DESCRIPTION "METHOD TO MODIFY THE AESTHETIC LOOK OF HAIRY SURFACES"

The present invention relates to a method for modifying the aesthetic look of hairy surfaces, and therefore at least animals' and human hair.

In particular, the present invention advantageously applies to the treatment of hair-processed natural skins. As is known, hairy surfaces commonly used in fur-making for manufacturing clothing items, leather items and shoes, as well as human hair, can be colored by dyeing processes with dyes penetrating hair bulb. However, although such processing changes hair color, it is little versatile and does not enable to obtain other special effects on hair, such as for instance a metallic effect.

In detail, the aim of the invention consists in providing a method for modifying the aesthetic look of hairy surfaces, which enables to obtain other chromatic effects than those already known, and in offering an al- ternative to traditional methods for hair coloring.

These and other aims as will be apparent from the following description are basically achieved by means of a method for modifying the aesthetic look of hairy surfaces, comprising the characteristics of claim 1. Further characteristics and advantages will be more apparent from the detailed description of a preferred,- though not exclusive embodiment of a method for modifying the aesthetic look of hairy surfaces according to present invention. Such description will be disclosed hereinafter with reference to the accompanying Figure 1, provided to a merely indicative and therefore non-limiting purpose,

which shows schematically the operating steps of the method according to the present invention. With reference to said figure, the numeral 1 globally refers to a hairy surface to be treated in order to mod- ify the aesthetic look thereof.

The present invention advantageously applies to hairy surfaces of animal origin, such as fur-making skins of any type such as mink, sable, beaver, rabbit, pony furs, and human hair. The method includes the initial step of preparing a hairy surface 1, as specified above, for the treatment of abrasion of hair bulb cuticle, i.e. for surface damaging and/or elimination of the outer hair layer, which - as is known - is made up of flattened cells overlap- ping as roof tiles, so as to protect the cortex and medulla of hair bulb from any treatment.

As a matter of fact, in case of hair dyeing with dyes, the cuticle is chemically opened by treatment with alkaline substances, which inflate it and allow dye mole- cules to penetrate the underlying cortex, then by acid treatment the cuticle is again closed.

In our case, the function of cuticle abrasion is to enable the bonding of an adhesive substance onto the cortex/medulla, which are made up of softer and more fi- brous keratins, more similar to derma and therefore more suitable to be penetrated by glue resins. In particular, the hairy surface 1 is abraded with a grinding element 2, such as for instance hand-grinding or machine-grinding paper. Then an adhesive substance 3 is placed between the hairy surface 1 and a transfer film 4, which will be better described in the following.

In accordance with a first solution shown in the accompanying figure, the adhesive substance 3, preferably in liquid form, is sprayed or applied as a tampon or a film onto at least an abraded portion of the surface 1 previ- ously treated.

The adhesive substance is made up of resins in an aqueous phase or a solvent, which can be both one- or two- component resins and which are commonly used for transferring transfer films onto smooth or chamois skins. Then the transfer film 4 is applied onto the surface 1 treated with said adhesive substance 3.

In detail, the transfer film 4 is laid onto the surface 1 and hot-pressed by means of a press 5 or rotary press, so as to activate the resins of the adhesive substance 3 so that they incorporate the transferable substance of the transfer film 4. As an alternative, it can also be possible to apply the adhesive substance 3 onto a coupling surface of the film 4 or to use a transfer film 4 of the type having an adhesive substance 3 already pre- viously applied thereto. Under these circumstances, the coupling surface of the film 4, provided with the adhesive substance 3, is laid onto the abraded portion of the surface 1 and then hot-pressed as described above. Advantageously, the transfer film 4, known per se and therefore not described in detail, comprises a support film, commonly known as "skin", and a substance to be applied associated thereto, and it is designed to be heated so as to bind to other surfaces and release said substance, thus conferring a particular chromatic effect to said surface. For instance, the film 4 can be equipped with a dyeing material for conferring a particular chromatic effect to the hair of surface 1. As an

alternative, the film 4 can be provided with a plurality of metal particles binding to the hair of surface 1 and conferring thereto a metallic effect.

It should also be pointed out that the step of surface treatment in which the cuticle is abraded is essential to allow a stabile bond of the adhesive substance 3 and therefore of the subsequent application of the film 4. The method further includes a further step of finishing of the hairy surface 1, after the hot-pressing step. Such finishing step is carried out by "drumming" or "machine-scraping" in case of furs, and by combing or brushing in case of human hair, the function of this operation being to eliminate the residues of unglued transfer film 4 from every single hair and to separate those hairs that got glued to one another when applying the adhesive substance, which might have unavoidably reached the space between hairs but tends to get off where the cuticle is not abraded. As mentioned above, the above-described method can apply also to the cosmetic hair field. In this case, the hot- pressing step is carried out by way of known electric plates as are widely used in the cosmetic field. Advantageously, films having any chromatic effect can be applied, so as to confer various effects to the surface 1 or to hair. In particular, a metallic effect can be obtained by means of metallic transfers, a silky effect by means of glossy transfers, or a double-color effect by means of colored transfers. A method according to the invention enables to obtain a large number of special effects on hairy surfaces and, moreover, it is cheap and simple to carry out-.