If you look out a window now, chances are that you will notice someone’s head looking a little like a cockatoo bird. It might be a man, but it could also be a woman. This hairstyle, where one cuts the hair from the sides of the head, or shaves it bald, or braids it up and leaves a long line of hair from the forehead down to the back of the neck – the Mohawk – is being embraced by both sexes.
The hairdo is spreading like wildfire, from local celebrities like Chow Pow to the average school child; everyone now wants to sport their cockatoo looks.
It’s not new. It’s been here before. And now it’s back with a bang; or not.
Mr T, born Laurence Tureaud, the American actor known for his role as BA Baracus in the ‘80s television series ‘The A-Team’ has to be the world’s unrivalled consistent Mohawk wearer; it is his signature look and he would be unrecognised without it.
The origin of the Mohawk came from the Iroquois Indians in North America who would pluck the hairs from the side of their heads, OUCH! Although Mohawks became famous and associated mostly with the Punk Rock subculture, it is now mainstream fashion and spotted in all sorts of styles and genre.
We see Sean Paul’s line of jet black hair bordered by two shades of baldness, Willow Smith does her own thing and there is even the opposite style called the Reverse Mohawk. The hairdo has even evolved to gothic styles filled with bright colours, spike designs and jewellery laced to the little hair left. From just being widely defined as a narrow, central strip of upright hair running from the forehead to the nape – see how one style can develop and branch out to a magnitude of oddness?
I say oddness because not everyone has the hair, head or shape of face to rock a Mohawk, yet all sorts of people are trying it on. Some people just look out of place, or like clowns (no offence to clowns.) I can just imagine if we have alien visitors, they would be making fun of us. Our heads are already gigantic compared to our narrow bodies, now picture our spikey red and orange hair.
Guyana has its fair share of Mohawk enthusiasts. I took the opportunity to ask my regular barber (who has a Mohawk by the way) how many people he does the hairstyle for. He said on average four people a day – from children to middle-aged men. I asked him why he got the do and he said it looks “cool”.
Of course no one admits they are influenced by peer pressure but I highly believe ‘monkey see, monkey do’. Please don’t rally up a mob on me, I’m not calling anyone a monkey; people by nature have the tendency to mimic others and before long, it’s mass Mohawks!
Anyhow, hair is hair, whether you wear it curled, purple or in dreadlocks. Chances are the Mohawk will leave as swiftly as it came. Mr T excepted, of course. So I guess people can whip it as they see fit. (Jairo Rodrigues)
