Fighting For The Survival of the Faux-Hawk

by Ryal

So what’s all the fuss against 20-something professionals sporting the faux-hawk? Under sporadic scrutiny and constant questions, I’ve personally been rock’n the Faux-hawk for over 6 years now, undergoing, of course, different degrees of length and varying degrees of styling gel. However, I now find myself a destined crossroads. The girlfriend is asking (aka demanding) a change in style, citing that no man above the age of 22 should have a faux-hawk. Do I wilt into submission, or fight the good fight? A crossroads indeed.

See below for the wikipedia definition of the faux-hawk as well as real life photo examples. What style are you currently sporting? Feel free to send over pics of your own.

• Special thanks to HairColorXperts in Cameron Village for this continued assistance in this ongoing battle.

Faux-hawk
The Faux hawk is the most commonly seen hawk today. The Faux-hawk is characterized by a regular haircut that is faded up to the top where there is a longer square patch of hair. This hair style is worn by taking the longer hair and gelling it into the middle of the head to make a mohawk, usually less than an inch tall. This is called the faux-hawk because it does not have to be worn as a mohawk all the time and is unrecognizable as a mohawk without gel. Therefore, a faux-hawk is not a real mohawk. Also known as a Fohawk or Eurohawk.

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, twenty 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, tooth paste, white glue, egg whites, cornstarch or Knox 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 and 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.

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.

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