Glossary Terms beginning with H

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H

Hair Colorant: Ingredients that impart color to hair. Hair coloring preparations may be temporary, semi-permanent, permanent, or progressive, depending on the length of time the colorant affects the hair.
Hair Conditioning Agent: Ingredients that enhance the appearance and feel of hair, by increasing hair body, suppleness, or sheen, or by improving the texture of hair that has been damaged physically or by chemical treatment.
Hair Fixative: Ingredients that help hair hold its style by inhibiting the hair?s ability to absorb moisture.
Hair-Waving and Straightening Agent: Substances that modify hair fibers to facilitate changes to the structure of the fibers, such as with permanent waves or with hair straightening.
Heavy Metal: Heavy metals are higher atomic weight elements that have properties of a metallic substance at room temperature. Some heavy metals, such as iron, cobalt, copper, manganese, and zinc are required in small amounts by living organisms. Other heavy metals, such as mercury, lead and cadmium have no known beneficial effects.
Hull: The dry outer covering of a fruit, nut, or seed.
Humectant: Ingredients that slow the loss of moisture from a product during use.
Husk: The outer covering of various seeds or fruits.
Hydrocarbon: Organic compounds consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon.
Hydrolysate: The product of hydrolysis.
Hydrolysis: Decomposition of a chemical compound into smaller constituents by reaction with water.