Flexible Multi-Length Bristle Brush for Wet Hair Detangling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hairbrushes and combs with stiff bristles fail to effectively untangle wet hair, often leading to knots and hair breakage, and they complicate the application of hair treatment materials like colorants.
Innovation Solution
A hair care device with flexible, alternating short and long plastic bristles, designed to conform to the head's shape, which allows for gentle detangling and even distribution of treatment materials, featuring a concave body and tapered bristles for enhanced flexibility and resilience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Force
If stiff bristles or teeth are used in hairbrushes or combs, then the device can penetrate through hair to provide mechanical action, but it causes knots and hair breakage especially in wet hair
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the bristles by using flexible materials instead of stiff ones, and by varying the bristle lengths to create a gradient structure. This allows the brush to gently work through hair tangles without causing breakage, while still providing sufficient mechanical action to effectively detangle and apply treatment materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by creating zones of different bristle lengths within the brush head. Longer bristles reach deeper into hair tangles while shorter bristles work on surface-level knots, providing differentiated mechanical action in different regions of the brush to address various types of tangling simultaneously.
2Ease of operation
If conventional hairbrushes are used on wet hair, then mechanical detangling action is applied, but the hair becomes more tangled and requires cutting
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the flexibility parameter of the bristles to be specifically suited for wet hair conditions. The flexible bristles can bend and conform to wet hair strands without snapping or causing breakage, while still providing enough mechanical action to gradually work through tangles.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the brush into bristles of multiple lengths, allowing different portions of the brush to handle different stages of detangling. Longer bristles address severe tangles while shorter bristles handle lighter knots, creating a progressive detangling action that preserves hair integrity.
3Ease of manufacture
If uniform length bristles are used, then the brush structure is simple to manufacture, but it cannot effectively conform to the shape of the head or provide varied mechanical action
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different bristle lengths to different regions of the brush head. This creates zones with specialized functions - longer bristles for deep penetration and shorter bristles for surface work - while still maintaining a relatively simple overall brush structure that is feasible to manufacture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Effectively untangles wet hair without breakage and ensures uniform application of hair treatments, reducing the risk of re-tangles and ensuring complete coverage within the manufacturer's time frame.
Implementation Method 1
The plastics material chosen for the bristles must be such that the bristles are resilient and after flexing in use return to their (unflexed) rest position
Data Source
AI summary
A hair care device for use in untangling hair includes a body portion and a plurality of substantially parallel flexible bristles made of soft plastics material and projecting from the body portion. The bristles are arranged such that over at least a part of the area of bristles, some of the bristles are of shorter length. The bristles and the shorter length bristles are interspersed over the at least part of the area of bristles.