Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Cobra Kai’ brings forward a new crop of karate kids who form unlikely alliances and rivalries while attending West Valley High School. The story picks up more than three decades after ‘The Karate Kid,’ as Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence cross paths with each other, only to reignite their enmity after so many years. Their rivalry seeps into the teenagers they train in their dojos, leading to even more drama.
One of the teenagers who emerges as a force to reckon with and goes through a complicated arc throughout the show is Eli Moskowitz, aka Hawk. Known for being a fierce karate fighter, he dons a signature mohawk. Interestingly, the actor didn’t wear a wig to get that look.
Hawk’s Mohawk in Cobra Kai is Real
It is not uncommon for actors to use wigs for their roles, especially when their characters have a unique haircut. However, actor Jacob Bertrand gets a chance to slip deeper into the skin of his character by growing out his hair, which receives a mohawk during the filming of ‘Cobra Kai.’ In almost all the seasons, the actor’s mohawk is all of his real hair. He revealed that at the end of every season, he receives a buzzcut, removing the entire hair which has been colored and bleached, and receiving a ton of hairspray throughout the season. Then, he starts to grow his hair back for the next season.
Considering the size of the mohawk he has had in almost every season of ‘Cobra Kai,’ it is incredible to discover that the actor dedicated himself to the role to the point of altering his whole look for the show. He revealed that in the third season, he had an eight-inch mohawk; all of it was his real hair, which is colored in a different shade every season. Getting the hairstyle done requires the actor to spend at least thirty minutes on the makeup chair, getting two bottles of hairspray on his head. In addition, he has to spend at least another hour on his cleft lip makeup and the tattoos his character dons through the seasons.
It was only in the fourth season that Bertrand had to have extensions added to increase the size of his mohawk. The actor revealed that while he had grown out his hair for the season, it amounted to about five to six inches of mohawk. The hair and makeup department added extensions to stretch to eight to nine inches in height to match his hairdo in the previous season.
Losing the Mohawk Impacted the Actor as Much as the Character
In the show, Hawk’s mohawk is a sign of his confidence. Donning it for real every season gave the actor his confidence, too, especially in getting into Hawk’s mindset. In the fourth season, when Hawk’s mohawk was cut off by Cobra Kai, it didn’t just affect the character but also the actor. Bertrand revealed that losing the mohawk, especially when he wasn’t expecting it to happen until the next season, was as much a blow to him as it was to Hawk. In retrospect, he sees it as a fun thing to do with his character, especially when exploring his psyche, but he admits that, at the time, he had a significant impact on his performance.
Having had the mohawk since Season 1, Bertrand was used to fighting with the full head of hair. So, when the mohawk was gone, he experienced a disbalance within himself. He did feel a bit lighter, but his habit of countering the mohawk in his moves inhibited him quite a bit. Like his character, he also felt like he’d lost his confidence a little bit, even if subconsciously, which made him empathize with Hawk even more and portray him better.
Read More: Cobra Kai: The Real Life Inspirations Behind Mr. Miyagi
