Decorative Pony Tail Holder and Method of Using

The present invention relates to a decorative pony tail holder for securing the hair of a user relatively tightly in a decorative manner to simulate the petals of a flower, a star or the like with a relatively slim profile, and method of use.

Pony tail holders formed of an elastic band having a relatively large amount of bunched fabric therearound to provide a decorative fashion accessory are known, and such items are disclosed, for example, in U.S. design Pat. Nos. Des. 292,030, Des. 315,036; and Des. 315,226. Additionally the applicant has filed application Ser. No. 935,029 on Aug. 25, 1992 which discloses a fashion accessory which can be used as a decorative pony tail holder.

Generally, the user of such decorative pony tail holders will often twist the elastic band and fold it over itself to provide a fairly secure grip to a length of hair held by the elastic band; and it is often difficult to provide a high-fashion and decorative arrangement of fabric around the elastic band which will not become too bulky when the elastic band is twisted over itself to tightly secure the hair. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a decorative pony tail holder which can secure a length of hair by twisting the elastic band over itself to provide a tight grip for the hair while simultaneously providing a decorative display which will not become too bulky as to disrupt the position of the length of hair held by the twisted elastic band.

According to the present invention, a decorative pony tail holder and method for securely holding the hair of the user comprises a band of elastic material with fabric around this band. The fabric is formed into a plurality of radial projections extending circumferentially around a portion of the band to provide a circumferential portion of the band without any of these radial projections. In this way, a length of hair of the user may be inserted through the band with the band twisted over itself to tightly hold the hair with the projections encircling the length of hair. In this way, a sculpture of fabric can be provided to simulate such items as the petals of a flower or a star without becoming unduly bulky as the elastic band is twisted over itself in order to tightly grip the hair of the user.

Preferably, the radial projections are spaced equally around a portion of the elastic band, and in one embodiment of the present invention the radial projections have substantially rounded ends so that the projections will simulate the petals of a flower when the band is twisted over itself to tightly grip the hair of the user; and in another embodiment of the present invention, the free ends of the radial projections are configured more sharply to simulate a star when placed around the user's hair.

These are other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the description of preferred embodiments, such descriptions being made with reference to the following drawing figures, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a decorative pony tail holder of the present invention in elevation;

FIG. 2 illustrates the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 1 in place upon the user's hair;

FIG. 3 illustrates the initial steps of applying the decorative pony tail holder and FIG. 1 to the user's hair;

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate the twisting of the decorative pony tail holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 illustrates the placing of the twisted pony tail holder of FIG. 1 over itself;

FIG. 7 illustrates the fully twisted and assembled condition of the pony tail holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a side view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention to illustrate a star;

FIG. 10 illustrates the position in use of the embodiment of FIG. 9.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a decorative pony tail holder 10 of the present invention includes an internal elastic band 12 shown in phantom. A ring 14 of fabric surrounds and substantially encases the elastic band 12. As will be understood in the art, the ring 14 of fabric is formed by a length of fabric material extending circumferentially around the elastic band 12 and folded over the elastic band and stitch closed around its outer rim portion 16 to encase the elastic band in a substantially free-floating condition. Stitched to the outer edge of the fabric ring 16 is a continuous length of fabric formed into radial projections 18, 20, 22, 24, and 26. The length of fabric forming the radial projections is preferably formed as a double length of fabric which is stitched along its outer edge with an inner seam; and stitched to the fabric ring 14 to provide a unitary device. A portion 30 of the length of fabric does not include any radial projections, but does include a small segment 32 of fabric material.

FIG. 2 illustrates the embodiment of FIG. 1 in operative position as a pony tail holder, and as can be seen from FIG. 2, the pony tail holder is manipulated around a bunched length of hair 33 of the user to position the radial projections 18 through 26 in substantially uniformly-spaced circumferential arrangement around the pony tail 33.

To position the decorative pony tail holder 10 of the present invention in the operative position illustrated in FIG. 2, the length of hair 33 is first inserted through the opening 34 formed centrally in the pony tail holder 10, and the opening 34 can be stretched by pulling downward, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 3 with the lower portion of the pony tail holder twisted to generally form a figure-eight configuration as illustrated in FIG. 4. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the generally figure-eight configuration can be further twisted to invert the radial projections 18 and 20. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the lower half of the figure-eight formed by twisting the elastic band can then be placed over the upper portion of the figure eight as illustrated in FIG. 7, with the pony tail 33 projecting through the two overlaid openings from the figure-eight as previously formed; as illustrated in FIG. 2. In this way, the radial projections 18 through 26 can be arranged circumferentially in a position around the pony tail 32 to provide a decorative display of fabric and yet, as can be illustrated in FIG. 8, the thickness of the pony tail holder will not be too bulky despite the twisting and folding upon itself of the elastic band 12.

The embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 8 includes rounded free ends such as the end 36 of the radial projection 18 illustrated in FIG. 1; and thus the embodiment of this invention will simulate generally the appearance of the petals of a flower when positioned in the user's hair as illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 9 illustrates an alternate embodiment of the present invention wherein the radial projections are more sharply formed at the free end so that, as illustrated in FIG. 10, the device when positioned in the user's hair may generally simulate a five-pointed star.

As would be understood by one skilled in the art, the sculptural designs that can be utilized in the present invention are many and varied, and the invention is not intended to be limited to any particle pattern for the fabric chosen, nor any particular sculptular designs which could be configured by the general structures and geometry of the present invention described herein. The invention is not intended to be limited by any of the details described above, but by the appended claims.