The Mohawk is derived from the Native American Mohican hair style, worn by Mohican tribes. The Mohican style involved shaving one or both sides of the head as a symbol of a young man’s adulthood and warrior prowess. It was also a functional style, since hair was likely to become tangled in a bowstring and shaving the side of the head prevented that.

Modern Mohawks were first introduced in the 1960s and evolved to a popular fad for punk hair styles in the 1970s and 1980s. During the 1980s, especially, there were dozens of variations of Mohawk styles that ranged from buzzed looks to bright colors to radically creative styles.

Today’s Mohawk hair styles have a wide range of looks and different characteristics, including:

• Color: Many Mohawks are elaborately colored, though natural hair colors are also popular choices for a less shocking style.
• Length: Mohawks can be any length, from short buzzes to long hair teased to new heights.
• Shape: A classic Mohawk is straight, but spikes, fans, and curls are popular variations.
• Placement: Traditionally a Mohawk is in the center of the scalp, but side Mohawks can be found as well. Mohawks can also vary in terms of where they start and end on the head, and some Mohawks may even have more than one rigid line of hair.

Mohawk Hair styles Gallery

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. The Mohawk, which can also be known as "Moonhawk" in some countries, 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. Many other accounts of Native American cultures however claim that 'In times of war, Mohawk men shaved their heads except for a scalplock or a crest down the center of their head--the hairstyle known as a roach or a "Mohawk." During World War II, members of the Allied Airborne soldiers (specifically the 101st Airborne Division - the "Screaming Eagles") shaved their hair into Mohawks.