Hair-raising harvest

The ’hawk no longer flies, and Eric Hahn can sleep a little easier.

Hahn, former Guinness World Record holder for the world’s tallest mohawk, hit the salon on Wednesday to cut down Omaha’s most famous coif.

Arriving at the Capitol School of Hairstyling with a smile, Hahn, 36, said it was finally time to face the music and get rid of the ’do that had become his signature over the past year.

“It’s a hassle. I want to be able to wake up and just go like this,” he said, doing a quick wave in the air over his scalp. “Time to get rid of it.”

Well, right after one more measurement.

“The guy in Germany had a little over 31 inches,” he said of the man who beat his record-setting hair in July. “I’d still keep it if it’s grown any.”

Hahn’s hair, held straight up in a 27-inch mohawk by two cans of hairspray, achieved the world record a year ago, leading to a flurry of international attention and even an appearance on a Japanese game show. Though the German bested Hahn last summer, he’d kept the long-in-the-middle, shaved-on-the-sides look in case he could make a comeback.

Liv Madej, the student hairdresser assigned to Hahn, grabbed a yardstick.

“Nope,” she said, measuring straight up from his crown. “It’s 22 or 23.”

“Oh, well,” said Hahn. “Let’s do it then.”

Madej went to work, gathering Hahn’s hair into five ponytails from his forehead to his neck. When it wasn’t in the mohawk, the hair resembled the ’do of an ’80s rock roadie. The hair on the sides of his head was still short, leaving him looking a little like a show pony ready for judging.

“You ready?” Madej asked, holding the front lock up, scissors at hand.

Hahn clenched his eyes and nodded.

Madej plunged her silver scissors in, working through the gathered strands about 3 inches above Hahn’s scalp. Hahn was donating the hair to Locks of Love, a group that makes wigs from real hair for people undergoing chemotherapy, and he needed at least 10 inches to give. No worries. There was hair to spare.

Suddenly, Madej had a problem. The scissors weren’t cutting through. “Mr. Mike?” she said to her instructor, David Mike, watching from behind.

“It’s ’cause you’re left-handed. You need different scissors,” he told her.

Hahn peeked through still-squinted eyes. This was taking a little longer than he’d hoped.

Madej adjusted, and quickly sliced through the rest of the first tail. “There,” she said.

Hahn opened his eyes. The first long piece of his world record dangled from Madej’s hand.

“Jeez,” he muttered quietly.

Madej quickly finished, slicing the second, third, fourth and fifth ponytails, leaving Hahn’s unfinished hair bedraggled and his face in a state of mild shock.

He stared at the mirror for a moment, contemplating. It was a good time for a change. Laid off from his job at a publicity-tracking company last month, Hahn could use a slightly more civil hairdo. Interviewers don’t exactly clamor toward applicants with 2-foot hair spikes. Still, it was a big change.

“It’s so weird,” he said, turning his head left and right. “Doesn’t look bad though. I like it.”

Madej washed his newly manageable hair and gave him a final styled cut. A little spiky still, but a big step toward normal.

Madej told him he should get some of the special paste she worked through his hair.

That way, she said, “you can kinda do whatever you want with it.” Hahn looked in the mirror again, his freshly cut hair shining.

“I like the messy look,” he said.

Contact the writer:

444-1339, wesley.taylor@owh.com

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