Men's Hair Fashion: the Faux Hawk

I am so late to this, but here goes.

In recent months, I have observed a new hairstyle favored by young men -- hipsters, if you will. Below are some illustrations of the general look:

What you see is a basically shortish cut with a little more height and volume on the top of the head.

Curious, when I saw yet another young man with this cut today, I asked if his hairstyle had a name.

"It's a Faux Hawk," he answered.

Immediately, I understood.  Faux Hawk is a variation on Mohawk.

We all remember back in the days of punk rock, when a fair number of young people, men and some women, wore Mohawk haircuts.  Here are some examples:

These looks were pretty extreme.  Keeping them in shape must have required copious applications of heavy-duty mousse or hair gel.

My guess is that young people who craved a look that shocked people on the street gave up on high-maintenance Mohawk haircuts and, over time, migrated to tattoo parlors and piercing salons.

But the idea stuck in the young (mostly) male imagination.  There is at least one Faux Hawk Facebook page; it features these looks, all of which I suspect were rendered by professional stylists:

All quite polished and nicely done.  The middle one, to me, suggests an Elvis influence as well.

Anyway, the Faux Hawk fashion spread, and it seems to have been taken up by young men doing their own hair grooming.  Here are some examples:

Note that the results are less perfectly realized.  In fact, these Faux Hawks, like the Mohawks that preceded them, seem to require a commitment of time and styling products.  My impression is that, while young men may want to look fashionable, they may not be as willing as young women to put in the time required to perfect a given look.

And let's face it:  It cannot be a simple matter to convince the hair on the top of one's head to defy gravity.  Think of the perils of walking outdoors in times of  high wind or rain.  Perhaps those pictured above made time for Faux Hawk maintenance by shaving less frequently.

In fact, the Faux Hawks I observed recently, like those noted at the top of this post, are much more subtle, with much shorter centerpieces on top of the head.  They also seem more common on men whose hair has a certain amount of texture or curl. In their cases,  a haircut from a stylist who understands the fashion is probably all they need. For them, I'm guessing, maintaining a Faux Hawk is a simple matter of wash-and-go.

One Note:  Young men with straightish hair should not despair, however.  Men's hair fashion includes more than one look these days.  Consider the very stylish hair on the handsome gentleman below: