairshark Ltd
Priority date: 2016-11-09
Filing date: 2017-11-02
Publication date: 2018-07-18
Anticipated expiration: 2037-11-02
Also published as: GB2558729B; GB201718202D0

Abstract

A hairbrush having teeth or bristles 16, 18 on a first side which in use are intended to apply an electrostatic charge to hair in order to repel the strands and provide volume, and a second side having teeth or bristles 20 suitable for smoothing the volumised hair, the teeth arranged in a series of parallel planes, each tooth having a broad base tapering to a tip. Preferably the first side has both bristles and teeth, further preferably made of a plastic such as Nylon 66. Preferably the second side comprises teeth which do not generate a static charge on fricitonal contact with hair, for example ABS. Preferably the teeth on the second side have lateral edges curved in an arcuate fashion, alternate teeth point in opposing directions. In use the first side of the double-sided hairbrush can be used to back-comb the hair and volumise, and the second sides shark tooth shaped teeth can be used to comb out and smooth the hair.

Description

(71) Applicant(s):

Hairshark Limited

Mottram Old Road, Stalybridge,

Greater Manchester, SK15 2TF, United Kingdom (51) INT CL:

A46B 15/00 (2006.01) A45D 24/16 (2006.01) A46B 9/02 (2006.01) (56) Documents Cited:

WO 2005/094627 A1 US 3669130 A US 2473227 A (58) Field of Search:

INT CLA45D, A46B Other: WPI, EPODOC

A45D 24/10 (2006.01) A46B 5/00 (2006.01)

CN 105919266 A US 2799283 A US 2207427 A (72) Inventor(s):

Joanne Helen Ferns Anders George Rusden (74) Agent and/or Address for Service:

Harrison IP Limited

Ebor House, Millfield Lane, Nether Poppleton, YORK, YO26 6QY, United Kingdom (54) Title of the Invention: Hairbrush

Abstract Title: Double-sided hairbrush which applies electrostatic charge (57) A hairbrush having teeth or bristles 16, 18 on a first side which in use are intended to apply an electrostatic charge to hair in order to repel the strands and provide volume, and a second side having teeth or bristles 20 suitable for smoothing the volumised hair, the teeth arranged in a series of parallel planes, each tooth having a broad base tapering to a tip. Preferably the first side has both bristles and teeth, further preferably made of a plastic such as Nylon 66. Preferably the second side comprises teeth which do not generate a static charge on fricitonal contact with hair, for example ABS. Preferably the teeth on the second side have lateral edges curved in an arcuate fashion, alternate teeth point in opposing directions. In use the first side of the double-sided hairbrush can be used to back-comb the hair and volumise, and the second side’s shark tooth shaped teeth can be used to comb out and smooth the hair.

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Hairbrush

Field

The present invention relates to a hairbrush.

Summary

According to the present invention, there is provided a hairbrush having teeth and/or bristles on a first side made of a material that acts to apply an electrostatic charge to hair to cause hair strands brushed using the first side of the brush to repel one another and assist in volumising the hair and teeth on a second side of the brush for smoothing the hair, wherein the second side of the brush comprises a row of flat teeth that are spaced from one another in a longitudinal direction, and lie parallel to one another in planes transverse to the longitudinal direction, each tooth being wider at the base than at the tip.

The term bristles is used herein to refer to bunched or tufted filament strands, whereas the term teeth refers to individual prongs. Generally, bristles may be made of animal hair, though some may be filaments of plastics material, whereas teeth are generally of larger diameter that bristles, have rounded tips to avoid hurting the scalp and are made of a plastics material.

In some embodiments, the teeth on the second side of the brush may be asymmetrical, the tip being nearer one side of the base than the other.

The lateral edges of the teeth on the second side of the brush may be arcuate to give the appearance of shark teeth.

If all such teeth on the second side were to point towards the same side of the brush, the brush would be handed, i.e. only suitable for use with the left or the right hand. To enable use with either hand, alternate teeth may conveniently be oppositely oriented to point towards opposite sides of the brush.

The teeth on the second side may be electrostatically neutral, i.e. producing no charge when passed through hair, or they may apply an opposite charge to that produced by the first side .

In use, the first side of the brush is used to back comb the hair. During normal brushing of hair, a brush is moved from the root towards the tip the of hair strands, whereas in back combing it is moved in the opposite direction to give the hair more volume. The electrostatic charged developed by the first side of the brush assists in volumising the hair. The teeth of the second side are then used to smooth the envelope of the volumised hair without compressing it.

In some embodiments, the first side of the brush may comprise bristles, preferably of animal hair, such as boar hair, in addition to teeth made of plastics material, such as nylon, to create an electrostatic charge by friction with the hair as it is being brushed. While only plastics teeth are needed to produce an electrostatic charge, bristles are gentler on the hair and are more effective in adding volume to the hair. As a further alternative, one may use nylon bristles without separate teeth.

In some embodiments, the second side of the brush may comprise teeth formed of a plastics material, such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), chosen not to apply a charge. As an alternative, the material of the teeth on the second side may be chosen to apply an opposite electrostatic charge to the volumised hair.

It is desirable for the brush to have a handle and in some embodiments the handle is pointed to assist in selecting and separating hair strands to be volumised.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a brush embodying the invention showing the first side of the brush, and

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the brush shown in Figure 1 as viewed from the second side.

Detailed description of the drawings

The brush 10 shown in the drawings comprises a handle 12 and a two-sided head 14. The first side of the brush 10 is shown in Figure 1 and comprises bristles 16 consisting of tufts of boar hair and teeth 18 made of Nylon 66, which is a type of polyamide. The first side of the brush is designed for back combing hair. Friction between the hair and the nylon teeth 18 during back combing generates static electricity that leaves the hair electrostatically charged. The electrostatic charge causes the strands of hair to separate and enhances the volumising effect of the back combing.

The second side of the brush, shown in Figure 2, has a single row of longitudinally spaced teeth 20 made of a plastics material that does not generate an electrostatic charge or generates an opposite charge. The teeth may, for example, be made of ABS within which an anti-static additive may be included.

The teeth 20 are designed to smooth the envelope of the volumised hair produced by back combing using the first side of the brush, without reducing the volume. For this purpose, the teeth 20 have a shape resembling that of shark teeth. Instead of being rod like, the teeth 20 are flat having a base that is significantly broader in the transverse direction of the head 14 than in the longitudinal direction.

The teeth taper in width to form tips that do not lie 5 symmetrically in line with the centre of the base. Instead, the tip of each tooth is offset towards one side and the lateral edges of the tooth are curved to result in the shark-tooth like appearance .

If all the teeth 20 were to point to the same side of the brush it would be handed and to permit use with either hand alternate teeth 20 are shaped to point towards opposite sides of the brush.

The handle 12 of the brush tapers down to a point to permit it to be used to select and separate the hair strands to be volumised.

Claims

1. A hairbrush having teeth and/or bristles on a first side made of a material that acts to apply an electrostatic charge to hair to cause hair strands brushed using the first side of the brush to repel one another and assist in volumising the hair and teeth on a second side of the brush for smoothing the hair, wherein the second side of the brush comprises a row of flat teeth that are spaced from one another in a longitudinal direction, and lie parallel to one another in planes transverse to the longitudinal direction, each tooth being wider at the base than at the tip.

2. A hairbrush as claimed in claim 1, wherein the teeth on the second side of the brush is asymmetrical, the tip of each tooth being nearer one side of the base of the tooth than the other.

3. A hairbrush as claimed in claim 2, wherein the lateral edges of the teeth on the second side of the brush are arcuate.

4. A hairbrush as claimed in claim 2 or 3, wherein alternate teeth on the second side of the brush are oppositely oriented to point towards opposite sides of the brush.

5. A hairbrush as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the teeth on the second side are made of a material that does not generate static electricity through frictional contact with human hair .

6. A hairbrush as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the teeth on the second side are operative to apply to the hair an opposite charge to that produced by the first side.

7. A hairbrush as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the first side of the brush comprises bristles in addition to teeth made of a plastics material serving to create an electrostatic charge by friction with the hair as it is being brushed.

5

8. A hairbrush as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first side of the brush comprises bristles made of a plastics material serving to create an electrostatic charge by friction with the hair as it is being brushed.

10

9. A hairbrush as claimed in claim 7 or 8, wherein the plastics material serving to create an electrostatic charge is Nylon 66.

10. A hairbrush as claimed in any preceding claim, further

15 comprising an elongate handle extending parallel to the longitudinal direction.

11. A hairbrush as claimed in claim 10, wherein the handle is pointed to assist in selecting and separating hair strands to be volumised.

Intellectual

Property

Office

Application No: GB1718202.3 Examiner: Mr Chris Morris