Impulsive quarantine haircuts, dye jobs give Brad Mondo the chills
Brad Mondo is theYouTube hairstylist.
Mondo began posting his wildly popular series “Hairdresser Reacts” three years ago, when he was trying to establish a YouTube presence. Since then, he amassed nearly 4.6 million subscribers who watch him react to bleach fails, terrible box dye jobs, and rough at-home haircuts.
His channel's popularity landed him coveted collaborations with fellow YouTubers, a hair care product line, XMondo Hair, and a dedicated fanbase willing to wreck their own hair in an effort to be featured on his channel. Late last year, he joined the platform-de-jour and brought his reaction videos to TikTok, where he now has 2.2 million followers.
Mondo's videos are often exaggerated, but he's never cruel in his reactions. He tends to be compassionate and offer firm, yet constructive criticism — after all, his fans tend to be young women who are alsosensitive about their hair. And while he resisted making tutorial videos for years, emphasizing the importance of seeing a professional hairdresser over risking a disastrous DIY job, the pandemic made him rethink his convictions. Since social distancing practice and stay-at-home mandates shut down non-essential businesses like hair salons, Mondo began posting a series of at-home hair tutorials.
"I know a lot of us are at our breaking points," he said in a rare tutorial video about coloring hair at home. "Everyone wants to do something drastic to their hair right now in order to just feel something. And I get it!"
During a phone call with Mashable, he explained why the pandemic made him change his mind, and what he thinks about everyone's impulse bangs.
Hi Brad, how are you?
Good! How are you?
I'm pretty good! You know, quarantine. It's going as well as it can.
Yeah, I'm in New York ... It's pretty chill, but I just want my city back!
Well thanks for hopping on the phone with me. We're about a month into quarantine, and people are doing truly wild things to their hair. As a professional hairdresser, what do you think about all the impulse bangs and impulse bleach jobs that they're recording right now.
There's two sides for me. I'm excited that people are going to experiment with their hair and go wild and do what they want. After all, hair does grow back. As long as you're OK with it maybe going wrong, I say go for it. I've seen some really awful things happening, a lot of meltdowns ... I mean, listen, the more content, the merrier for me.
Can you tell me more about your Hairdresser Reacts series and why you started it?
I started a few years ago, and I was struggling to make my YouTube channel work. And I uploaded a video called "Watching Somebody Ruin Their Hair" or something like that. It was never called Hairdresser Reacts in the first place, and overnight it had half a million views and I had 5,000 subscribers. And I was like, "Wow, there's something here that I should definitely capitalize on." I did it, and for the first six months or so I was producing four Hairdresser Reacts a week, and building my channel rapidly. I eventually switched to Hairdresser Reacts once a week, and people have stayed interested for the past three years.
So you recently pivoted to TikTok, too. Why do you think that app fosters a culture where people are interested in watching you react to other people messing up their hair?
That's another thing I was pretty shocked about. Not shocked, but I didn't know if it was going to translate as well, especially because a lot of my TikToks aren't me talking. I'm just making faces. How many people are gonna care about me making faces to bad dye jobs?
And I can't believe how many people enjoy it, which is really cool. I think I've really solidified myself as the person you've seen react to something, especially with hair situations.
I've noticed people coming up on my For You Page explicitly tagging you in their bad dye jobs.
Even when I'm scrolling through my For You Page now I see people being like, "Hey Brad, I'm making this video for you." A month ago I wouldn't even expect myself to be doing TikTok as much as I'm doing it now. It's really cool that really anybody can do it now, and become a big star there.
What are the worst mistakes you've seen in these videos over the last three years?
Oh god, there are so many.
I see the most mistakes when people bleach their hair. People don't use the right products, usually people just go for the fast developer, and they just want to blast their hair as white as possible and as fast as possible. And you really have to be patient with the process when you're lightening your hair, or else it's not going to be cute and your hair's going to become very damaged.
I've also seen people, they don't use enough bleach, it's a very light coating. Everyone who watches my channel knows that I hate that. They kind of lightly coat [their hair] and wonder why it's turned out like, completely orange. You gotta use enough, you gotta mix it properly.
And people don't know what toner is. If you're trying to get your hair to like, a very silver blonde, that's when a toner comes in. People will bleach their hair and leave it like that, or they'll use purple shampoo. People just don't use it right.
Brad reacts to a TikTok user dyeing her hair rainbow colors.Credit: Screenshot via tiktok
Brad Mondo reacts to a TikTok user pulling out clumps of damaged hair.Credit: screenshot / brad mondoI've seen you react to videos of like, people bleaching their hair and then pulling clumps of damaged hair out, or people shaving their hair because most of it already fell out. As a content creator, obviously it makes for good content for you, but as a hairdresser what is your real reaction to that?
As a content creator it's like, ooh I just found a diamond in the rough. But as a hairdresser, when I'm watching these videos in real life, I get chills all the time when I see really, really bad things happen on camera. I actually get full body chills. I'm like, oh my god, this is a real person. She has to live with this for the next few years. You know it takes a mental toll on these people, and I just feel for them.
It's funny to watch, but it is their real life. I've had clients who've come in and and had damaged hair, and just sit there crying.
You don't know how they're really feeling. That's why I always try to be nice to people, because it is a sensitive subject, burning all your hair off. Some people care more than others.
Why do you think recording wild hair changes like shaving your head or trying to go blonde are so popular on TikTok?
I think it's just such relatable content. We all have hair, most of us, and women have a strong attachment to hair. It's something we can all relate to, so you know when you see someone dyeing their hair this wild color, you know it feels so cool to them.
Everyone in their life has gotten their hair done at least once, and knows the feeling of what it's like.
And I know especially during quarantine, these hair changes areso popular right now. Impulse bangs, bleach jobs — I'm guilty of dyeing my own hair at home because I'm quarantined. Why do you think big, drastic hair changes are so popular right now? Why do you think they're associated with distress?
We're trying to entertain ourselves. There's not much else to do. I think people just want to have fun in some way and feel good about themselves. Considering the salons are all closed, I think people still want to feel refreshed and renewed, even just for themselves, not feel like they've let themselves go during this whole situation.
People are trying to do something exciting while they can't leave their house, or they're just trying to maintain their look and feel good about themselves while being stuck inside.
You've posted a series of videos about color theory and cutting your own hair at home tutorials. Are you accepting that people aren't going to wait to see a professional?
Yeah, so I actually debated for a long time whether I wanted to make videos like that. I've had my channel for many, many years — four years now — and I've never made a real at-home tutorial.
But I was like, people are going to do it anyways. The people that are going to go to a salon are going to go to a salon. The people that aren't going to go to a salon aren't going to go to a salon. And I can't really help that.
I do as many warnings at the beginnings of my videos as I can. To say this is not a replacement for a hairdresser, this is to get you by and somebody who knows what a professional haircut feels like, it feels a lot different than when you do it yourself.
The older I get, too, the more I talk to fans of mine, I just think hair's about having fun. I take it a lot less seriously than I once did. I learned the rules, followed them, and just ended up breaking them.
And for those who already have color treated hair, or are getting frustrated with their split ends and want to take matters into their own hands, what's your advice? Deal with it themselves, or wait it out?
You have to remember that it could wrong when you're going into it. If you can deal with that, and maybe with having a bad hair cut until salons reopen, go for it. But just know the precautions of the situation you're getting into, and take it seriously.
I see people following my tutorial and they don't follow my directions at all and they wonder why it turns out bad. And I'm like, you know, really gotta follow the directions in this case. It takes time. And people want to have it all done in 10 minutes, and I'm like, that's really not how it works!
I can't wait to see how many people walk out of this with bangs.
It's exciting though! I know people have been buying a lot of box dyes, and apparently they're selling out everywhere. And even my product sales have been wild through this whole thing.
I think people just want change, and want to do some fun things to themselves.
Do you think more unconventional haircuts and hair colors will be more normalized after all this because of so many people taking matters into their own hands?
I hope so! I always thought people were way too... follow the norm too much. I think it's just such an overlooked thing, experimenting with your hair, it's so fun and liberating and it makes you a whole different person. I really hope people make changes, and we come out of this with a whole new trend with hair.
I already see the whole e-girl trend, with bangs that are all colorful. I love that. It's such a great way to make a change, it looks good on everybody.
So do you have any advice for people who are following your tutorials and are trying to do their own hair at home just to get through quarantine?
Definitely to the things I say. Start off long, you can always go shorter. And just be ready for change.
TopicsYouTube