Patent Publication Number: US-2013228480-A1

Title: Dehydrated and semi-hydrated personal care items

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional patent application Ser. No. 12/372,084, filed Feb. 17, 2009, entitled Dehydrated and Semi-Hydrated Personal Care Items, the entirety of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to personal care items, and, more particularly, to a dehydrated and semi-hydrated personal care items. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Current travel restrictions limit the number of hydrated travel goods that travelers may take with them, for example, on airplanes. These restrictions are certainly directed to a worthy cause, mainly the prevention of terrorism and harm to the traveling public. Nonetheless, such restrictions present a significant inconvenience to traveler, particularly travelers who intend to travel for long periods of time, and that such travelers are unable to take the required quantities of personal care items to last through the trip, due, in part, to the limitations placed on the amount of hydrated items that may be taken, for example, on the airplane. Further, the restrictions have led to increased lines to get through security checkpoints, because the limited amount of hydrated products that a traveler is allowed to take with him or her must be separately carried, and separately screened. 
     Thus, the need exists for personal care products that may be taken on trips of any length in any quantities necessary, and that lessen the inconvenience of travelers getting to their destination point, such as by lessening security lines and the like. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention includes a personal care item and system, including at least one partially dehydrated personal care item initially formulated without at least one aqueous ingredient to thereby allow travelers to bring personal care items while complying with present security restrictions regarding the transport of liquids on transportation means, wherein, when the at least one partially dehydrated personal care item is combined with the at least one aqueous ingredient, the personal care item is in a usable form. 
     Thus, the present invention provides personal care products that may be taken on trips of any length in any quantities necessary, and that lessen the inconvenience of travelers getting to their destination point, such as by lessening security lines and the like. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
       Understanding of the present invention will be facilitated by consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals refer to like parts: 
         FIG. 1  is a depiction of the invention according to an aspect of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the present invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the present invention, while eliminating, for the purpose of clarity, many other elements found in personal care items. Those of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that other elements and/or steps are desirable and/or required in implementing the present invention. However, because such elements and steps are well known in the art, and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present invention, a discussion of such elements and steps is not provided herein. The disclosure herein is directed to all such variations and modifications to such elements and methods known to those skilled in the art. 
     The present invention includes dehydrated and semi-hydrated personal care products, which may be conveniently used by travelers. Such products may include, for example, shampoo, conditioner, hair gel, toothpaste, soap, skin treatments, shaving treatments, lotions, and the like. The present invention is directed, in part, to travelers in need of an easy, convenient, and worry free manner by which to comply with present security restrictions regarding the transport of liquids on transportation means, such as airplanes, for example. 
     The formulation of the above-referenced, and other similar, personal care items will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and may be understood with reference to the schematic drawing of  FIG. 1 . Referring now to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a two container system according to an exemplary aspect of the present invention. As may be seen in  FIG. 1 , the invention may include a first container  10  (the smaller depicted container) that houses the dehydrated or semi-dehydrated personal care item  12  prior to complete hydration. When the user of such a personal care item desires activation, i.e. use, the dehydrated or semi-dehydrated personal care item may be placed into a separate container  14  (the larger depicted container) with, or may have placed into its container, an activating liquid or like-aqueous solution  16  for mechanical mixing of the dehydrated personal care item with the aqueous solution to thereby render the personal care item in a usable form. The mixing can be performed using a mixing means  18 , which can include a stirring stick, a mixer, a beater, an agitator, an agitating surface, an abrasive surface, an aerator, an aeration surface, motorized mixing means, and the like. 
     For example, formulations may include solutions, suspensions, emulsions, and the like, wherein the molecular substance of interest, such as, for example, abrasion or cleansing molecules, are conjoined in a known form with a hydrating vessel in order to create the desired personal care substance. Needless to say, certain personal care items in the present invention may, or may not, be provided with the consistency, such as the surface tension, that is provided in similar personal care items used at the home of a traveler. However, in such circumstances, the traveler may use the personal care items of the present invention in spite of the variations inconsistency in exchange for the added convenience and lessened travel time. As such, the present invention may be employed with a re-hydrating vessel of any of a variety of types, such as, for example, a gel, an activating liquid, or simply water. Therefore, the traveler may need to bring only one re-hydrating substance in order to re-hydrate several dehydrated or partially hydrated personal care items, or the traveler may bring no rehydration vessel with him or her and may simply use an accessible re-hydration vessel at the destination to re-hydrate the personal care items, such as tap water. 
     In view of the above, the personal care items, in partially hydrated or dehydrated form, may be provided in any of a variety of forms as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. For example, the personal care items may be provided in a concentrated form, thereby minimizing the liquid necessary to be carried in travel, fine powder form, heavy powder form having some liquid therein, a large quantity of small capsules, such as gel capsules, a single capsule, such as a powder capsule or gel capsule, or the like. The dehydrated or partially hydrated vessel may include principally the personal care products active ingredients, that is those ingredients that define the particular personal care product, such as the cleansing agent molecules in shampoo. Additionally, the dehydrated or partially hydrated vessel may include molecules that contribute to the consistency and/or coloring of the particular personal care item, but it is only the active ingredients that must be included in the present invention for operability. For example, the dehydrated or partially hydrated vessel may, in addition to the active ingredients, be provided with one or more thickeners, thinners, colors, gelatins, expanding molecules such as foaming agents, and the like. 
     In view of the disclosure herein, those skilled in the art will understand that the packaging for the dehydrated or partially hydrated personal care items of the present invention may vary greatly. For example, such packaging may include aids to mix the goods, such as mixers or beaters mounted within the caps of the goods, inside the goods, or otherwise associated with the goods container. Further, the goods may come in containers sized and shaped to conveniently fit the goods, and may thereby come with mixing instructions to perform rehydration, or the goods may have resident on the containers markings that, once the goods are removed from the container and placed in a separate container for mixing, may allow for use of the container to assess the proper amount of liquid to perform re-hydration. Additionally and alternatively, the goods may come in a container that is sized and shaped larger than is necessary to fit only the dehydrated goods, such that the re-hydration vessel can be filled into the container with the goods resident therein, as per the instructions, and re-hydration may take place all without removal of the goods from the initial container. Similarly, the container in which the goods are sold or placed may have nothing to do with the re-hydration of the goods. For example, a plurality of capsules may be packaged together, wherein one or more of the capsules is dropped into an instructed amount of re-hydrating vessel in order to perform proper rehydration. Additionally and alternatively, mixing containers may be sold separately from containers containing the dehydrated or partially hydrated product, such that the product may be combined in a separate container filled to an instructed set point with the re-hydrating vessel in order to generate the properly re-hydrated personal care item. 
     Mixing, as used herein, may be performed by any methodology known to those skilled in the art. Such methodologies include, but are not limited to, a stirring stick, a mixer, a beater, an agitator, an agitating surface, an abrasive surface, an aerator, an aeration surface, motorized mixing means, and the like. 
     Those of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many modifications and variations of the present invention may be implemented without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.