1. Technical Field
The present disclosure is directed to supplementing existing human hair and, more particularly, to adding volume by attachment of additional hair strands to a host strand of hair.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that hair transplants only achieve a 30% to 50% increase in hair density. While an increase of 50% in hair density generally looks better, a lower density of hair improvement usually presents a thin head of hair. Ideally, the goal is to obtain a thickening of 100% or more of existing hair.
Prior methods are problematic because of limitations on reusability. For example, adhesives have been used to glue or bond additional hair to an existing hair shaft. The difficulty with adhesives is that they are exposed to the elements, such as rain, the ocean, sweat, as well as chemicals from shampoo, which can break down the adhesive. When the adhesive breaks down, the bond fails, resulting in hair loss.
Other methods and devices include the use of metal clamps. Such clamps require special tools to attach the clamp to the hair. In order to adjust and accommodate growing hair, the clamps must be unclamped and reclamped, resulting in tedious and expensive labor. Metal fatigue is also an issue with these types of clamps. Moreover, the use of thousands of clamps in a head of hair may cause allergic reactions, and these clamps can be easily snagged or pulled with a comb or brush.
Another approach has been to use thermal plastic tubes that are shrunk onto the hair with the application of heat. Such heat shrunk tubes are difficult to adjust because they require reheating, which can be damaging to existing hair and the scalp, and such tubes are usually not able to be reheated and reapplied.
In general, existing methods and devices are one-time applications only. The practicality of attempting to adjust these existing hair supplementation devices while attached to the existing hair makes them unusable for all intents and purposes.