Mohawk is a complex and unusual hairstyle that is popular in the punk subculture and among people who prefer an extravagant style. Such hairstyles were done by some representatives of the American Indian tribes, for example, the Shawnee. The name "Iroquois" is given in honor of one of the Indian tribes.
History of the Iroquois
The Iroquois are one of the most famous tribes of the American Indians; before the arrival of Europeans to the continent, they were one of the most influential. There is a widespread myth that it was these Indians who wore high hairstyles: they shaved off the hair from both sides, and in the middle, using improvised means, raised them high up and secured them.
But in fact, the Iroquois rarely wore such hairstyles: they did similar styling in ancient times - they shaved all their hair, leaving a bun with feathers on the crown, but they mostly wore long hair, decorated with bright headdresses with feathers. The Onondaga Indians wore hairstyles a bit like modern Iroquois: they left a long strand in the middle of the head, which was braided into a pigtail.
Real Iroquois - tall, frightening, noticeable - were worn by the enemies of the Iroquois, representatives of the Shawnee tribe. Similar hairstyles had the Pouni, Omaha, Missouri, Otto, Kansa tribes - but they differed in that they were made not of hair, but of animal fur and porcupine quills. It is widely believed that all of these intricate head decorations were intimidating, but researchers believe they were made to look like totem deities with animal attributes.
Modern mohawk
In its modern form, the mohawk was first worn by the famous singer Watty Buchan from Scotland, the lead singer and leader of the group The Exploited, which played punk rock, street punk and other areas of punk music. The name of the hairstyle in English sounds like "Mohawk", as some Iroquois called themselves. In the Russian language, the word "mohawk" in the meaning of punk hairstyles, according to experts, was brought by the journalist Artemy Troitsky in one of the first publications.
After Buchan, other representatives of the punk subculture began to make mohawks, and soon the hairstyle became popular among them. Today, the Mohawk, like the punk culture, is less common, but has not yet disappeared. There are two types of this hairstyle, Siberian and American, which have different stripe widths. The mohawk is worn both folded, standing vertically upward, and in a supine state.
There are other options: for example, the hair is cut in steps and laid with peculiar thorns, or the rest of the head is not shaved baldly, but with patterns, there are also hairstyles with two or three parallel mohawks. But the classic version is hair cut under a typewriter, no more than two to three millimeters long and a comb up to four fingers wide.