The faux hawk hairstyle also known as Fohawk has been one of the most trendy cuts over the last few years, and for good reason. This haircut mimics a mohawk — hence the name “faux hawk” or “fake hawk” — with the ‘wave’ riding through the top, but gives you much more freedom when it comes to what you do with the sides (and of course, how extreme the actual ‘hawk’ is).
The faux hawk has been worn by many famous celebrities, including American singer Adam Levine (before shaving down to some more receding-hairline-friendly cuts), actor Zac Efron and soccer player David Beckham.
It also happens to fit round faces quite well, like the 7 other hairstyles we suggested in this article.
Simply defined, fohawk is a haircut with the top styled into a toned-down mohawk, with no other criteria.
Getting The Faux Hawk
The odd thing about this style is that it is more of a ‘hairstyle’ than it is a ‘haircut’. While a mohawk might require you to shave your sides off, only leaving a long-haired strip across the top of your head, one can transpose to a faux hawk from plenty of other haircuts.
That said, it is necessary to have medium to long top-hair if you want to successfully emulate a mohawk on top. It is entirely up to you what you want to do with the sides, though.
Seeing as all of the above isn’t too useful if you’re trying to decide on how you want your hair to look, we would recommend taking a look at some various photos of this style across the internet and from there choosing exactly how you want the different parts of your hair to be cut.
Also, if you’re looking to taper the sides or shave a pattern in, now is probably the right time to do it!
Styling This Cut
Styling is, as usual, the fun part of getting a new haircut/hairstyle. Make sure that before you start your hair is dry, so that things stay in place, and you have some gels, pomades or sprays on hand (these will be needed to keep the hawk in shape and robust).
The top of your hair is the most important area with this style. To get the characteristic mohawk effect, brush your hair upwards lightly until it stands up on its own, and then using both hands push your hair together to create the basic ‘hawk’ structure.
From there, you can choose whether or not to add more texture, for example using your fingertips to make the occasional spike (as we mentioned in our spiky hairstyles article) or pushing the top forwards slightly to create some waviness.
As for the sides, you are free to do whatever you please. Most often the hair is relatively short, so there’s not much styling to be done whether desired or not. If you do have some length there, you can use your fingers to gently brush into your sideburns or tuck it behind your ears.
