How Brad Mondo’s Reaction Videos Sparked a TikTok Hair Revolution

Thanks to his large and voracious TikTok following (which is quickly nearing 7 million people), Mondo’s pretty sure he’s seen it all when it comes to at-home hair jobs. During our interview, he laments that he’d just watched someone wash their hair dye out in their backyard with the help of a high-pressure water hose: “This guy was hosing her down with it… That was pretty original.” He’s also seen hair melt away from bleach. He’s seen full chunks of hair shaved off as the result of a bad dye job. 

Still, amid all those disasters, Mondo’s followers have shown him some extremely impressive feats of at-home hair coloring. He’s using it as inspiration for his own hair-care band, XMondo, which is expanding to include its very first hair dyes. “I follow so many people who are professionals and who aren’t professionals who are doing hair, so I learn so much from others on the [TikTok] platform and just from their hair care routines,” he explains. “I used all that information when I was creating my own color line, and I combined everything that I’ve learned from the consumer standpoint and as a professional to create something that’s a hybrid of both.”

XMondo Color launches on November 19 with a trio of dyes that are every bit as good for your hair as they are bold and vibrant. All three shades — Super Blue, Super Pink, and Super Purple — were essentially hand-selected by Mondo’s followers (he polled them about their favorite hair colors on Twitter) and contain nourishing stuff like sodium hyaluronate, vegetable protein, and UV-protective titanium dioxide. Plus, it smells pretty damn good; like cherry blossom, bergamot, jasmine, and sandalwood to be exact.

Of course, you likely won’t be able to use Mondo’s new dyes unless you bleach your hair to a light enough base, and that’s where Mondo says most people go wrong at home. If you want the full-color payoff of the bright pink, purple, and blue dye he’s just put on the table, here are some of his basic hair-lightening tips.

“Things like always sectioning your hair before applying color are so important,” he says. “Starting off in the back instead of the front is always important. Using enough bleach or enough color — people love to skimp on the bleach and buy one little packet to cover their whole head, and then they wonder why they have dark spots all over.”