Belden has several versions of "Sailor Boy," three have a 'hair' verse, but the hair is brown. One, collected in 1914, may date from the time of the Forty-Niners.

D, p. 189. "The Sailor Boy," H. M. Belden, 1940, "Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society, Univ. Missouri Press.

Brown is the color of my true love's hair,
His cheeks resemble the roses fair,
If he'll come back and give me joy,
None will I have but my California boy.
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Many versions of "Sailor Boy" lack the 'hair' verse, which may have floated in from another song.
Looking at Randolph and others, there seem to be more than one "Sailor Boy" song.

A ballad at the Bodleian, "The Sailor Boy," 'before 1839,' Harding B11(2298), noted in Trad. Ballad Index.
Can't open the ballads today, just the indices.