A towhead is a person with very light, blond or yellow-colored hair. The adjective form is towheaded, and either word may be hyphenated as in tow-head and tow-headed. Towhead is first seen in 1830. Tow is another word for flax, jute or hemp that is ready for spinning. Flax and hemp that is prepared for spinning is light-colored, hence a person with hair that is exceedingly light-colored or yellow would be a towhead. The word tow meaning fiber ready to spin appears in the fourteenth century, probably from the Old Norse word to, meaning uncleaned wool or flax, unworked fiber of thread. Towheaded children’s hair often darkens as they age into adulthood.
Examples
“For a little towhead boy growing up in Jersey to exhibit mathematical skill, to use his education and endurance to walk on the moon — wow!” Aldrin said. (The Jewish Journal)
‘I was head over heels in love with that child,’ she says as the flickering image of a towhead with bright blue eyes and an even brighter smile waves at the camera. (Entertainment Weekly Magazine)
“Happy Birthday to this adorable towhead who became my handsome man!” Kruger, 38, captioned an Instagram pic of Jackson’s Charlie Conway character. (Us Magazine)
And 5-year-old Kyle Boswell, an active little towhead who suffers from familial spastic paraplegia, a genetic neuromuscular condition marked by leg weakness, just beams at his mom, who’s watching from the back of the class, after every exercise. (Greenville Today)
Except that the sweet little towhead girl running around us wasn’t named Heidi. (Forbes)
“I don’t think I’ve ever noticed the heart of rocks around this tree in the downtown Paso Robles park,” Browne wrote above the image of his cute towhead toddler, Sammy, standing inside the shape. (The San Luis Obispo Tribune)