and method of using the same

The present invention relates to a hair applicator brash for generating streaks. Up to now substantially two methods have been known for generating streaks. In the first method, a thin elastic cap in the form of a bathing cap is put on the person's head, whose hair is to be streaked, into which cap holes are pricked with a needle in the form of a crochet hook and fine strands are pulled out towards the outside. On these strands hair colorants are applied. In a similar method, strands of the hair to be dyed are isolated by a comb, a sheet of aluminum foil is inserted below the strands, the hair colorant is applied to the strands by a brash, and subsequently the aluminum foils are folded around the strands and closed.

Both methods are very laborious and time-consuming. In a furtlier method, each strand to be dyed is treated with an applicator brash, on which the hair colorant is applied, by pulling the soaked applicator brush through the isolated strand starting from the root of the hair. In this way streaks are generated which have sharply marked edges, what gives an unnatural impression. An applicator brush according to the preamble portion of claim 1 has been known from

WO 2004/032667 Al .

The present invention has the object of improving an applicator brush according to the generic field in such a way that streaks can be generated which do not all look the same and which can have "faded", flecked shadings at their edges, in order to thus provide a more natural, sun- bleached impression and to propose a method of using the same. This object is achieved by providing an applicator brush and a method exhibiting the features of claim 1 and 14, respectively.

In the subclaims, features of preferred embodiments of the applicator brush according to the invention are identified.

The applicator brush according to the invention for generating streaks comprises a grip element having a bridge with which at least two adja- cent and spaced-apart brash heads with bristles extending substantially in the same direction are connected.

According to the invention directly adjacent brash heads have bristle arrangements which differ by the shape of the bristles and/ or the distribution of the bristles and/ or the bristle hardness.

In the following, the applicator brash according to the invention is explained in more detail with reference to the drawings, based on the description of a preferred exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the

applicator brash according to the invention;

Fig. 2a shows a topview of the applicator brash according to Fig. 1; Fig. 2b shows a section along line A-A in Fig. 2a;

Fig. 3a shows a front view of the applicator brash according to the

invention;

Figures 3b and 3c show enlarged detailed views C and D from Fig. 3a;

and

Figures 4a - 4c show the application steps of the method dying or

bleaching. As one can see from Fig. 1, the applicator brash 1 has a grip element 2, at the front end of which a bridge 5 is formed which extends transversely to the grip. This transverse bridge 5 carries three elongated brash heads 3a, 3b and 3c which are spaced apart from each other.

In a preferred embodiment, the brush heads 3a, 3b and 3c are about 4 cm long and 1 cm wide. The distance between two adj cent brash heads is approximately 0.6 cm. The long sides of the rectangular brash heads extend substantially parallel to the longitudinal extension of the grip element 2.

The brash heads are filled with bristles 4 which are arranged in three rows per brash head, respectively, which also extend in parallel to the long sides of the rectangular brush heads.

The applicator brush according to the invention is preferably injection- molded from thermoplastic material such as low density polyethylene. Advantageously the brash is made in a single piece of material.

The central brush head 3b has a central row of hard, resistive bristles 4a 1 which is surrounded by two outer rows of also hard and resistive bristles 4a2, the length of which, however, is only half the length of the bristles 4a 1 of the central row. In this case, as hard and resistive bris- ties 4a2 are shorter than bristles 4a 1, they are more resistive than resistive bristles 4al . In the shown embodiment, the outer rows of bristles on the brash head 3b have each nine hard bristles 4a2, and the central row has eight bristles 4a 1. The bristles of the outer and of the central row are uniformly offset relative to each other, as one can see best from Fig. 2a. The distance of the bristles of one row on the central brash head 3b ranges from 2 to 3 mm. The hard and resistive bristles

4a are conical with round transversal section and their free ends are rounded.

The two outer brash heads 3a and 3c also each have a central row of hard and resistive bristles 4a3, the number and arrangement of which correspond to those of the central row of bristles 4a 1 on the central brush head 3b. Their lengths, however, as one can best see from Figures 3a to 3c, are somewhat smaller than those of the bristles 4al .

The outer brush heads 3a and 3c further have two outer rows of bristles at their long sides, which consist of long soft bristles 4b. The long, soft bristles 4b are about 50% longer than are the bristles of the central row of bristles on the outer brush heads 3a and 3c. As one can see from Fig. 2a, the long, soft bristles 4b have a triangular cross-section, with one apex of the triangle facing to the lateral edge of the brush head. The hard and resistive bristles and the long, soft bristles are made of the same material, preferably low density polyethylene. They obtain their different mechanical properties only through their shapes. The long, soft bristles have significantly thinner cross-sections than have the hard and resistive bristles.

All bristles are tapering towards their free ends under an angle between 4 and 6° relative to their longitudinal axis. In the shown exemplary embodiment, however, each outer row of bristles of the outer brush heads 3a and 3c consists of 21 long, soft bristles 4b. Hence, the distances between the long, soft bristles 4b are significantly smaller than those between the hard arid resistive bristles 4a. Bristles 4b of the two outer rows are uniformly offset in a row.

Figures 4a to 4c show the steps of the method according to the present invention of generating streaks.

On the brash heads 3a, 3b and 3c of the hair applicator brash 1 accord- ing to the invention a hair bleach composition or hair dye composition having the viscosity of a cream is applied (Fig. 4a). Then, where appropriate, a large strand of about 5 cm width is manually isolated from the remaining hair, and the brash heads 3a, 3b and 3c are positioned for starting in the range of the hair roots (Fig. 4b) . Subsequently, the applicator brush 1 is pulled through the broad strand of hair down to the tips of the hair in parallel to the grip element and to the long sides of the brash heads. During this, the hair dye composition by and by separates from the brash heads and is applied to the hair (Fig. 4c).

The dense arrangement of the bristles has the effect that the hair bleach or hair dye only slowly separates from the brash heads, so that altogether a relatively small amount of hair colorant per length area of the hair is dispensed. This leads to the fact that, during a bleaching or dyeing process, the applicator brush needs not be put down in between and "refilled" with hair composition.

The central brush head which carries only hard and resistive bristles 4a 1, 4a2 generates a strand with sharply limited edges, so that a sharp contrast to the adjacent undyed natural hair ensues.

Between adjacent streaks there arise undyed hair strands of about 6 mm width due to the distance of the brash heads relative to each other. The streaks generated by the outer brash heads 3a and 3c have, due to the outer rows of long, soft bristles, "faded", flecked edges, so that a smoother color gradient towards the undyed hair is generated. One does not always have to apply hair composition, to all - in the described embodiment three - brash heads, so that different sequences of different streak contours can be generated.

If, in the above described way, the entire hair has been treated, there results an irregular distribution of streaks of different edge contours what gives a substantially more natural impression as if all streaks would have the same edges. Thus, the impression of natural, sun- bleached hair is generated. The above description of a preferred exemplary embodiment of the present invention is not to be understood in a restrictive way. E.g., the number of the brash heads, the size of the brash heads, the space between brash heads, and/ or the number of bristle rows per brush head and/ or the shape, length or hardness of the bristles can be varied without leaving the scope of protection of the attached claims.