Hair brushing device

Abstract

A hair brushing device comprises a housing and a brush, the brush body is formed from a rigid plastics material and is capable of being mounted, in a least two different positions, to allow variation in the functionality of a device of the type of the invention.

Claims

1. A hair brushing device comprising: a housing having an internal space therein; and a brush face comprising a first plurality of bristles extending from a first brush surface and a second plurality of bristles extending from a second brush surface; wherein the first plurality of bristles or the second plurality of bristles has multiple lengths of bristles: wherein, the brush face is releasably mounted to the housing; wherein, when the brush face is mounted upon the housing, the first plurality of bristles are received within the internal space of the housing and the brush face is reversible on the housing to allowthe second plurality of bristles to face outwards from the housing; wherein the brush face is configured to be reversible by completely removing the face from the housing and rotating the brush face so that the surface with the first plurality of bristles within the internal space then faces outwards from the housing; wherein the housing in a plane parallel to the first surface of a mounted brush face has a length greater or width greater than a greatest depth of the housing perpendicular to the first surface; wherein a mechanism for securing the brush face into a body portion of the housing is provided, wherein the mechanism comprises at least one protrusion on an outer perimeter of the brush face which can be received into corresponding depressions on an internal edge of the body portion; wherein a tab is located on at least one edge of the brush face with the tab extended beyond the outer perimeter of the brush face so that, when attached to the housing, the tab overhangs the housing; and wherein the multiple lengths comprise one or more rows of mid-length bristles, one or more rows of relatively short bristles compared to the mid-length bristles, and one and one or more rows of relatively long bristles compared to the mid-length bristles.

2. The hair brush device according to claim 1, in which said first brush surface comprises multiple lengths of bristles extending therefrom.

3. The hair brush device according to claim 1, wherein a recess is provided in the housing adjacent to the tab.

4. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein the brush lacks a handle extending from the housing.

5. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein the housing is symmetrically indented.

6. The hair brush of claim 5, wherein the indentations are symmetrical in the plane parallel to the first surface.

7. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein the housing covers the brush face not facing outwards.

8. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein the brush face received within the internal space is covered by the housing.

9. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein the internal space is an enclosed space.

10. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein the brush lacks a handle.

11. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein starting with the first brush surface facing outwards from a first side of the housing, when the brush face is reversed the second brush surface faces outward from the first side of the housing.

12. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein the housing in the plane parallel to the first surface of the mounted brush face has the length greater and the width greater than the greatest depth of the housing perpendicular to the first surface.

13. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein said rotating comprises rotation of the brush face 180 degrees along an axis parallel to the plane parallel to the first surface.

14. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein the brush face is planar.

Description

(1) An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, by way of example only.

(2) FIG. 1a is a perspective view of the first brush face.

(3) FIG. 1b is a perspective side of the second brush face.

(4) FIG. 2 is a side view of the first brush face.

(5) FIG. 3 is a plan view of the brush body.

(6) FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the device.

(7) In an embodiment of the present invention there is provided a body portion (10) comprising 2 individual pieces; an upper region (10a) and a separate lower portion (10c) which holds the reversible brush face (11).

(8) The brush body (10) is composed of a rigid plastics material such as polycarbonate ABS plastics.

(9) As shown in the plan view in FIG. 3 the brush body (10) is substantially symmetrical and figure of eight shaped so as to fit the palm of the users hand in an ambidextrous manner. This removes the need to provide a mirror image brush for left handed users, thus cutting down the manufacturing costs.

(10) The upper pal of the brush body (10a) has a distinct region (10b) which provides a textured surface such that the user can attain a better grip on the device when in use to obviate the problems identified with the prior art. This textured surface may be provided by during the moulding process.

(11) The reversible brush face (11) has on its first face a plurality of bristles (12) which are provided in at least three distinct lengths; long (12a), mid-length (12b) and short (12c) where the length measurements are 15 mm, 9 mm and 6 mm respectively, as seen in FIG. 2.

(12) The bristles (12) are arranged such that a row of short bristles (12c) is followed by a row of mid-length bristles (12b), followed by a row of long bristles (12a) and this pattern is repeated across the brush face.

(13) Each row of bristles (12) is substantially parallel to the one preceding it.

(14) The long bristles (12a) engage the lower layers of the hair, the mid length bristles (12b) engage the middle and upper sections of the hair and the short bristles (12c) engage the upper layer of the hair to carry out a smoothing function. As such the three lengths of bristles (12) allow the hair to be detangled without the need to section the hair first as was traditionally required, particularly to detangle the underneath of the hair.

(15) Additionally as shown in FIG. 1b, the reversible brush face (11) has a second brush face on which a plurality of bristles (14) are provided where said bristles have a substantially spherical portion at their external tip. The ball-tipped bristles (14) are provided in at least one uniform length.

(16) The alternate bristles (14) are designed to carry out a finishing function for use when the detangling action is not required. The ball-tipped bristles (14) are particularly well suited to making straight hair styles sleek and smoothing fly aways as well as maintaining curled hair styles over extended periods of time. The ball-tipped bristles (14) additionally provide a scalp massaging action which can stimulate natural oil production and strengthen roots which may promote healthier hair.

(17) The alternate bristles (14) are composed of polypropylene.

(18) The bristles (14) on the second brush face are arranged in substantially parallel rows where there is a space of around 10 mm between each of the bristles (14) in each of said rows.

(19) On both brush faces, each substantially parallel row is offset from the preceding row such that each bristle lies in a position between 2 bristles from the preceding row.

(20) Both sets of bristles (12)(14) are composed of a substantially flexible plastics material, for example polypropylene such that the bristles will flex on encountering tangles in a manner which mimics the action of natural bristles (e.g. boar bristles), as these are known to be gentler and to minimise damage to the hair on brushing.

(21) As shown in the exploded view in FIG. 4, the reversible brush face (11) is non-permanently affixed to the body portion (10) by projections (16a) around the external perimeter of the brush face (11) which are inserted into corresponding depressions (16b) around the internal perimeter of the lower portion of the brush body (10c).

(22) The reversible brush face (11) can be removed from the body portion (10) by a tab (13) which overhangs the body portion by 2.5 mm such that the user can easily remove the brush face from the brush body (10) as shown in FIG. 3. The overhanging tab (13) fits into a corresponding depression (15) in the lower portion of the brush body (10c).

(23) When the brush face (11) is inserted into the brush body (10) and the tab (13) lies within its corresponding depression (15) there remains a recess behind the tab in order that the user may easily grip the tab (13) to further facilitate the removal of the reversible brush face (11) from the brush body (10).

(24) It is to be understood that the invention is in no way limited to the details of the above embodiment which are provided by way of example only.