Bounties attract serious brainpower to the challenge.
Background:
Round hairbrushes are an ideal choice for people with fine hair. The round brush helps tame frizz and delivers the desired amount of bounce to the hair. Round brushes are often used for creating volume, texture and body in hair and is ideal for blow-drying. The benefits of using a round brush are especially obvious for men who have curly hair or want to define their curls. Additionally, a round hairbrush enables hair-stylists to have some tension control while working with a blow-dryer and are among the most popular hairstyling tools used in salons.
Problem:
While the benefits offered by round brushes are many, one common problem that every user faces while using these brushes is the copious amount of hair that gets stuck in these. I carry my round hairbrush in my handbag all the time, only to notice strands of hair sticking out from my bag, courtesy my round hairbrush. It is equally embarrassing to use these hair laden hairbrushes in public washrooms. I wanted to get rid of this issue while still being able to use my round hairbrush everywhere.
Idea:
I thought of a design that I think might work. It involves incorporating the principle behind a lint roller into a standard round hairbrush to obtain double the benefit. It would look like a multiple sheet lint roller with bristles on top. The top side of the sheet will not be sticky as in the case of lint roller, the sheet is only meant to be used as a support for hair to rest on. Once enough hair has accumulated into the hair brush one could simply tear off the used sheet which easily allows all the hair strands to be removed along with it at one go. A new sheet is exposed underneath, ready for accumulating next round of hair strands. One could simply keep re-using the brush by tearing off used sheets to get rid of hair sticking out of your every day brush.
It could especially be of great use in salons during covid and post-covid as lots of people have great concern regarding hygiene in salons. Hairstylists could simply tear off a sheet from these improved round brushes after using them for a customer, providing a clean slate for the next one, without having to go through the trouble of thoroughly cleaning the brushes each time they use it for a different customer.
Concerns:
The re-use can be limited to the number of sheets incorporated in the hairbrush.
> However, once all the sheets have been used, one could continue using it as a regular hairbrush.
An appropriate material for the sheet needs to be figured out which does not create friction during combing, does not accumulate static charge and does not absorb moisture from hair while at the same time easily holds the loose hair strands on its surface.
> An alternative to this problem could be having magnetic bristles that stick to the core, are easy to remove, clean and re-attach. This alternative could be applied to a large variety of brushes and is not restricted to round hairbrushes alone. This could be a separate idea on its own.
Attaching sheets wrapped around a replaceable cylinder
Michaela DOct 28, 2021
I like this idea! To tackle the re-usability concern: The sheets can be wrapped around a cylinder that is removable and replaceable. So, when the sheets of one cylinder finish you can replace it with a new cylinder. The cylinder and the sheets could have an appropriate design with little holes that would perfectly match the location of the brittles.
Also, to remove the cylinder there can be two types of mechanisms:
A sliding mechanism (but this may be tricky with the brittles).
A “click-and-open” mechanism that would make the cylinder open in the middle and therefore it would be easier to remove.
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Shubhankar Kulkarni3 years ago
I have an idea for removing the cylinder: Use a collapsible one. It will have spokes (just like the ones one cycle wheels) that can be removed manually so that the cylinder collapses and detaches itself from the bristles. The bristles are attached to each other via a small skeleton made out of the same material as that of the bristles. This will prevent the bristles from detaching. The skeleton of the bristles is fixed into the handle of the hairbrush making the cylinder the only removable part of the hairbrush.
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General comments
Shubhankar Kulkarni3 years ago
Seems like a good idea, Aashi Agarwal! The thing that concerns me is the untimely and improper tearing of the sheet. The hand brush when stored in a bag may brush against a number of things. The sheet material should be sturdy enough to withstand that and also stay in place while combing. Also, while removing the sheet, it might be difficult to ensure that the entire sheet comes off in one go since it may get caught in the bristles and tear in bits, increasing the time spent in removing the sheet. What material do you have in mind for the sheet?
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Aashi Agarwal3 years ago
Shubhankar Kulkarni Hi Shubhankar. The rolls of sheets will have pre etched markings along which one could tear them and will be tacky on one side. This will ensure that they do not come off when one does not want it to. To prevent it from getting stuck in the bristles, the sheet will have holes at precise locations where the bristles come out. Please refer to the below image for reference:
The material for making these sheets will have to be tested but what I had in mind for a prototype was a release liner sort of material that has glue on one side. The brand 3M has a lot of variety of glues and adhesives on release liners that come out without leaving behind any residue. I would consider testing with those to come up with the perfect material and adhesive for this purpose.
Aashi Agarwal Oct 27, 2021
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