Lanugo (; from Latin  "wool") is very fine, soft, and usually unpigmented, downy hair as can be found on the body of a fetus or newborn baby. It is the first hair to be produced by the fetal hair follicles, and it usually appears on the fetus at about five months of gestation. It is normally shed before birth, around seven or eight months of gestation but is sometimes present at birth and disappears on its own within a few days or weeks.