The Mohawk hairstyle (in British English also called Mohican hairstyle) is traditionally thought to be a hair style worn by the Mahican and Mohawk tribes. In reality it appears that the Huron were the first to sport the Mohawk. Like many indigenous tribes in the Great Lakes region, they wore a type of hair style in which all their hair would be cut off except for a narrow strip down the middle of the scalp. In some cases the hair was left the natural, dark, color at the base and colored from the middle to the top with an orange/yellow fade to look like the sunset. The final product resembles a line of buffalo running along the horizon. Today such a hair style is still called a Mohawk, though the hair is often made to point up as spikes.

In punk fashion, the hair is often dyed brilliant colours and the centre strip of hair worn so that it points straight up often to impressive height.

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. Another well-known popular culture depiction of the Mohawk came from Martin Scorcese's film Taxi Driver. Plasmatics guitarist Richie Stotts is quoted as saying, "It was the summer of '78. I was watching 'Taxi Driver' one night and the instant I saw Travis Bickle I thought, 'This is it. This is the look!'"

Many types of mohawks exist including: liberty spikes, fans, tri-hawks, bi hawks and deathhawks. Liberty-spikes are named such because of their striking resemblance to the spikes on the head of the statue of liberty, though they first popped up in the London scene, later renamed in NYC by the St. Mark's punks and are often used for their durability in extremy long hair. Fan mohawks try to keep all hair in a uniform spread creating a fan effect. Tri-hawks are when a person has the mohawks on their head one in the middle and one on each side. Tri-hawks are generally put up by fanning them. Bi-hawks are the same as tri-hawks only without the center hawk. Deathhawks are wider than average mohawks that are backcombed before they are put up. Deathhawks are sometimes seen being worn by death rockers and goths.

The name "Mohawk" was perhaps bestowed upon the tribe by the Germans, who, mistaking a personal name for the group name, started to call the Kanien'kehá:ka "Moackh." An English corruption of pronunciation turned it into the familiar "Mohawk" which is still used today. The name of the people in the Mohawk language (which does not possess an /m/ sound) is Kanien'kehá:ka.

The mohawk hairstyle inspired the fauxhawk hairstyle.

Notable Hawks

• Mr. T
• Richie Stotts
• Sascha Konietzko
• Travis Bickle
• Thighpaulsandra

External link

• History of the Hawk
• Care and feeding of mohawks
• The Mohawk FAQ
• The Mohawked people livejournal community