FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a method and system for the application of hair treatment media whereby either, in the case of the application of hair colouring media, substantially similar results can be achieved on the same head of hair during subsequent treatments as were achieved consequent on a particular treatment that the relevant client desires be repeated, or the application of other hair treatment media, in particular, but not exclusively, to new growth hair is facilitated, irrespective of the identity of the hairdresser performing the treatment.

In this specification, for convenience, the term hairdresser will be used to mean any person engaged in the activity of applying hair treatment media to a client's hair irrespective of the qualifications of the person with a view to varying the colour of the hair or its physical condition, in particular, but not exclusively, its straightness or otherwise. The application of colour is to be understood as including the technique of selecting, by a process generally referred to in the trade as weaving, clusters of hair to be treated so that bleaching or colouring can be carried out on those clusters of hair separately from the residual hair. The term foiling is to be understood as meaning the treatment of selected clusters or segments of hair with a hair treatment medium on a foil (typically an aluminium foil but also possibly a suitable plastics foil) that is then folded to retain the selected clusters or segments of hair within the folded foil whilst the hair is acted upon by the hair treatment medium.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION The application of colour to the hair on a person's head has long presented challenges to hairdressers, particularly in instances in which a client would like to have a particularly successful or desired application of colour repeated so as to provide a substantially consistent appearance over a period of time.

Apart from this, the application of colour to hair has often been a protracted activity taking considerable time and, as a result, regarded by many, as being a necessity to be undergone as seldom as possible. A client of a hairdresser often does not return for a repeat of the application of colour at the most appropriate time, that is regarded by many as being about every two months, simply because of the protracted nature of the activity.

As a further difficulty in this field, the application of colour is generally carried out by a hairdresser very much in the manner of an artistic work involving the placing of foils at positions selected intuitively and very often in an ad hoc manner. This type of operation is difficult, if not almost impossible, to repeat with any degree of accuracy irrespective of the notes that the hairdresser may make concerning the way in which the foils, for example, were arranged.

Consequent on this aspect of the existing practice, it is substantially impossible for any hairdresser, other than the particular hairdresser concerned, to achieve a reasonably accurate repeat of a particular application of colour.

The result is that a client is often placed in a position that a risk must be taken by allowing another hairdresser to carry out an application of colour in the event that, for whatever reason, the original hairdresser is not available.

This regularly happens when that hairdresser is away; the client or the hairdresser moves to a different locality ; or, even more frequently, when the

client is traveling away from the locality where the original hairdresser is located.

Other difficulties that confront a hairdresser as regards the application of hair treatment media to a client's hair often result from the fact that a new growth section of hair has developed near the scalp and the use of existing generally intuitive and ad hoc techniques does not enable a hairdresser to treat only the new growth hair with any degree of accuracy. This is of considerable importance in the case of the application of relaxing media to curly or frizzy hair in order to straighten. In such cases it can be deleterious if hair that has already been treated previously is subject to re-treatment. Re-treated hair may become brittle and simply break.

Similar difficulties can apply to the colouring of new growth hair in that re- treated hair may become too dark in colour and re-treated bleached hair may also become brittle and break.

There is thus a need for a method and system for the application of hair treatment media whereby substantially similar results can be achieved in certain cases for only new growth hair and re-treatment in other cases, independently of the identity of the particular hairdresser concerned provided that certain basic ground rules are applied.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is, accordingly, an object of this invention to provide a method and system for the application of hair treatment media that alleviates, at least to some extent, the difficulties outlined above. It is another object of the invention to provide a method of applying hair treatment media that may be carried out more quickly than is generally done at present.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with one aspect of the invention there is provided a method of applying a hair treatment medium to a head of hair by the application of the medium concerned to the hair utilizing a series of foils in which segments or clusters of hair are treated with the medium, and the foils are folded players for a period of time suitable for enabling the hair treatment medium to have effect, the method being characterized in that it comprises the steps of applying foils to the head of hair in juxtaposed blocked areas that are related to a predefined format applicable to all participating clients and wherein the blocked areas are symmetrical with respect to each side of the head of hair and the total extent of the blocked areas covers substantially the entire head of hair, and recording the number of foils applied to each blocked area according to the predefined format for reference in future applications of hair treatment media to the same head of hair.

Further features of this aspect of the invention provide for the head of hair to be divided into two side blocks; two rear blocks ; a single central top block ; and a residual block defined by the rear edge of the top block and upper edges of the rear blocks ; for the foils in each block to be substantially evenly spaced apart and to be orientated in a generally horizontal direction and preferably in generally horizontal alignment with any corresponding foils in an adjacent block (it being noted that there is not necessarily a corresponding foil in an adjacent block) ; for corresponding blocks on the opposite sides of the head, whether they be side blocks or rear blocks, to have the same number of foils applied thereto for reasons of symmetry; and for the record to be associated with a graphic representation of the predefined blocked area format.

Preferably, the application of foils is achieved by dividing each block into a number of roughly equal squat segments of hair. In the case of the application of colour, approximately one generally horizontal half of the squat

segment may be separated; colour applied to the lower half segment against the head and selected clusters extracted from the upper half segment, conveniently utilizing a suitable weaving comb such as that described in my granted United States patent number 5,152, 306; wherein the extracted clusters are subjected to foiling, generally to achieve bleaching, but not necessarily. It will be understood that in this particular implementation of the invention the number of clusters extracted from each selected upper half of a segment of hair can also be varied according to the distance from the head at which the weaving comb is engaged with the hair and this information is also recorded as part of the recorded data.

In other cases, such as in the application of relaxing media to the hair, or the application of colour to new growth hair, each squat segment may be treated in either one or two generally horizontal part segments without any weaving, and the hair can be held tightly over a foil carried on a foiling tray. This enables the new growth to be clearly visible and thus to be treated separately without treating the previously treated hair i. e. the"old"growth. As a result of the fact that substantially the same segment of hair will be selected as a result of the use of the method of this invention, substantially all of the hair in each segment or part thereof will require the same treatment. In the case of the application of relaxing media to curly or frizzy hair or the colouring of only new growth, only new hair can be treated thereby avoiding the difficulty associated with repeat tre. atment on"old"growth as indicated above.

A record of a particular hair treatment procedure carried out on a participating client will generally include information as to the identity of the client ; contact details, preferably including e-mail address and/or cellular telephone communication details ; the client's natural colour according to the internationally recognized N-shade on the colour wheel of 1 to 10 and texture; the hair treatment composition or compositions employed including the exact colour mix as may be necessary in order to repeat any mix and the particular brand of colour or other head treatment medium employed ; the

number of foils applied to each block ; and the number of clusters, if applicable, of hair extracted from each segment.

It will be understood that, by applying a standard format of hair treatment procedure in the manner defined above, and utilizing very easily taught hairdressing principles, a substantially identical hair treatment can be done irrespective of the hairdresser actually carrying out the activity. Also, because the hair treatment is effected in a standardized manner, it is perfectly possible, and indeed generally regarded as highly advantageous, at least from a time and cost point of view, for two persons to work on a single head of hair simultaneously, at least for a large part of the process of installing the foils. One of those persons could be an apprentice or student hairdresser in which case the skills of an experienced hairdresser can be passed on in, what is in effect, an action learning situation. This advantage leads to a substantial saving in time and money simply by employing such a standardized manner of treatment.

In accordance with a second aspect of the invention there is provided a hair treatment maintenance system in which the information recorded regarding a hair treatment procedure carried out in accordance with the method defined above is recorded in a recording system, typically a computer data base, against the clients identity information, so as to be retrievable as and when necessary.

Further features of the hair treatment maintenance system provide for the information to be maintained in a computer data base that is accessible to all or a selected group of participating clients or participating hairdressers, or both, as the case may be; for access to the data to be restricted in any required manner that may require a password for access or even a payment, depending on the business principles applied to exploitation of the invention; for the computer data base to be either an in-house computer data base or for the computer data base to be a common data base accessible through a

suitable communications network such as by way of cellular telephone or landlines and, in particular, by way of the Internet ; for the computer data base to include at least one picture showing the resultant hairstyle and colour in respect of a participating client and optionally also a picture of the same client before the relevant treatment; and for the pictures (and any otherwise restricted data designated by the client) to be made available in the form of a picture book or gallery to enable new participating clients, or existing participating clients desirous of a new look, to view a selection of different hairstyles from which they can choose one that they would like to have generally with the restriction that limitations this deviation from their natural N-colour should not exceed a predetermined amount.

It will be understood that, as a result of the repeatability of hair treatment procedures in consequence of the method defined above, a participating client will be able to have a like hair treatment procedure, including the treatment of new growth hair, carried out irrespective of the identity and locality of the hairdresser and this applies not only at a domestic level but also at an international level, given that participating hairdressers are available in a particular country. Of course, participating hairdressers must acquire the necessary basic skills of implementing the method of this invention that are, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, rather simple and easy to acquire.

The invention also provides a data base comprising a collection of recorded data relating to a number of different participating clients. The data base may assume any form, generally either electronic or optical, and in particular may be on a hard disk of a computer; or recorded on an electronic, magnetic or optical recording or memory unit, a tape cassette, a diskette or an optical disk, in particular, but not necessarily, a CD-ROM or a rewritable CD.

The invention still further provides a portable data record of recorded data enabling the method defined above to be carried out by a participating

hairdresser in which case certain other types of memory unit as may be appropriate, such as a smartcard or the like with a adequate memory, that can be easily stowed in a person's purse or wallet. Utilization of this aspect of the invention will enable a participating client to carry the portable record when traveling and to supply it to a participating hairdresser at any appropriate location in order to have a hair treatment activity carried out in conformity with the method defined above. Such a participating hairdresser would, of course, require a suitable reader to extract the data from the portable data record.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood one embodiment thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:- Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating schematically one form of blocked area configuration utilized in the method of the invention; Figure 2 is a schematic side view illustrating the foils in position in the various blocks on a head of hair; Figure 3 illustrates the operation of weaving a series of clusters of hair utilizing a weaving comb preparatory to foiling the clusters ; Figure 4 is a similar illustration showing the application of hair treatment composition to the clusters of hair separated out; Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 but illustrating an application of the invention to the treatment of new growth hair; and,

Figure 6 is a schematic illustration of a data storage arrangement and data retrieval means in one system of the invention that is presently envisaged.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS In the embodiment of the invention described below a head of hair, generally indicated by numeral (1), is considered to be composed of blocked areas of a predetermined part of the head of hair and the same blocked areas are utilized for each and every participating client.

In this embodiment of the invention there are six blocked areas covering the entire head, these being two side blocks (2); two juxtaposed rear blocks (3); a top block (4); and a residual block (5) blocks (that may be referred to as the diamond block) bounded by the rear edge (6) of the top block and the upper boundaries (7) of the two rear. As a general rule only a small amount of hair may fall outside of the general area of these blocks, that being the small amount of hair located in the nape of the neck that may be treated differently depending on the hairstyle concerned.

In order to carry out a hair colouring procedure according to the invention, and depending on the nature of the participating client's hair and the effect to be achieved, a hairdresser who has been trained to operate the method of the invention will decide on how many foils will be utilized in each of the blocks. As a general rule, the same number of foils will be used in each of two opposite blocks i. e two mirrored blocks, being the two side blocks and the two rear blocks. In spite of the fact that, as indicated above, foils are to be located approximately on the same horizontal level as foils in adjacent blocks, it is not necessary to have a corresponding foil for each foil in an adjacent block.

Thus, as illustrated in Figure 2, foils (8) used to treat the side blocks are located on the same level as foils (9) used to treat the rear blocks although, as indicated by numeral (10), there is no equivalent in the rear block to the top foil of the side block. The top block has foils indicated by numeral (11) applied thereto and the residual block, foils indicated by numeral (12).

The procedure followed in order to install all the foils is for the head to be divided centrally front to back and side to side, as indicated by numeral (13) in Figure 1 and, with the hairdresser's skill and judgment, the first foils are introduced at the bottom of one side block with the hairdresser judging the spacing, which is to be even, so that the last of the foils forming part of the side block falls on the upper boundary of the side block. Where there are two persons available to work simultaneously, and in the case of an apprentice or student, whilst the hairdresser commences foiling on the side block the apprentice or student could foil any hair in the nape of the neck. Once the leading hairdresser has completed one side block, the apprentice or student can start introducing the foils at corresponding levels on the adjacent rear block whilst the hairdresser introduces the foils on the other side block, for example. This can save considerable time and it requires only basic training to enable an apprentice or student to effectively carry out such operations.

It will be understood that this entire operation can be carried out with substantially accurate repetition as and when required.

Introduction of the foils, and the application of the hair treatment composition, is conveniently effected in each block by visually dividing the block into a number of squat generally horizontal segments (14) (indicated in Figure 3) of hair equal to the number of foils to be used in the block such that the segments are of roughly equal size in height. Each segment is split horizontally roughly into an upper and a lower half and the lower half has hair colouring composition applied thereto whilst the upper half is subjected to

weaving utilizing a weaving comb (15), preferably of the type described in my said United States patent. The procedure is illustrated clearly in Figure 3.

Of course, at this stage, by bunching the free ends of the upper half segment of hair, and selecting the distance from the scalp at which the weaving comb is introduced to the upper half segment of hair, the number of extracted clusters can be varied according to requirements The clusters of hair separated out in this way are subjected to the application of treatment composition, typically a bleach, by holding the hair onto a foil (16) supported on a foiling tray (17) as illustrated in Figure 4 and the foil is folded around the hair in the usual way. The result is the arrangement of foils depicted Figure 2.

The balance of the hair treatment is simply routine and will not be described herein.

In application to the treatment of new growth hair, or the application of other hair treatment media such as an initial application of relaxing medium in order to straighten curly or kinky hair, and with reference to Figure 5 of the drawings, the step of separating each squat segment of hair into two can be omitted and the entire segment can generally be treated at one time on a foil tray (18) as indicated above. No weaving is, of course, necessary. In the case of the initial application of relaxing medium in order to straighten curly or kinky hair, the hair can be pulled straight over the foil and the medium worked onto the hair in its straight condition. The hair will tend to stick lightly to the foil in its straight condition and the foil can be folded in the usual way in order to allow the relaxing medium to take effect.

In the case of the treatment of new growth hair, with either colour or relaxing medium, and resulting from the fact that substantially the same segment of hair will have been selected as on a previous occasion in consequence of the

method of this invention, the new growth will all be of approximately the same length terminating at a line indicated by numeral (19). The new growth hair can thus be treated alone with considerable accuracy. The deleterious effects of re-treating"old"growth can therefore be avoided.

In all cases a record is made of all relevant items of data that may be required in the event that the same hair treatment is to be carried out at a later date either by the same hairdresser or a different hairdresser as indicated above.

The data that is recorded includes at least relevant information concerning the identity of the participating client; the number of foils employed in each of the prescribed blocks ; any information as to the number of clusters extracted in the weaving operation carried out in respect of each of the blocks; and all information as to the hair treatment media employed in the treatment. As indicated above, a digital camera could be used to capture the resultant hairstyle and, indeed, a picture may be taken before treatment so that a suitable comparison is available.

The data may also include information as to the general shape of the face, for example round, long, square, oval or heart shaped; general nature of the hair, for example, kinky, wavy, curly or straight; the texture of the hair being fine, medium or course; the condition of the hair, for example damaged, dry, normal or wavy; age group; the percentage of grey hairs; and any other information about hair care or hair care history of the relevant participating client.

As indicated above, all of this information can be stored on a portable smartcard or like electronic memory, a magnetic or optical disk so that the participating customer can transport it to another hairdresser at another location as and when required. Typically a smartcard type or other electromagnetic memory or a CD ROM would be used.

However, in terms of the system of this invention, all the data of all participating clients could be stored on one or more central computerized data bases that is or are accessible through one or more forms of communications networks.

Thus, as illustrated in Figure 6, the centralized data base indicated by numeral (20) may be accessible by way of a cellular telephone (21); by way of a communications network (22); through the Internet (23) from a computer (24); or even by land line (25) in the case of an interactive voice communications system possibly involving synthesized voice messages being employed to convey the relevant data to a hairdresser or participating client.

In instances in which digital pictures form part of the data these may be made to be accessible according to participating client's wishes so that others can see the outcome of a hair treatment procedure and choose from, for example, a series that are presented to the them as an incentive to clients to make their pictures available to others. A business method could be employed in which a client receives a small percentage of money that is received from other clients, either new or existing, that chose that person's hairstyle or colour. Tracking of such an activity over the Internet is a well- developed technology and need not be described further herein.

From the above it will be understood that in consequence of the data capture and availability of it to a participating client, a specific hair treatment procedure can be applied to the client's hair by any participating hairdresser in a reliable and effective manner.

Numerous variations can be made to the embodiment of the invention described above without departing from the scope hereof.