Wig with flex-grip base and components for protection against hair damage

Abstract

The device is a lightweight stretchable mesh base wig that provides full hair coverage and protection of a wearer's natural hair via an anti-skid system that securely holds the wig in a comfortable grip position without the use of adhesive, metal or non-porous plastic components. The wig device has a fixed micro hair-part for reducing manufacturing time and cost especially when the device is made of natural or human hair. The device has an anti-stress nape hair component that prevents tension and stress on a wearer's head and on the hair wefts at the lower back of the wig. The components are configured to allow the wig to be natural looking and highly undetectable and at low cost.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 13 / 185,073 filed 18 Jul. 2011 Publication US2013 / 0019889A1 Jan. 24, 2013.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Technical Field[0003]The new invention relates to a residual class for devices and methods used by persons in making their personal grooming and hygiene. The field includes closely related professional devices and methods for treating or grooming hair; which includes wig-making processes. The new invention also relates to devices on which the wearer's false hair is supported.[0004]2. Background Art[0005]U.S. application Ser. No. 13 / 185,073 was devised to provide a remedy of: “a highly undetectable, easy to acquire, good self-retention, easy to manufacture and low cost hairpiece especially those made with human hair . . . ” (Original Specification Page 2-3 Sec 009; State Of the Art line 3-5) “It also address the shortcomings of patented related prior art by providing...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]In addition U.S. application Ser. No. 13 / 185,073 Palmer-Rogers is also the only device having a time saving fixed or permanent micro hair-part with imitation scalp presentation for human hair; “It allows the predominant use of pre-made hair wefts to keep manufacturing time and cost low.” (Original Specification, Page 6-7; Advantageous Effects of the Invention item #6) “The hair part is only a small fraction of an inch wide, so narrow it requires only as little as two lines of knotted hair. Producing a natural looking hairpiece in a fraction of the time it takes to produce prior art of comparable appearance with imitation scalp” (Original Specification: Abstract Disclosure: Line 8-11) The hair part component provides a more natural looking up to date hair style than crown configuration of prior art devices for example the cyclone or spiral hair arrangement as in U.S. Patent Number 20040168696 issued to Mary J. Cox: (paragraph 49) and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,788,332 issued to Dominic C, Abbott (Abstract Disclosure: line 11) wherein hair wefts are arranged in a spiral, cyclone or radial position at the crown area. Spiraling hair wefts restricts the length and type of hair that can be used and hairstyles that can be created. Another issue with spiraling is that hair wefts are placed very closely together to hide the edges of the hair weft, thus restricting ventilation. Palmer-Rogers U.S. application Ser. No. 13 / 185,073 not only provides a more natural looking undated device but also provides better ventilation at the crown area.

[0008]Another crown configuration on prior art devices is for example the side-to-side weft arrangement as on prior art Molinario U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,867; “As shown in FIG. 1, the net 12 of the cap 10 may comprise a frontal zone 15 in which the zones 12 and 14 are situated so as to pass from side to side above the head” (Column 2: Line 16-19). The side to side weft placement creates hair styles with raised hair at the crown; hairstyles that were popular in the year 1974 when Molinario's patent was issued. Molinario's device does not provide a crown arrangement that imitate natural hair styles of this generation. Women's hairstyles for longer hair today have a sleeker look with hair part at the front that is either center or side oriented. No prior art provided a low cost remedy to produce a natural looking device of U.S. application Ser. No. 13 / 185,073 Palmer-Rogers invention.

[0009]The micro open permanent hair part of U.S. application Ser. No. 13 / 185,073 specifically reduces manufacturing time and cost particularly of devices made of natural hair that requires hand knotting process commonly called ventilation: “The more area of the base that is covered by wefts the less time consuming and costly is the manufactured hairpiece or wig. The new invention takes advantage of that fact but present a new and useful more attractive method to conceal the edge of the hair wefts at the forehead section. The new method is the micro open permanent hair part. This hair part described and illustrated uses only a fraction of an inch of knotted or implanted hair to cover the edges of the exposed wefts. Producing a natural looking device in a fraction of the time it takes to produce prior art of comparable appearance.” (Original Specification Page 5; Brief Disclosure of the Invention Sec.018: Line 8-15). It is common knowledge in the art that many human hair wigs are often completed manually by a process called knotting or ventilation because certain length and textures of human hair cannot be ventilated by machines, as a result of this limitation, human hair wigs of variable length and texture are scarce and costly. Prior art Nakamura discloses that hair strands are connected over the entire base; “a multiplicity of hairs are implanted to a convex outer surface of a wig base” (Column 2: line 46). Prior art Palumbo teaches; “individual hairs forming the hairpiece are affixed to the cross-over points of a woven foundation or base” in entirety (Column 1:line20). These prior art do not provide a time and cost saving remedy provided by U.S. application Ser. No. 13 / 185,073 Palmer-Rogers. In addition tests showed that solely resizing of prior art ventilation area to a ¼″ (6 mm) size of Palmer-Rogers micro hair-part does not work without the configuration and structure on Palmer-Rogers device in that the tensioned periphery band of soft stretchable mesh fabric and the anti-skid tabs allow the front hair wefts to be aligned snuggly against a wearer's forehead without adhesives or clips. Two vertically positioned hair wefts are used to help form a component of the fixed micro hair part and are in close proximity at a dominant forehead area. When the component of the fixed micro hair part is configured on a non-stretch or un-tensioned wig base like that of prior art Palumbo et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,359 the forehead area of the base protrudes and would require adhesives or clips as a remedy. The tests also showed that when the fixed micro hair part is on a device that is an un-reinforced stretchable base like that of Molinario U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,867, the base reclines away from the forehead and exposes a wearer's natural hair.

[0010]Despite the new remedies and advantages of the anti-skid system and the permanent or fixed micro hair-part component of Palmer-Rogers application Ser. No. 13 / 185,073, a new component of an anti-stress, nape hair section is warranted for the invention. It was discovered after the filing of the application Ser. No. 13 / 185,073 that because the anti-skid system keeps the wig base extended over the extremity a wearer's nape hair, when the wearer of the device is of short stature or has a short neck, the hair wefts at the nape of the wig has a tendency to get tangled and miss-positioned by a wearer's clothing such as collars and scarves etc. In addition tests showed that when wefts at the nape area are positioned horizontally across the neck back area, the base loses the stretch capacity in that area. An anti-stress nape component is necessitated in order to prevent stress on a wearer's head with movement of the neck back muscle, and to prevent friction on the hairs of the wearer's nape to prevent damage and hair loss in that area.

[0011]Related prior art devices have un-reinforced nape section that reclines unless held in place by adhesives or clips and normally have hair wefts positioned horizontally at the nape section of wigs. Because regular hair wefts do not have the capacity to stretch, a snuggly fitted wig with the normal horizontal positioned human hair wefts can become a source of tension and friction. Many prior art devices are directed toward users who already have hair loss much attention has not been given to protecting a wearer's own hair. In today's culture it is common practice for women to wear wigs for added length and change of style and not because of hair loss therefore it is important that their natural hair be protected from damage.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONBrief Summary of the Invention

[0012]The current patent application adds a new anti-stress nape component and modifies the placement of an elastic support element on application Ser. No. 13 / 185,073 to provide a complete and effective wig device that is made of lightweight stretchable mesh fabric with non-invasive, non adhesive, non-metal or plastic components with a ridge-less interior that fits securely and comfortably to a wearer's and having the lightweight stretchable mesh base supported by a retention system that keeps it in place without the need for any attachments; adhesives, clips, sew-on connections or abrasive hard surfaces. The device also has a fixed or permanent micro hair-part component with imitation scalp presentation.

Problems solved by technology

A flat configuration would not work for hairpieces such as those for men.

While some prior art provide a crown area with ventilation or implanted hair section that is big enough to allow a wearer to select where to part the hair, when made of human hair it is extremely costly and difficult to find in stores.

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