Towhead

wiktionarypar|towheadA towhead is a sandbar or small alluvial island in a river that often features a small grouping of trees.

A towhead also refers to a person with light blond hair. This is based on the hair's resemblance to tow which is coarse or broken flax prepared for spinning. It also refers to someone with 'tousled' hair--(disheveled)

In colonial times, families grew their own flax to make into fabric for clothing. Transforming the flax into thread was a complicated, involved process with many time-consuming steps. After the flax was harvested, it was soaked in water for several days to soften it so the inner fibers could be removed from the stalk. To separate the long, thin fibers from the shorter, coarser ones, the flax was pulled through a bed of nails or combed in a process called "towing." The shorter fibers that were extricated were of a lesser quality and were called "tow." This led to the term "towheads" to describe people, particularly children, whose hair resembled these strands.