Flax or flax is a pale yellowish-gray color, the color of straw or unspun flax. The first recorded use of flax as a color name in English was in 1915, but “flax” was used to describe the hair color on Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield in 1849: Mr Omer’s niece Minnie is described as “a beautiful girl with long hair and blond curly hair.”