baby hair

English

Noun

baby hair (countable and uncountable, plural baby hairs)

1. (dialect, usually countable) A fine, wispy strand of hair at the edge of a person's (usually a woman's) hairline.
   • 2003, Darcel Turner, Dana Dances on Paper‎^[1]:

     Medium size cornrows going back with a curl at the end of each braid. A silky, smooth, hairline, highlighted with soft black baby hairs.

2. (uncountable) The hair of a baby.
3. (countable, uncountable) Any immature or fine strand of hair, or (uncountably) a collection of such hairs. (Compare baby tooth, baby fat.)
   • 1919, Eleanor Atkinson, The how and why Library‎^[2]:

     You shed your hair, too. Old hairs fall out nearly every day, and new baby hairs grow in their places .

   • 1931, Lida Louise Fleitmann, The Horse in Art: From Primitive Times to the Present:

     He has not made the mistake of giving us a smaller horse, but shows us all the coltish attributes, the curling baby hair on the flanks, the slim gawky legs, and above all the concave face and […]

Usage notes

(fine hair at hairline): Usually used in reference to the textured hair of Black and Latina women.