Information about Mohawk Hairstyle

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The Mohawk or Mohican is a hairstyle which consists of shaving either side of the head, leaving a strip of noticeably longer hair. Mohawks were a short-lived fad in the mid 1960s. Mohawks became common in youth punk subcultures in the early 1980s and were then adopted by various other groups, becoming more diverse in style. Today, Mohawks are still associated with the Punk subculture, but have become a part of mainstream fashion.

History

The Clonycavan Man, a 2,300-year-old male bog body found near Dublin, Ireland was found to be wearing a Mohawk, held together with plant oil and pine resin imported from southwestern France or Spain.^[1] The Mohawk is often thought to have been worn by the Mahican and Mohawk tribes, but the name may be a misnomer; it is believed that the Wyandot were the first Native American tribe to wear the hairstyle, but early French explorers mistook them for the Mohawk tribe. In French, the hairstyle is called Iroquois. During World War II, members of the Allied Airborne soldiers (specifically the 101st Airborne Division - the "Screaming Eagles") shaved their hair into Mohawks.^[2]

In more recent times, both sides of the head are shaved or buzzed, and the remaining hair is long and often spiked in the middle. The hairstyle is generally known as a "Mohawk" in the United States and a "Mohican" or "Mowie" in the United Kingdom. In Punk fashion, the Mohawk is often dyed brilliant colors and the center strip of hair worn so that it points straight up, often to impressive height. The Mohawk also appears in the Goth subculture, a descendant of Punk; with the hair spiked or long. Guinness World Records lists Aaron Studham as the person with the tallest Mohawk. Besides Punk fashion, the Mohawk became known with the popularity of Mr. T, the actor who first became famous playing the boxer Clubber Lang in the movie Rocky III and later as Sgt. B.A. Baracus in the television series The A-Team. In the 1980s, this type of African Mohawk was called Mandinkan, or Mandinkan Mohawk, after the Mandinkan Warrior haircut.

Another well-known popular culture depiction of the Mohawk came from Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver. Inspired by Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver, Richie Stotts of the New York Punk band The Plasmatics got a blue Mohawk in January 1979, followed by bassist Jean Beauvoir in September 1979 and singer Wendy O. Williams on November 30, 1980, who got a black Mohawk with cropped blond hair at the sides. The Plasmatics appeared on the American comedy TV show Fridays on January 16, 1981, which introduced the Mohawk to U.S. pop culture, while the band's albums and tours popularized the hairstyle in the UK and Europe. ^[3]

In the "Punk On Bus" sequence in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, associate producer Kirk R. Thatcher was shown dressed as a Punk with a bright orange Mohawk. In 2005, the Mohawk seemed to receive a brief and small revival among the mainstream, as claimed in Eric Wilson's Sep 1, 2005 article in The New York Times, "The Mohawk Becomes, Well, Cute." In it, Wilson argued that part of the revival was caused by Angelina Jolie's adopted son, Maddox Jolie.

Maintenance

The Mohawk, by its nature, and depending on the type of hair the wearer has, is typically a high-maintenance style, although after practice, can become quite routine for the wearer and done in a much shorter amount of time. Depending on the specific look desired by the wearer, regular, careful shaving may be required to maintain a clean line between the shaved and long parts of the hair; this can be especially complicated in bi- and tri-hawks.

If the hair is to be worn up, 20 minutes or more of laborious styling, including brushing, backcombing (teasing), twisting and so on, may be required. Some styles are particularly difficult to put up, requiring the use of very strong-hold hair gels and sprays, and in some cases other holding agents like shoe polish, toothpaste, white glue, egg whites, cornstarch or gelatin. The amount of time required for styling may increase considerably with longer hair or styles that require even spikes and lines. Depending on the method used to spike a Mohawk, it can take much less than 20 minutes. The use of glue and a blow-dryer cuts down considerably on the time needed.

However, once the Mohawk is up it can be easily maintained for an extended period. By sleeping on the side of the head with the Mohawk extending in air, daily maintenance takes only a few minutes of reinforcement touching up. Depending on what is used to put the Mohawk up, and the conditions it endures, a Mohawk can stay erect for several weeks. Some wearers enhance the look of their Mohawks using hair dyes. This, too can require a great deal of initial effort and maintenance, especially in styles where the color(s) form an integral part of the style. In some cases, for example, Mohawk-wearers who normally wear their hair up in a fan style dye the hair in even lines or stripes of color, either horizontal or vertical.

Varieties

A variety of different styles of Mohawk exist, often associated with different subcultures.

Bi-hawk (Twin Fins) & Tri-hawk

While a traditional Mohawk has one center strip of long hair, bi-hawks and tri-hawks have two and three respectively, with shaved portions between. Keith Flint from The Prodigy wore a bi-hawk in their videos "Firestarter" and "Breathe". Bi- and tri-hawks can be worn in any of the variant styles.

Blowhawk

A modified version of the traditional Mohawk where the spikes appear to be blown backward, hence the name. The Blowhawk is often utilized to add variety to the long-time Mohawk-wearer's appearance and is versatile in nature as it is merely a modification of other varieties of Mohawk. This style is generally achieved by forming straight spikes and then blow-drying them to the point of slight dampness, which gives them a plastic-like quality. The spikes are then bent backwards, toward the rear of the wearer's head. Blowhawks are often the end-result of a quick-and-easy attempt at charging one's hawk. Shorter Mohawks put up with hair gel only will often end up looking this way.

Chelsea-hawk

It is the same as a Mohawk, but a fringe is left in the front to frame the face. It is influenced by the feathercut, (known as a Chelsea in North America), which is a popular hairstyle for female skinheads.

Chinny-Hawk

A Chinny-hawk is like a fanned Mohawk apart from the fact that one side is spiked up and one is shaved, it is usually many different colors.

Crohawk

A Crowhawk is especially curly and an inch or two thick, with long large curls.

Crosshawk

The Crosshawk is a combination of a traditional fanned Mohawk and a fanned Sidehawk that come together to form a cross on the wearer's head. Variations of this with Bi-hawks are sometimes know as H-hawks because the Sidehawk crosses through the Bi-hawk and form an H-shape. Another variation of the Crosshawk is a Bi-hawk that connects together in the back, and a Sidehawk that crosses through forming an A, which has come to be known as the A-hawk.

Deathhawk or Goth hawk

Deathhawks are wider-than-average Mohawks that are often worn in a looser style, frequently backcombed but not often formed into stiff fans or spikes. They may feature long, loose tendrils. Deathhawks are associated with Deathrockers and Goths.

Devilhawk

The Devilhawk combines a Devilock with a Mohawk. It is created by pulling a Mohawk forward over the face, and hairspraying it there in a single point. It is popular among some fans of The Misfits, and others in the punk and Psychobilly subcultures.

Dreadhawk

A dreadhawk is a Mohawk where the hair is dreadlocked instead of being spiked upwards. The hair style itself is very diverse; it can be worn up like liberty spikes depending on the length of dreads; it can be braided, pulled back, tied but it will still remain dreadhawked. Dreadhawks appear most on Crust Punks. It was also famously worn by bassist Les Claypool of the band Primus.

Fanned

Fanned Mohawks are so named because they resemble a fan. All the unshaven hair is fixed upright in an even fan shape from the front hairline to the nape. An early wearer of the style was Wattie Buchan of The Exploited. A 270˚ Hawk is a fan Mohawk that extends from the back of the neck, to straight out from the forehead. It gets its name because it forms a 270˚ angle. This often requires a thicker strip of hair to extend the hair in front. Such a Mohawk has been worn by members of the band A Global Threat in their earlier days, as well as Gabe Sex, drummer of the band Cheap Sex.

Fauxhawk

The Fauxhawk is one of the most commonly seen Mohawks today. The Fauxhawk is characterized by a regular haircut that is faded up to the top where there is a longer rectangular patch of hair. This hairstyle is worn by taking the longer hair and gelling it into the middle of the head to make a "fake" or "faux" Mohawk, usually less than an inch tall.

Fin

A Fin is a Sidehawk that does not go to back of the head. It is a straight line of hair on the side of your head right above the ear like a fin. A person who had it was Jake from The Casualties.

The Flash Gordon

The Flash Gordon is a variation of the Mohawk made to look like the headpiece worn by the fictional comic book character Flash Gordon. Gordon Sloan from the first season of Network Ten's popular television show, Big Brother Australia 2001, donned one.

Liberty Spikes

Liberty spikes are so named because of their resemblance to the spikes on the crown of the Statue of Liberty, though they first appeared in the London punk scene. In this style, the unshaven parts of the hair are formed into spikes that may radiate outwards in all directions, or all point up in the same direction. Liberty spikes are not exclusively a Mohawk style, but can be created all over the head.

Mini-Mo

A Mini-Mo is a Mohawk that does not extend from the back of the neck to the forehead. It usually rests in middle of the head. Its name is a portmanteau of "" and "Mohawk".

Mollet

A Mollet is a Mohawk that is worn in the front, then branches out into a mullet in the back. Notable people who have worn it are Maynard James Keenan of Tool and Les Claypool of Primus.

Quiff

A Quiff Mohawk is a hybrid between a Mohawk and a Pompadour. Commonly worn within the Psychobilly subculture, it represents that musical genre's fusion of 1970s British punk rock with 1950s American Rockabilly. Being sharply angled, it is much longer in the front, and usually stopped at the back of the head. The top is usually flattened out, giving it a grown-out Flattop appearance. Examples may be seen on Sparky of Demented Are Go, Koefte and Valle of Mad Sin, and Snakepunk of the Hellbenders.

Fro-Hawk

Fro-Hawks are usually shorter Mohawks, but are made from an Afro. An example of a Fro-Hawk would be Mr. T.

Reverse Mohawk

Reverse Mohawks are Mohawk haircuts in reverse (the opposite of a Mohawkand also called a "no-hawk"), essentially a shaved straight line (usually wide enough for a disposable razor or electric hair clippers) from the forehead to the nape of the neck leaving hair on either side of the line. This haircut is also known as an "Antihawk," "HawkMo," "Skunk," "Highway," "Nohawk," and "Polish Mohawk." Famous Reverse Mohawk-wearers include Road Warrior Hawk, one half of The Road Warriors, Peter Gabriel while with Genesis, Jim Martin (formerly of Faith No More), and Keith Flint, vocalist for The Prodigy. It was also sported by the fictional character Fraker in the movie Death Wish III. Alien Ant Farm singer Dryden Mitchell sported a less-dramatic Reverse Mohawk, where he had a thin, long triangle shaved into the middle of his head, reaching to his crown. This haircut was used in the Gor book series to indicate slaves.

There is another variation of the reverse Mohawk, known as the Hot-Cross Bun. It still retains the shaved stripe from -front-to-back, but in addition, there's also a shaved stripe from ear-to-ear, exo-facto, the 'hot cross bun'

Sidehawk

A Sidehawk is a sideways mohawk. It goes from above one ear across the head to the opposite ear.

Footnotes

See also

• Punk fashion
• Devilock
• Mr T

External links

• History of the Mohawk
• Historical Mohawks of Distinction
• Care and Feeding of Mohawks
• The Mohawk FAQ
• Mohawk Styling
• An FAQ on making hair stand up
• Travis Barker's Mohawk