GB2370264A

GB2370264A - Hair dye applicator

Info

Publication number: GB2370264A
Application number: GB0031488A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dawn Yvonne Lloyd-Davy
Original assignee: LLOYD DAVY DAWN YVONNE
Current assignee: LLOYD DAVY DAWN YVONNE
Priority date: 2000-12-22
Filing date: 2000-12-22
Publication date: 2002-06-26
Also published as: GB0031488D0

Abstract

A hair dye applicator (10) for applying hair dye selectively to the roots of a dyed head of hair has a first compartment (12) and a second compartment (13) separated by a frangible seal (14), the first compartment being for containing an activator and the second compartment being for containing a colouring agent corresponding to the colour of the dyed hair. The frangible seal (14) may be broken and the activator and colouring agent mixed to dye un-dyed roots of the hair using a brush incorporated in the applicator, the brush comprising bristles (18) with an underlying felt stopper. An axial spike (30) may be provided for breaking the seal (14) and a ball bearing (22) may facilitate mixing.

Description

HAIR DYE APPLICATOR

This invention relates to a hair dye applicator.

When hair is dyed or otherwise coloured, it is necessary to repeat the colouring, dyeing or tinting process every 4 to 6 weeks to maintain the dyed colour as the hair grows or as the colour is otherwise lost. However, along any hair parting or hair line, the roots of the natural colour of the hair begin to show within only two to three weeks. It is not economic to re-colour all the hair every two weeks to avoid the portion of the hair closest to the scalp from showing a different colour.

When dyeing hair, the hair is normally tinted by a mixture of hydrogen peroxide or other activator, and a tint. These chemicals have a shelf life, if kept separate and airtight, of up to four years. However, once they are mixed and activated for application to the hair they have a useful life of only some 40 minutes.

It is an object of this invention to ameliorate this problem.

According to the present invention there is provided a hair dye applicator for applying hair dye selectively to bases of hair of a user, the applicator comprising: a first compartment for containing an activator; a second compartment for containing a hair colouring preparation, the second compartment being separated from the first compartment by a frangible seal; seal breaking means for breaking the frangible seal; and brush means in fluid communication with a mixing chamber formed from the first compartment and second compartment by breaking the frangible seal therebetween; whereby, in use, the seal breaking means may be actuated to break the frangible seal to form the mixing chamber, the contents of the first compartment may be mixed with the contents of the second compartment in the mixing chamber to form mixed

contents and the mixed contents may be applied selectively by the brush means to the bases of the hair of the user.

Conveniently, the seal breaking means comprises pressure creating means to differentially increase pressure in the first compartment with respect to pressure in the second compartment sufficient to break the frangible seal.

Alternatively, the seal breaking means comprises piercing means manually operable to pierce the frangible seal.

Conveniently, a hair dye applicator further comprises mixing means for mixing contents of the first compartment with contents of the second compartment in the mixing chamber.

Advantageously, the mixing means is a member having a density greater than the density of the mixed contents and being freely moveable within the mixing chamber for mixing the contents of the first compartment with the contents of the second compartment when the applicator is shaken by a user.

Conveniently, the applicator is further provided with a sealing cap for attachment to the first compartment for enclosing at least a portion of the brush means to prevent the loss of material from the applicator before use.

Advantageously, the brush means incorporate a felt pad disposed between, and in fluid communication with, bristles of the brush means and the first compartment, such that at least some of the mixed contents are absorbed by the felt pad to wet evenly a base of the bristles.

Preferably, the second compartment at an opposite end of the second compartment from the first compartment is closable by a screw cap having a first position for closing the second compartment and a second position for breaking the breakable seal.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for applying hair dye selectively to the bases of hair comprising the steps of a) providing an applicator comprising brush means in fluid communication with a first compartment of a two-compartment container said first compartment containing an activator, and a second compartment of said two-compartment container for containing a colouring agent, the first compartment being separated from the second compartment by a frangible seal; b) loading the second compartment with the colouring agent; c) breaking the frangible seal between the first compartment and the second compartment; d) mixing the activator of the first compartment with the colouring agent of the second compartment to form an activated colouring agent; and e) using the brush means to apply the activated colouring agent to the base of the hair to dye the base of the hair.

A specific embodiment of the invention will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: FIG. 1 shows a vertical schematical cross-section of an applicator according to the present invention.

Referring to the drawing, the applicator 10 includes a hollow cylindrical tube 11 containing a first compartment 12 for hydrogen peroxide or other activator and a second compartment 13 for a tint or colouring preparation. As shown in FIG. 1, the first compartment 12 and second compartment 13 are cylindrical compartments each filling substantially one half of the length of the bore of the cylindrical tube 11. The two compartments are separated by a breakable seal 14. A first end 15 of the cylindrical tube 11 is closed by a screw cap 151 having an external screw thread for engaging an internal screw thread of the first end 15. As shown by broken lines in FIG. 1, the end screw cap 151 may be provided with, for example, an axial spike 30 bearing on the frangible seal 14 to pierce or otherwise break the frangible seal as the screw cap is moved

inwards of the applicator. Alternatively, as shown by the dotted lines in FIG. 1, the spike may, for example, pass through a central bore in the end cap 151 to form a plunger 31 which can be moved independently of the end cap 151 to pierce or otherwise break the frangible seal 14. A second end 16 of the cylindrical tube 11, opposed to the first end 15 containing the screw cap 151, is formed into a constriction in the form of a truncated cone, having a central aperture 161 closed by a felt pad 17 in fluid communication with a base of bristles 18 which protrude from the constricted second end 16. The second compartment 12 contains a ball bearing 22, or similar heavy object for a purpose to be described. Prior to use, the bristles 18 are sealed within a sealing cap 19 which is sealed by a seal 20 to the end 16 of the cylindrical tube 11.

Alternatively, the sealing cap 19 may be provided with an internal thread for engaging an external thread on the second end 16.

The second compartment 12 is at least partially filled during manufacture with hydrogen peroxide or other activator and the cap 19 is sealed by the seal 20 to the constricted second end 16 of the cylindrical tube 11. When a hairdresser, for example, is colouring a client's hair, the cap 151 is removed from the first end 15 of the cylindrical tube 11 and the first compartment 13 is filled with the same colour tint as is used for colouring the hair. The cap is then replaced sufficiently to seal the first end 15 but is left protruding from the cylindrical tube 11.

Two to three weeks after the hair has been dyed, when the roots begin show, the client breaks the seal 20 joining the sealing cap 19 to the second end 16 and removes the sealing cap 19 and then screws the cap 151 further into the first end 15 to force the tint in the container against the breakable seal 14 forcing air out of the container 12 through the felt stopper 17 and bristles 18 so that the breakable seal 14 breaks and the hydrogen peroxide or other activator in the second compartment 12 mixes with the tint in the first compartment 13. The cylindrical tube 11 is shaken so that the ball bearing 22 moves up and down between the first and second compartments 13 and 12, thoroughly mixing the

hydrogen peroxide or other activator with the tint. The cap 19 may be replaced while the tube is shaken to prevent splashing of the mixture from the bristles 18. By inverting the cylindrical tube 11, so that the cap 151 is uppermost, the mixture of hydrogen peroxide and tint soaks into the felt stopper 17 and wets the bristles 18. The felt stopper provides an even flow of mixture to the bristles.

The applicator can then be used to work the mixture on the bristles into the roots of the hair, particularly along the hair line, and any hair parting, to colour roots of the hair showing a different colour from the rest of the coloured hair. Bristles are used because the mixture of tint and hydrogen peroxide or other activator is preferably worked into the follicles and inside the hair by agitating the root, otherwise, no depth of colour is obtained on the hair and only the outside of the hair is coated.

Since the mixture of peroxide and tint only has a useful life time of 40 minutes, the applicator is usually disposed of after a single use.

Although a particular form of dual container having a breakable seal 14 between the two containers 12 and 13 has been described, any known dual container applicator having a breakable seal may be used. For example, the seal may be broken by a axial spike 30 fixed to an inside surface of the screw cap 151 or by a plunger 31 passing through an axial bore in the screw cap 151. Alternatively, a form of plunger may be used rather than the screw cap 151, to break the seal and force the mixture through the felt pad onto the bristles.

Alternatively, any suitable known dual compartment container, having a brush suitable for applying dye selectively to the roots of the hair, but not necessarily including a breakable seal, but capable of keeping the activator and colouring preparation separate during storage and of mixing the activator and colouring preparation before use, may be employed.

In alternative embodiments, a spray jet or pump may be provided to transfer the mixture from the compartments 12,13 onto a base of the felt stopper 17.

Claims

1. A hair dye applicator for applying hair dye selectively to bases of hairs of a head, the applicator comprising: a first compartment for containing an activator; a second compartment for containing a hair colouring preparation, the second compartment being separated from the first compartment by a frangible seal; seal breaking means for breaking the frangible seal; and brush means in fluid communication with a mixing chamber formed from the first compartment and second compartment by breaking the frangible seal therebetween; whereby, in use, the seal breaking means may be actuated to break the frangible seal to form the mixing chamber, the contents of the first compartment may be mixed with the contents of the second compartment in the mixing chamber to form mixed contents and the mixed contents may be applied selectively by the brush means to the bases of the hairs of the head.

2. A hair dye applicator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seal breaking means comprises pressure changing means differentially to change pressure in the first compartment with respect to pressure in the second compartment sufficient to break the frangible seal.

3. A hair dye applicator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seal breaking means comprises piercing means manually operable to pierce the frangible seal.

4. A hair dye applicator as claimed in any of the preceding claims, further comprising mixing means for mixing contents of the first compartment with contents of the second compartment in the mixing chamber.

5. A hair dye applicator as claimed in claim 4, wherein the mixing means is a member having a density greater than the density of the mixed contents and being freely moveable within the mixing chamber for mixing the contents of the first compartment with the contents of the second compartment when the applicator is shaken by a user.

6. A hair dye applicator as claimed in any of the preceding claims, further provided with a sealing cap for enclosing at least a portion of the brush means substantially to prevent leakage of liquid from the applicator when not in use.

7. A hair dye applicator as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the brush means incorporate a felt pad disposed between, and in fluid communication with, bristles of the brush means and the mixing chamber, such that at least some of the mixed contents are absorbed by the felt pad to wet evenly bases of the bristles.

8. A hair dye applicator as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the second compartment, at an opposite end of the applicator from the brush means, is closable by a screw cap having a first position for closing the second compartment and a second position for breaking the frangible seal with the seal breaking means.

9. A hair dye applicator as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the applicator has a substantially cylindrical bore with a longitudinal axis, the frangible seal being a partition transverse to the longitudinal axis to divide the cylindrical bore into the first compartment and the second compartment and the brush means closing one end of the cylindrical bore, the brush means having bristles substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis.

10. A method for applying hair dye selectively to the bases of hairs comprising the steps of : a) providing an applicator comprising brush means in fluid communication with a mixing chamber formed from a first compartment and a second compartment of a two-compartment container said first compartment containing an activator, and said second compartment for containing a colouring agent, the first compartment being separated from the second compartment by a frangible seal;

b) loading the second compartment with the colouring agent ; c) breaking the frangible seal between the first compartment and the second compartment; d) mixing the activator of the first compartment with the colouring agent of the second compartment in the mixing chamber to form an activated colouring agent; and e) using the brush means to apply the activated colouring agent to the bases of the hairs to dye the bases of the hairs.

11. A hair dye applicator substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

12. A method substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been Hied as follows

1. A hair dye applicator for applying hair dye selectively to bases of hairs of a head, the applicator comprising: a first compartment for containing an activator; a second compartment integral with the first compartment for containing a hair colouring preparation, the second compartment being separated from the first compartment by a frangible seal; seal breaking means for breaking the frangible seal; and brush means located at a first end of the applicator in fluid communication with a mixing chamber formed from the first compartment and second compartment by breaking the frangible seal therebetween; whereby, in use, the seal breaking means may be actuated from a second end of the applicator opposed to the first end to break the frangible seal to form the mixing chamber, the contents of the first compartment may be mixed with the contents of the second compartment in the mixing chamber to form mixed contents and the mixed contents may be applied selectively by the brush means to the bases of the hairs of the head.

2. A hair dye applicator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seal breaking means comprises pressure changing means differentially to change pressure in a first liquid in the first compartment with respect to pressure in a second liquid in the second compartment sufficient to break the frangible seal.

10. A method for applying hair dye selectively to the bases of hairs comprising the steps of : a) providing an applicator comprising brush means located at a first end of the applicator in fluid communication with a mixing chamber formed from a first compartment and a second compartment integral with the first compartment of a two-compartment container said first compartment containing an activator, and said second compartment for containing a colouring agent, the first compartment being separated from the second compartment by a frangible seal; b) loading the second compartment with the colouring agent;

c) breaking the frangible seal between the first compartment and the second compartment by activation of seal breaking means from a second end of the applicator opposed to the first end; d) mixing the activator of the first compartment with the colouring agent of the second compartment in the mixing chamber to form an activated colouring agent; and e) using the brush means to apply the activated colouring agent to the bases of the hairs to dye the bases of the hairs.