Towhead, blond

Can anyone tell me the origin of the phrase "towheaded child" and what it's supposed to mean?

TOWHEAD -- ".is a person -- usually a young person -- who has very blond hair, almost flaxen or pale yellow. 'Tow' has for centuries been used as a name for flax or hemp prepared for spinning." From the Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1977, 1988).

And while we're on the subject of yellow hair: According to the "Associated Press Stylebook," "blond" is used as a noun for males and as an adjective for all applications. "Blonde" is the noun for a woman with blond hair.

throw in a cowlick and you have a "tow-headed kid". All my cousins were blond on blonde as kids and they all had cowlicks on their foreheads. It looked like rumpled flax prior to spinning.