Hair graphics

A hair styling technique provided for applying a message to the scalp in which letters or symbols having a planar base with scalp adhesive on one side and hair or hair-like fibers on the other side are adhered to the scalp in an arrangement that delivers the message.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Current hair styles among young people often involve close-cropping the 
lower portion of the hair, or even shaving it off completely, while 
leaving a substantial amount of hair above a certain level on the scalp. 
The result in some cases looks like the old-fashioned "soup bowl" haircut, 
or it could be characterized as creating kind of an upside-down timber 
line. 
In some circles, particularly among Afro-Americans, it is popular to have 
the hair sculptured by the barber to either spell out a message, or 
display a message symbol. Many barbers are happy to provide this service. 
Unfortunately, the barber will generally charge six to eight dollars per 
character, so that a message such as "I Love Vikki" would cost $60 to $80. 
If the initial price were not an obstacle, then perhaps the fact that the 
individual would have to return to the barber shop at intervals of no more 
than once a week in order to maintain a reasonably clean message, would 
stop many people. 
With word processing systems and computers, it is possible to prepare 
messages in a more high-tech fashion at almost no cost in a lot of other 
applications. If the same principles could be applied to the scalp 
messages, no doubt a cheaper and quicker way could be developed. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The instant invention provides the above-referenced cheaper and quicker way 
to apply messages to a scalp. Rather than sculpting the hair to spell the 
message or to display the message emblem, the letters of the alphabet and 
various symbols are provided as pre-cut, small "wiglets" of hair or fibers 
which resemble hair. Each individual "wiglet" is shaped to conform to the 
appearance of a letter of the alphabet or some other symbol. They are then 
adhered to the head with an adhesive that resists the oil secreted by the 
scalp, and which is hypo-allergenic. They could be used to display an 
advertising message as well as an affectionate one.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
A typical display is illustrated at 10 in FIG. 1. This is the kind of 
display that is currently being done by sculpting the actual hair. A 
similar technique is applied to the scalp in FIG. 2, but on the side of 
the head. According to the presently disclosed technique, the letters of 
these messages are individually produced and are individually adhered with 
a suitable adhesive to the scalp, much in the way a movie marquee is 
changed. 
There is a limitless repertory of symbols that can be applied to the scalp, 
as indicated in FIGS. 4 through 9, which illustrate six of them. 
There are several different variations of construction that can be used to 
produce the symbols. At its most basic, all that is needed is a mass of 
hair and an adhesive to bond the hair to the scalp. Theoretically, a hair 
mat such as that shown in FIG. 11 at 12 could be used by simply applying 
adhesive to one side of the hair mass and pressing it onto the scalp. 
However, as a practical matter, the hair, when produced in mat form as at 
12 or in the parallel-fibered crew cut style indicated at 14, some kind of 
base would be needed to hold the hair or hair-like fibers together. This 
could be some kind of adhesive matrix into which the hair is inserted, or 
against which the hair is pressed, when the matrix is wet. The matrix 
would then dry into a flexible layer which bonds the hair together, with a 
secondary adhesive being applied on the opposite side of the matrix from 
the hair to bond it to the scalp. 
However, probably the easiest and best way to make the symbols is to use a 
flexible planar base member such as a woven fabric, a matted fabric, or 
even an impervious fabric such as plastic, to provide a common plane for 
all the hair to bond to. The hair could then be attached to this base 
panel in several different ways. As shown in FIG. 10, it could be 
interwoven with the fibers 16 of the fabric panel 18 that is shown in FIG. 
10. Wig hair is sometimes held together in this fashion. Clearly, this 
would work whether or not the hair is human hair, or some kind of 
synthetic. FIG. 10 illustrates such an interweaving technique used for 
parallel-fibered straight hair reminiscent of a crew cut. The interwoven 
hair technique could also be used with curly or kinky hair. 
The other way of attaching the hair to the base member is through the use 
of an adhesive, indicated at 20 in FIG. 11. This adhesive is applied to 
the base member 22, interfacing it with the hair mass 12. Of course, the 
hair mass could also be parallel fibers as indicated at 14. When using 
glue, the configuration of the base member 22 is somewhat more flexible, 
permitting impervious materials such as plastic and very tightly woven 
nylon to be used. 
On the first side of the fabric is the hair, and on the second surface is 
glue 24. Although the glue could be applied as the mass is applied to the 
scalp, it could also come with the applique unit, being covered by a slick 
peel-off sheet 26. 
Although maximum flexibility of message is provided by using separate 
appliques, each of which representing one letter of the alphabet, to 
facilitate the alignment process and reduce application time, words could 
be connected together by invisible thread such as shown in FIG. 12. The 
transparent threads 28 would be invisible, or nearly invisible, against 
the scalp, but would serve to evenly space the letters, keeping each 
letter in its proper rotational orientation, so that only the levelness of 
the bottom of the letters must be established. No doubt other accessories 
could be provided such as jigs into which the letters are laid face-down, 
and then pressed against the scalp as a unit. 
Although the invention does not represent a breakthrough in technology, 
nonetheless it represents a significant savings in time and money for 
those who are prone to have messages applied to their scalps.