Why was the Mohawk Haircut so prevalent among Native American tribes?

by ItsFuggin_LIT

I personally feel the Mohawk is a badass hairstyle. I am just currently wondering what made it so popular throughout Native American history.

Reedstilt

On a practical level, many men in eastern North America developed hairstyles that kept their hair from potentially getting tangled in their bowstrings. Of course practicality isn't the only concern, and is not necessarily even the dominant concern. Local aesthetics results in a lot of different options for hairstyles. Timucua men in Florida let their hair grow long, but pulled it into a topknot as seen in this contemporary French illustration. A common Powhatan hairstyle for men was to shave the right side of your head and let your hair grow long on the left; when Uttamatomakkin / Tomocomo, a Powhatan priest, visited England and debated the merits of his religion compared to those of Christianity, the fact that the Christian god had not instructed Europeans in this hairstyle as Okeus had for the Powhatan was seen as point against Christianity. The custom designer for The New World included this hairstyle for some of the characters in the film; here's one so you can get an idea of what it looked like.

While some hairstyles are iconic among certain cultures, they're not static either. Early in the colonial era, the Choctaw for example were famous for their long flowing hair. But soon after the arrival of Europeans they switched over to roach. What's a roach? That bring's us to your question and for that I'll quote myself from a related question:

Variants of this hair style (the "mohawk"), known generically as a 'roach' (from the French roche), could be found all over the place (including the Old World). In New World, the roach was especially common in the east, but could also be found among some of the Plains cultures and on the Columbian Plateau. In general it was the hair style preferred by men of fighting age. In the east, it was common that the roach didn't extend all the way forward, as seen in this illustration. The long upright hair you see in that illustration is part of an accessory to accentuate the roach. In this portrait of Black Hawk from 1832, you can see what the roach looks like without such accessories. In this portrait of Keokuk, Black Hawk's main political rival, you can see the long hairs that are added to the roach--these artificial roach extensions were made from deer hair, the porcupine guard-hairs, or more rarely from some other animal's hair, and dyed red or yellow. They're held in place by a roach-spreader, which also holds the feather you can see in these images. In modern dancing regalia, the roach is completely artificial and held in place with a strap under the chin, as seen here.

The roach was usually worn in association with a scalplock (sometimes the roach itself was completely artificial, as described above, and attached to scalplock itself). On the Plains, the Pawnee were more famous for wearing this hairstyle and in this photograph from the 1860s, you can see the roach and the scalplocks quite well. Usually the locks were in the back, as seen here, but occasionally they might be in the front instead. Regardless of their position, they could be braided, decorated, and styled in many different ways. Having impressive scalplocks was something to be proud of because they could easily be lost while fighting.

You may want to check out the Encyclopedia of American Indian Costume for more information about particular cultures and their hairstyles. It's sometimes all-too-brief in its descriptions, but you can follow up on its sources to find out even more.

CalRipkenForCommish

Well, I opened the link out of genuine curiosity. What I got has now turned into an hour long journey into Native American hairstyles and their separate histories. Thank you /r/Reedstilt for your post. This was fascinating. This is one of those times where I wish I had but more than one upvote to give, as it's not proportionate to the thanks I can give.