In previously known methods of waving or imparting a curl to hair, the hair is rolled onto a roller and subjected to heat and/or to a hair treatment chemical which has the effect of retaining the waving or curling in the hair for a period of time. An improved method of imparting a curl or wave to hair is disclosed in WO 95/22920. In this latter disclosed method, a tress of hair is inserted into an elastic tube and one end of the tube is secured to the tress of hair. The elastic tube is then extended lengthwise and the opposite end thereof is secured to the tress of hair. When the elastic tube is released, the tube contracts lengthwise and the tress of hair contained therein is thereby caused to assume a sinuous form. The tress of hair is treated with a chemical substance, either prior to insertion of the tress of hair into the elastic tube or when the tress of hair is contained within the tube, whereby the tress of hair is caused to retain its sinuous form and is of waved form.

In my co-pending application PCT/GB97/01540 I have described a modification of the device disclosed in WO 95/22920. The modified device comprises a tubular element extendible lengthwise, a first element secured to a first end of said tube and a second element secured to a second end of said tube, said second end being opposite to and spaced from said first end. The first and second elements have apertures extending therethrough in communication with the interior of the tube and a body member is located between the first and second elements. The body member is of generally tubular form surrounding said tubular element and is effective to locate one of said first and second elements relative to the other of said first and second

elements while permitting manual displacement of one element away from the other element to allow lengthwise extension of the tubular element.

When a tress of hair is to be treated using the device described in my application PCT/GB97/01540 the tress of hair is inserted into the tubular element of extendible material. One end of the tubular element is located relative to the tress of hair at a first location adjacent the root end of the tress of hair. Then the tubular element is elongated lengthwise whereby a second end of the tube is moved further away from the first end of the tube and lengthwise relative to the tress of hair. The tube is then permitted to return to an unextended state while maintaining the relationship of the second end of the tube with the tress of hair to thereby cause the hair contained in the tube to be drawn in a shorter length than the natural length of the hair and hence assume a waved form. The hair contained within the tube is subjected to a chemical hair treatment substance such as a treatment lotion effective to retain the hair substantially in said waved form after removal of the device.

My co-pending application PCT/GB97/01540 referred to hereinbefore also describes a method of treating hair which includes the steps of passing a length of a tress of hair through a hollow member so that the tress of hair extends through said hollow member and a part of said length of the tress of hair extends beyond the hollow member. The hollow member is located relative to the tress of hair at a first location adjacent the root end of the tress of hair and then the part of the length of the tress of hair extending beyond the hollow member is returned into the hollow member to cause the hair within the hollow member to assume a waved condition. The hair contained within the hollow member is subjected to a chemical hair treatment substance or substances effective

to retain the hair substantially in said waved condition.

Generally the tress of hair, while contained within the tubular member or the hollow member, is treated with more than one chemical substance. For example the hair may be treated with a first substance, for example a treatment lotion, to retain the waving or curling of the hair. The hair needs to be subjected to the action of the treatment substance for a sufficient duration of time to be effective to retain the required curling or waving of the hair. However in order to prevent damage to the hair, the action of the treatment substance needs to be terminated after the required treatment time. Termination of the action of the treatment substance is effected by the application to the hair of a second substance effective to neutralise the treatment substance. Prior to application of the second substance, as much of the treatment substance is removed from the hair contained in the device as is practical by rinsing the hair while remaining contained within the device, with water. However it will be appreciated that after rinsing the hair, a significant quantity of water remains held between the hairs of the tress of hair and this remaining water will tend to dilute the second substance and thereby reduce the effectiveness of the second substance in neutralising the treatment substance. Accordingly it is desirable to remove a substantial part of the water from the hair prior to application of the neutralising substance. Furthermore because the hair in the tress of hair is relatively compact within the device the rinsing water may not reach all parts of the hair and consequently relatively high concentrations of treatment substance may remain in some parts of the tress after the rinsing.

According to a first aspect of the invention a method of treating a tress of hair includes the steps of inserting the tress of hair into a hollow member; while the tress of

hair is contained within said hollow member subjecting the tress of hair contained within the hollow member to the action of a liquid substance; and thereafter positively drawing said liquid from the tress of hair contained within the hollow member.

According to a second aspect of the invention a method of treating a tress of hair includes the steps of inserting the tress of hair into a hollow member; while the tress of hair is contained within said hollow member subjecting the tress of hair contained within the hollow member to the action of a liquid substance; and thereafter inserting an absorbent element into the hollow member into liquid absorbing contact with the tress of hair contained in the hollow member to thereby draw the liquid substance from the tress of hair into the absorbent element.

The liquid substance may be a chemical hair treatment substance or a liquid rinse comprising water to rinse a hair treatment substance out of the tress of hair.

According to a third aspect of the invention an absorbent element for drawing a liquid from a tress of hair contained within a hollow member comprises a rigid rod- like element of absorbent material.

According a fourth aspect of the invention apparatus for use in treating a tress of hair comprises the combination of a device including a tubular element extendible lengthwise and means to locate a first end of said tubular element relative to the tress of hair; a first structure secured to the first end of said tubular element; a second structure secured to a second end of said tubular element, said second end being opposite to and spaced from said first end; said first and second structures respectively having first and second apertures extending therethrough in communication with the interior of said tubular

element; a member effective to locate said second structure relative to said first structure and permitting manual displacement of said second structure away from said first structure to extend said tubular element lengthwise; said second structure including means effective to retain a desired length of the tress of hair within said tubular element during return of the tubular element toward an unextended state and an absorbent element constructed for insertion through said first or said second aperture into liquid absorbing engagement with the tress of hair contained within said tubular element.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the drawings in which:- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a hair treatment device, Figure 2 is an axial section of the device of Figure 1 and illustrating a liquid absorbent element therewith in combination with the device.

Referring to the drawings, a device for use in treatment of a tress of hair comprises a base element 50, an upper element 51 and a body element 52 of generally cylindrical form interposed between the base element and upper element. The base element has a lower flange portion 53 extending downwardly and outwardly for seating on the scalp of a person whose hair is to be treated. The base element has a cylindrical portion 54 extending into a lower end of the body element and an inwardly extending flange 55 at the lower end of the body element makes an interference engagement with the cylindrical portion 54 of the base element effective to retain the body element on the base element. The upper element 51 has an upwardly and outwardly extending flange 56 to provide a funnel like structure and a cylindrical portion 57 extending into the upper end of the body element. The cylindrical portion 57 of the upper element is a fit in the upper end of the body element such that the upper element is retained on the

body member but may be easily removed therefrom. The upper element has a wall 58 extending transversely of the upper element and a central aperture 59 in the wall 58 provides restricted communication with the interior of the body element. A tube 60 of elastic material is secured at its respective ends to the cylindrical portions 54,57.

As shown in the drawings, the ends of the tube 60 are secured to the cylindrical portions by means of resilient <BR> <BR> <BR> '0'rings 61 pressing the wall of the tube 60 into annular grooves 62 in the cylindrical portions. If desired the ends of the tube 60 may be formed with beads 63 to enhance and facilitate the securing of the tube to the cylindrical portions of the base and upper elements respectively. As shown in Figure 2, the natural unextended diameter of the tube is slightly smaller than the diameter of the cylindrical portions to which the tube is secured and hence the ends of the tube are stretched to extend onto the cylindrical portions. Also when secured to the cylindrical portions and the upper element is seated in engagement with the body element the tube is subjected to a small extension and is taut. However if desired the length of the tube in relation to the spacing of the cylindrical portions may be greater so that when the upper element is seated in engagement with the body element the tube is slack and not extended. Also the tube may be of increased diameter as compared with that shown in Figure 2. The base member 50 includes a generally'U'shaped wall 64 extending upwardly away from the flange 53. A hair securing member 65 is hinged to the base element to permit the hair securing member to be moved away from the wall 64 to an open position to permit a tress of hair to be passed through the base element and to be moved to a closed hair securing position, as shown in Figure 2, in which the hair securing member 65 is located adjacent the wall 64 to secure the base element to the tress of hair adjacent the root of the tress of hair.

When a hair dresser is to treat a person's hair utilising the device illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the hair dresser first separates a tress of hair from the remainder of the hair and draws the tress of hair 70 into the device through the base element and out through the aperture in the upper element. The device then is seated with the flange 53 of the base element adjacent the scalp 71 of the person. The hair securing member is then moved into the closed position to grip the root of the tress of hair adjacent the scalp and this serves to retain the device located against the scalp. The upper element 51 is then lifted away from the body element 52 thereby stretching and extending the elastic tube lengthwise. The extension of the elastic tube may be of such an extent that the extended elastic tube encloses the entire length of the tress of hair or the extension may be of lesser extent such that only a part of the length of the tress of hair is enclosed within the extended elastic tube. Upon release of the upper structure, the elastic tube contracts and draws the tress of hair into the device, as shown in Figure 2, the upper element being drawn back into engagement with the body element. The wall 58 of the upper member tends to retain the tress of hair within the tube and restrain the hair from moving out of the device whereby the length of the tress of hair enclosed by the stretched elastic tube remains enclosed by the elastic tube when the tube returns to its contracted state with the upper element seated in engagement with the body element as shown in Figure 2. The contraction of the elastic tube, and hence of the tress of hair enclosed therein, causes the tress of hair to assume a sinuous waved form. This waved form may be set into the tress of hair by the application of a chemical hair treatment substance to the hair. This substance may be applied to the hair of the person prior to separation into tresses and insertion of the tresses of hair into devices as hereinbefore described or the substance may be applied

after the tresses of hair have been enclosed in the hair treatment devices, one for each tress respectively. In the latter method of applying the hair treatment substance, the substance in liquid, fluid or gaseous state is entered via the aperture of the upper element, the upper element being used as funnel, into the interior of the elastic tube whereby the substance is brought into treatment contact with the hair. The treatment substance applied may be at ambient temperature or may be heated prior to or during application thereof to the tress of hair. If desired the base element may include means to seal against the root end of the tress of hair to prevent egress of the hair treatment substance through the aperture in the base element.

Generally it is required that the hair in the tress be subjected to the action of the hair treatment substance for a predetermined period of time of sufficient duration to ensure that the treatment substance is effective to cause the hair to retain the waving or curling form thereof in which it is contained in the device. After elapse of the predetermined time period it is required that the action of the treatment substance be terminated.

This is accomplished by applying a neutralising substance to the tress of hair. In order to ensure that the neutralising substance is effective, the tress of hair, while contained in the device, is rinsed with water to remove as much as is practical of the treatment substance from the tress of hair. After draining the rinsing water out of the device, a significant quantity of water is retained between the hairs of the tress of hair. As a result, when the neutralising substance is applied, the neutralising substance is diluted by the retained rinsing water. Therefore in accordance with the present invention, the method of treating a tress of hair includes the step, after rinsing the hair with water and prior to the application of the neutralising substance, of

inserting an absorbent element 72 into the device to make intimate contact with the tress of hair and thereby positively draw the retained water from the tress of hair.

Conveniently the absorbent element is of rod-like form of a diameter such as to allow it to be easily entered through the aperture 59 in the upper element 51 into water absorbing contact with the tress of hair 70.

The absorbent rod-like element 72 may be formed of paper or other fibrous material capable of absorbing water. It will be appreciated that the rod-like element is required to be sufficiently rigid to allow easy insertion of the rod through the aperture 59 and to allow the element to be pushed with some force into water absorbing contact with the tress of hair. Also it is required that the element does not disintegrate when water has been absorbed thereby. The absorbent material when formed into the rod- like element may provide sufficient rigidity to the rod- like element or if desired the rod-like element may be provided with means, such as one or more reinforcing elements, to provide rigidity to the rod-like element.

Also if desired the absorbent material of the rod may be enclosed in a mesh or layer 74 of porous material effective to prevent disintegration of the element and which in addition provides additional rigidity to the rod- like element.

It will be appreciated that the hair of the tress of hair is in a compact form when contained within the hair treatment device. As a result, the rinsing water may not percolate fully through the hair and a significant amount of hair treatment substance may not be removed by the rinsing operation and will continue to be retained between the hairs of the tress. The retained hair treatment substance will continue to act on the hair to the detriment of the hair. The hair dresser would normally assume that the rinsing has removed all of the hair

treatment substance and hence is unlikely to be aware that some of the substance has been retained. The absorbent rod-like element may carry a reagent which reacts with the hair treatment substance to provide an indication when there is a significant presence of hair treatment substance in the water absorbed from the hair and thereby alert the hair dresser to the need for further rinsing of the hair.

If desired an absorbent rod-like element may be utilised to draw the hair treatment substance from the hair into the element so as to reduce the amount of hair treatment substance to be removed by rinsing with water.

The absorbent rod-like element may also be used in conjunction with an alternative form of hair treatment device in which the elastic tube is dispensed with and the tress of hair, after pulling through the device as hereinbefore described, is pushed manually back into the device where the hair is retained within the generally cylindrical body element.

Hereinbefore the absorbent element has been described as being of rod-like form. This is a convenient form for the absorbent element, however the absorbent element may be of other forms or shapes. The essential requirement of the absorbent element is that it has form such that at least a part of the absorbent element may be located relative to the hair contained in the hair treatment device such as to draw the water or treatment substance from the hair.

Accordingly, while that part of the absorbent element is of a form and size to permit this requirement to be met other parts of the absorbent element may be of any desired form and may for example be shaped for convenience of manually holding and using the element.

As an alternative or in addition to use of the absorbent

element liquid, for example the hair treatment substance and the water used for rinsing the hair, may be positively drawn from the hair contained within the hair treatment device by the use of a suction device using a reduced air pressure to create an flow of air to draw the liquid from the hair.

As described hereinbefore, the liquid is drawn from the hair through the aperture 59 in the upper member 51.

However, if the tube 60 is provided with apertures or is porous, at least some of the liquid may be positively drawn from the hair through the wall of the tube 60 either by use of an absorbent element or by a suction device using a reduced air pressure to create an air flow or by use of a combination of the absorbent element and suction device.

The terms wave and waving used in the specification and claims are not to be taken as limiting the invention. These terms are to be understood as relating to any form imparted to the hair and include for example forms commonly referred to as waved or curled.