The present invention concerns curlers used for hair curling and in particular refers to a curler for differentiated hair waving.

It is known that to obtain different types of hairstyles curlers are used which are formed by small cylinders of various sizes and materials, possibly flexible, around which hair locks are wound to achieve the curling thereof. The main drawback of the curlers of known type is that they can produce substantially constant waves only, since each lock is wound, for its whole length, on a constant curvature surface. Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a curler which gives a differentiated waving to a lock along the length thereof according to the way in which a coiffeur has wound the lock on the proper curler surfaces.

This object is achieved by means of a curler formed by a shaped body including two concave annular surfaces which intersect in two points belonging to a same symmetry axis of the body.

The curler according to the present invention is provided with some internal ducts which cross the body thereof and are immediately accessible by the coiffeur. Thanks to this feature, this curler, in addition to modelling at will a lock, has the advantage of allowing an extremely effective application of liquid or foamy products of various kinds which easily reach even the most internally wound lock coils.

These and other advantages of the curler according to the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof with reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

Fig.1 is a top view of a curler according to the present invention;

Fig.2 is a side view of the same curler along arrow A of fig.1 ; and

Fig.3 is a side view of the same curler along arrow B of fig.1.

Referring to fig.1 , there is seen that this curler is formed by a single body shaped so as to have two concave annular surfaces 1 , 2 which perpendicularly intersect, in particular at two points 3, 3\' which result superimposed and coinciding with the central point 10 of the figure in the drawing. Each side edge of annular surface 1 is connected to the adjacent

side edge of annular surface 2 through a surface 4a belonging to a massive part or lobe 4 of the structure. Therefore, the structure itself includes four lobes of this kind, as shown in fig.1.

The curler body is provided with through holes or ducts, both in the direction of axes A1 and A2 of annular surfaces 1 and 2, and in the oblique direction with respect to said axes. In particular, the structure is crossed by two diagonal ducts 5, 5\' each having its mouths on two opposite lobes 4, while two mutually perpendicular ducts 6, 6\' put in communication two opposite points belonging to concave annular surfaces 1 and 2, respectively. Finally, a last duct 7 extends between the above-mentioned points 3 and 3\', perpendicularly to the plane defined by axes A1 , A2. It should be noted that all the above-illustrated ducts intersect and therefore are in communication at the center of the structure. Referring to fig.2, there can be better appreciated the shape of curler lobes 4, whereon the mouths of ducts 5, 5\' are visible, level with the plane defined by axes A1 and A2, while at the same level the mouth of duct 6 is visible on concave annular surface 1. Moreover, in fig.2 points 3, 3\' of the structure are clearly visible, where there is the perpendicular intersection of the two circumferences of smaller radius of each concave annular surface. The first of said circumferences coincides, in this view, with axis A3, while the second one is shown in broken lines with reference numeral 8.

Referring to fig.3, there is completely clear the shape of lobes 4 whereon the mouths of ducts 5, 5\' are visible while the mouth of duct 6\' is visible on concave annular surface 2. Obviously, in this case too, points 3, 3\' are visible wherein there is the perpendicular intersection of the circumferences of smaller radius of each concave annular surface, the first of which, corresponding to circumference 8 of fig.2, coincides with axis A3 in this view, while the second one is shown in broken lines with reference numeral 9.

The above-described curler allows the coiffeur to wind a hair lock along different paths including portions of the two concave annular surfaces and portion of connections wherein the lock is partially wound on

a lobe 4 and in particular on surface 4a thereof. Thus, it may be easily understood that a lock may be fashioned with the most varied wave sequence to achieve a hairstyle beyond the capacity of the curlers of known type. When the winding of the lock on this curler has been completed, ducts 5, 5\' will be accessible anyway, in the mouths thereof being possible to inject liquid or foamy products for hair treatment which, thanks to ducts 6, 6\' and 7, reach the most internally wound lock coils making the application of the product much more homogeneous and therefore effective compared to the simple external application.

It should be noted that for the sake of functionality of the curler according to the present invention only concave annular surfaces 1 , 2 are indispensable, whereas the shape of lobes 4 may be of any kind suitable to facilitate the use of the curler and in particular to make ducts 5, 5\' accessible.

The connecting surfaces 4a may be differently curved and part of the aesthetic result coming from the use of the curler clearly depends therefrom. Moreover, it is obvious that a different number of internal ducts, even differently arranged, may be formed within the curler body. In order to further increase the variety of achievable aesthetic effects, the curler according to the present invention may be made with different symmetries with respect to one or more of axes A1 , A2, and A3, so as to obtain, for one or both of concave annular surfaces 1 and 2, an elliptical rather than circular development. It is also obvious that the diagonals defined by ducts 5, 5\' may be not mutually perpendicular too, and said surfaces 1 , 2 may have different width.

Furthermore, it is clear that the curler according to the present invention, preferably manufactured by injection molding of plastic material, may be made in any material and size suitable for the purpose. It may be considered, for example, to use porous or anyway permeable materials, to facilitate the absorption of the liquids as well as the drying of the lock wound on the curler. In addition, in order to assist the fixing of the curler (usually achieved by means of proper clips), the use of materials

characterized by mild magnetism may be possibly provided, so that each curler spontaneously adheres to one or more adjacent curlers.

Therefore, these and other changes may be made by those skilled in the art to the above-described curler without exceeding the scope of the invention.