Hair curler especially for cold waving

A hair roller or curler, especially for permanent waving, e.g. cold waving, which has between larger diameter end members, a tubular grid upon which the hair is wound and through which a treating liquid can be forced downwardly.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
My present invention relates to a hair curler for cold waving of the type 
which comprises a hollow cylindrical curler body upon which a lock of hair 
can be wound and generally of a reduced diameter, and means or devices on 
the ends of that body for engagement by a clamping band or stirrup for 
retaining the wound lock on that body. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Basically there are two types of hair curlers. Hair curlers of a first type 
are intended to form relatively short-lived curls of moist or dry hair and 
hair curlers of a second type for producing long-lived curls with the aid 
of chemical treatments. Both types of hair curlers differ with respect to 
their diameters. Hair curlers are provided with diameters of 13 mm to 80 
mm for the first type of curling. 
By contrast, cold waving hair curlers have diameters beginning at 4 mm and 
have a maximum diameter, with respect to the part of the curler about 
which the lock of hair is wound, of about 15 mm. 
Cold waving is carried out with the aid of chemical treatment of the hair 
resulting in a more or less permanent or residual structural change 
therein. The chemical processes involved are complex since they may 
include a softening of the hair substance with the aid of waving agents 
and a fixing of the deformed structure with fixing agents. If the wetting 
of the hair with the waving agent is incomplete, the results are poor. 
If the following fixing step is incomplete, the results can be 
catastrophic, including a total or partial dissolution of the hair 
substance, the loss of all or part of the hair, etc. The hair curler, 
therefore, is of considerable importance in hair dressing since it must be 
complete to ensure full treatment of the hair wound in multiple layers 
upon the curler, i.e. treatment of those layers which lie closest to the 
curler body as well as those layers of the lock of hair which may be 
exposed once the lock is wound on the curler. 
The waving and fixing liquids must be capable of penetrating from the upper 
or outermost layers to the innermost layers and, of course depending upon 
the length of the hair and the number of turns of the lock on the curler, 
this has been difficult to ensure with conventional curlers. A further 
problem with respect to most earlier curlers is that the penetration of 
the liquid into and through the hair wound on the curler is often impeded 
by the impenetrability of the body of the curler. 
The cost of a cold wave and the time consumed in hair dressing using cold 
waves are significant and cannot be frequently tolerated by most modern 
women. There is, therefore, a tendency toward a do-it-yourself approach in 
which the cold wave is effected at home. 
There are numerous products allowing cold waves to be done at home or 
intended for that purpose. By and large these are relatively complex and 
expensive. 
They include solid plastic curlers which, because of their relatively high 
weight and the large number of curlers which are required for an effective 
cold wave, frequently up to 50, create problems in handling. 
There are hollow two-part curlers with holes making the curlers 
significantly lighter but substantially more costly since they require the 
fabrication of the two halves in the injection molding process separately 
and the cementing of the two halves together subsequently. In many cases 
these two-part curlers are also unsatisfactory. 
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide 
an improved hair curler whereby drawbacks of earlier hair curlers, 
especially for cold waving, is obviated. 
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved hair curler, 
particularly convenient for use by a woman in a do-it-yourself home 
application of a cold wave, which can be easily handled and can ensure 
thorough penetration of the cold waving solution into the hair wound on 
the body of the curler. 
Still another object of this invention is to provide a hair curler which is 
free from the drawbacks of prior art hair curlers both with respect to the 
construction and use, and can be relatively inexpensive. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
These objects are achieved, in accordance with the present invention in a 
hair curler having a tubular body intermediate its ends which is composed 
of a grid. 
A hair curler of this construction has the following advantages: 
1. It is extremely light. 
2. It is completely air and liquid permeable, at least at those regions at 
which the lock of hair is wound on the curler body. 
3. It ensures a thorough penetration of the bundle of hair wound on the 
body by the treatment liquid. 
4. It does not allow the accumulation of waving or fixing liquids or 
residues therefrom. 
5. The lock-winding or curling technique is significantly simplified. 
According to the invention, therefore, a hair curler for permanent waving, 
e.g. cold waving, can comprise: 
a curler body formed with an intermediate region in the form of a 
liquid-permeable elongated cylindrical grid forming a tube, a first end 
member at one end of the body closing the tube at the one end, and a 
second end member at an opposite end of the body formed with an axial 
opening communicating with the tube and through which a hair-treatment 
medium can be fed to the tube; and 
a clamp member engageable across a lock of hair wound on the grid and 
attached to the body. 
That tube can, according to the invention, be formed with circumferentially 
continuous stabilizing rings forming part of the grid structure. The end 
members are preferably both provided with peripheral grooves, e.g. milling 
facilitating gripping of the end members. 
Advantageously, the first end member has a ball-shaped formation adapted to 
receive the eye of a clamping band, especially an elastic clamping band, 
forming the clamp member and alternatively engageable by a clamping 
stirrup which can pivot and swivel on that ball member. 
The opening in the open end of the second member can correspond in diameter 
to an inner diameter of the tube. The second end member, moreover, can 
have a diameter greater than the diameter of the grid and can be formed 
with a multiplicity of notches for selectively engaging the clamping band 
or the clamping stirrup. These notches may impart a crown configuration to 
the end member and the inner diameter of the crown can be greater than an 
inner diameter of the tube. 
According to a feature of the invention, the tube can be at least partly 
covered by a band of high liquid permeability having outwardly extending 
hair-engaging formations (see the commonly-owned copending application 
Ser. No. 08/138,635 filed 15 Oct. 1993), these formations being nylon 
hooks or loops as in Velcro or mushroom-shaped projections. 
The grid can be closed peripherally toward opposite axial ends of the tube 
and can contain at least a partial filing of a bibulous material capable 
of taking up the solution to be applied to the hair. 
The hair curler can have a conical configuration at the opening to fit a 
spray container whose nozzle can form-fittingly engage in the opening for 
feeding a wetting agent, waving agent, or hair-dressing agent to the tube.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION 
As can be seen from FIGS. 1, 2 and 9, a hair curler according to the 
invention can comprise an injection-molded body 1 of a synthetic resin 
material, preferably polystyrene or polypropylene, which can have external 
dimensions (length and diameter) conforming to the usual standards and is 
completely cylindrical internally. 
One end of the tubular body 1 is closed by an end member 2 molded unitarily 
with the body and the end wall of the tubular portion is shown at 20 in 
FIG. 9. 
This end member 2 is of larger diameter than the intermediate portion of 
the body 1 and is provided with a fastening device 3 in the form of a pin 
with a ball-shaped head as represented at 3 which can be engaged by a 
clamping band. 
The other end (second end member) of the tubular body 1 is a plastic part 5 
of larger diameter and is completely open axially having notches 6 along 
the outer periphery to form a crown. The notches define fingers 21 between 
them which can be engaged by the other end of the elastic band 4 or by a 
stirrup 14 to be described in greater detail below. 
The wall of the intermediate portion 22 of the body 1 is a large mesh grid 
with a multiplicity of openings through which liquid and air can pass 
unhindered. The rectangular, especially square, grid openings 11 can have 
a width and height of 1 to 7 mm, preferably 1.5 to 3 mm. The grid is 
formed by circular stabilizing rings 7 connected by axially-extending ribs 
23 (FIG. 9). The stabilizing rings 7 ensure the requisite static strength. 
Both end members of greater diameter than the intermediate portion 22 are 
formed with closely-spaced grooves 15, i.e. milling, to improve the 
manipulatability of the curler. 
The opening 11 can have other shapes, e.g. round or oval. The grid need not 
extend the full length of the intermediate portion 22. Rather, as shown in 
FIG. 3, the tubular intermediate portion 12 may have end regions 13 which 
are peripherally closed and thus unpermeable. 
The opening 24 in the second end member 5 can be conical to mate with an 
outlet nozzle 8 of a spray container 9 (FIG. 8) which enables liquids, 
aerosol foams, lotions or the like to be forced into the curler and out 
through the grid thereof to thoroughly permeate a lock of hair wound on 
the intermediate portion 12, 22 of the curler. This ensures, together with 
external wetting, thorough penetration of all of the layers of the hair in 
a uniform manner. 
As can be seen from FIG. 7a-7c the intermediate portion 22 of the curler or 
hair roller can be formed with a sheath or band 10 of high permeability to 
air and liquid and provided with hair-engaging formations such as hooks 
and loops as described in the aforementioned application so that the 
initial engagement of the hair by the curler is facilitated. 
Alternatively, mushroom-shaped projection can be used as the hair engaging 
formations. 
As can be seen at 25 in FIG. 9 a bibulous material can completely or partly 
fill the tube to absorb the liquid which is forced therethrough outwardly 
into the hair. 
As can be seen from FIG. 5, the elastic band 4 has an eye 26 at one end 
engageable with the pin 3, a shank 27 and, at the opposite end, a tab 28 
engageable by the fingers of the user. A shoulder 29 dimensioned so as to 
be incapable of passing broad side through the notches 6, allow the 
shoulder to lodge against the fingers 21 as is apparent form FIG. 4 when 
the band is stretched across a lock of hair rolled onto the curler. 
The stirrup 14 is provided at one end with a fork 30, the parts of which 
can straddle the ball of pin 3 and have holes or recesses 31 forming a 
pivot on this ball. At the opposite end of the shank 32 of the stirrup 14, 
a lug 33 is provided with a convex indexing formation 34 engageable in the 
crown of fingers 21 when the stirrup is clamped over a lock of hair wound 
on the curler.