- Brad Mondo teaches Insider's Caroline Aghajanian how to cut
bangs at home. - Find a hairstyle that best suits your face shape.
- Always cut on dry, styled
hair with professional hairdressing scissors preferably. - Support hairstylists by purchasing gift cards and buying for indie brands.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Following is a transcript of the
Brad Mondo: So, don't go straight across, though.
Caroline Aghajanian: Ah! I know, I cut a lot there.
Brad: Let it go, let it go. Wait, stop, let it go.
Brad: Hi!
Caroline: Hello, hi!
Brad: How are you?
Caroline: I'm doing well, how are you?
Brad: Great.
Caroline: Thank you so much for coming on here and teaching me how to cut my bangs.
Brad: Yes, thank you for having me, I'm excited.
Caroline: Yeah, I am so nervous. I feel like I'm gonna mess this up. I've seen people recently on, like, TikTok, like, doing this thing and cutting it. Like, no.
Brad: Yeah, I wouldn't. I've been seeing that too, and I'm like, mm, it's a cute idea, but it never really works out in the way you want it to. [laughs]
Caroline: Yeah, yeah. Where do you usually work out of? And just tell us a little bit about yourself.
Brad: Sure. I've lived in New York City the past five years, six years almost. I've worked in several very high-end salons around the city and worked on my own private clients, and now I'm a YouTuber, I have my own hair-care company. So I have quite a lot going on, and it's really exciting.
Caroline: Yes, XMondo hair, I love it. I just wanna show you where my hair is right now. It is, like, medium length. My bangs, the last time I cut them, it was probably, like, December? So, I mean, my hair is like this now. Like that.
Brad: They're long. [laughs]
Caroline: They've gotten long.
Caroline: So, I have a few brushes with me, and I have a few scissors. Do you have a preference?
Brad: We don't need, really, the teasing brush, but the comb in the middle, the black one, is probably perfect. We don't need the other one either. Just the black one's fine.
Caroline: OK. And then my scissors. I have these giant ones from the kitchen. [laughs] I also brought this one from the kitchen too.
Brad: Those are, like, the widest scissors possible.
Caroline: It's pretty wide. And then, I mean, I have these like, kind of...
Brad: Oh, OK. Those look better.
Caroline: OK.
Brad: Typically I would say, try to find a pair of, you know, cutting scissors to work with. I mean, they are made a lot different than, you know, office scissors. But, you know, people might not have that at home, so I totally understand. These are proper hairdressing scissors.
Caroline: OK.
Brad: So, they are quite skinny and very sharp. They cut through the hair so nicely, and they leave the edges very blunt, without, like, shredding them at all. You can get a little bit of, like, shredding going on, when you have to, like, continuously cut the same piece over and over again in order to get it cut. But in this situation it's not, like, the biggest deal in the world. It would just make it easier for you.
Caroline: What is, like, the biggest mistake you see people make when they're cutting bangs or generally cutting their hair at home?
Brad: Definitely going too short too fast. Normally in the salon, we'd probably cut on wet hair. But when you're doing it on yourself, you really wanna make sure that you're cutting the right length right from the start. And when hair is wet, it's a lot longer than when it's dry and styled. So you want to see it exactly how you're gonna wear it and then cut from there. Another thing I see a lot is people just go straight across, and we don't wanna do that. Like, we definitely wanna do point cutting, which is when you go upwards instead of horizontally. It's kind of, like, upwards with a little bit of slant.
Caroline: Like that, kinda.
Brad: Yeah. That'll give you less of a blunt edge. It'll be like a safety for you, just in case, like, you cut too short, you can always kind of, like, feather it down a little bit.
Caroline: My bangs currently are here.
Brad: So, I'd like to definitely part the hair where you're gonna normally part it. And if people say that they don't normally have a part, then we would do the middle. Just comb it back for me.
Caroline: Oh, yes.
Brad: And kind of see where it falls.
Caroline: OK.
Brad: Yeah, I think we should work on that part that's right there. You're seeing that? Do you mind if I get a mannequin and, like, show you what to do?
Caroline: I don't mind. That would help.
Brad: OK.
Caroline: Yes.
Brad: Here's my client. [laughs] On one side, we are taking just that little triangle out. I'll show you this section. So, like, it's kind of like a slant down.
Caroline: Oh, now I see what you mean.
Brad: And then we're gonna match it again on the other side. So that you're getting this kind of larger triangle.
Caroline: It goes... that?
[Brad laughs] Close.
Caroline: It's bad. Brad:
Let's try that side again. Yeah, perfect, now go all the way down and then part that out. Perfect. OK, now put that behind your ear. And then why don't you just pull a tight ponytail back with that hair you have. I think sectioning is pretty hard. It's not flawless, but it really isn't gonna make a huge difference.
Caroline: OK.
Brad: I find that a lot of people don't know how to use a comb properly. Yeah. I mean, it's normal, people don't know how to, like, lay a comb down on the head and get a section clean. I've noticed that through, like, teaching my brother how to do stuff and, like, teaching just normal people how to cut hair. Nobody knows how to use a comb because people don't really use combs that often at home.
Brad: We're gonna take out just a small section from that whole section you have, just in the middle. So, like, it doesn't need to be perfect, just, like, a smaller bit down the center.
Caroline: Like this?
Brad: Maybe just a little bit smaller than that. All right, so this is gonna be our sort of guide, right? So let's get this one right. [laughs]
Caroline: All right. I got it.
Brad: OK, so we're gonna start off cutting. We're gonna cut it very long first. So, you don't actually have to hold it. So I would just let it do its thing. So, you're head's gonna move a little bit forward, and you're gonna start right on the side, just taking a little bit out at a time. Right around, like, let's just start off at your eye level. Yeah.
Caroline: But not...
Brad: So, don't go straight across, though. Pull the scissors a little bit more... yeah, perfect.
Caroline: Like this?
Brad: Not horizontally, just a little bit off.
Caroline: Here they go!
Brad: Yeah, perfect. You're doing so good! Let's go a little bit shorter now that we have the technique down. Let's take off just a little bit more. We can work our way up. Yeah, you don't have to hold the hair. Just keep cutting into it. This way the hair is laying exactly where you're gonna wear it. If we hold it with our hand, it's gonna end up bouncing up a little bit. So we don't want that to happen, so we're just gonna cut it in its natural position.
Caroline: Interesting. And you wouldn't recommend, like, holding it in the brush either?
Brad: Oh, you totally could, if you feel comfortable with that.
Caroline: I might. Ah! I know, I cut a lot there.
Brad: Let it go, let it go. Wait, stop. Let it go. OK, that looks like a good length, right?
Caroline: Yeah, yeah.
Brad: That you just cut, so let's not go any shorter than that. So, just follow that piece across with the rest of the hair. You got this, girl. You're killing it.
Caroline: Thank you!
Brad: The other thing you can try, maybe it'll feel more natural for you to take the hair in your fingers like this. It's like you're making a scissor with your finger. Yeah.
Caroline: Oh, like this. Ohh.
Brad: Just don't pull on it too much, just, yeah. And you can move your fingers up a bit further, that way you can see more.
Caroline: There, like that?
Brad: Yeah, perfect, yes. These look great so far.
Caroline: Yay!
Brad: All right, well, we can move on to the next step, and we can just take a little more hair out from those sections on each side. Like, maybe half of that.
Caroline: Oh. Like...
Brad: A little bit more. So, you see that line you made with the bang in the front?
Caroline: Yes.
Brad: Comb everything down. Perfect, OK. Now you're gonna slightly go down with your cutting. So, you're gonna follow that line you already made and kind of round it out a little bit.
Caroline: Can I hold, or no?
Brad: I would just let it fall naturally. Just don't cut your eyelash. [laughs]
Caroline: Yeah, I know.
Brad: So you can actually on this side start from the longer side and go up, and you can meet it.
Caroline: Oh, no, not the brush. Oh. I'm so sorry. I...
Brad: It's OK. No, you're fine, you're fine. OK, let me see it. All right, yeah, just that longer piece needs to go, and then I think we can connect that. Be careful around your eyes. It's making me really nervous.
Caroline: Oh, sorry.
Brad: OK, and now we're gonna do the same thing on the other side.
Brad: So, follow that line you already made. Yeah, start on the inside. Right there. That looks good. OK, stop there. All right, let me see forward. That actually looks good. I mean, we're just missing another piece on the other side. I think we took a bigger section on the other side, so it's fine. Take off that little side, yeah.
Caroline: Cool.
Brad: OK, now let's brush the rest of the bangs forward, get that section we didn't finish yet on each side. And what we're gonna do is just comb it down on one side.
Caroline: Comb one side down.
Brad: So, where we finished that last section, just slowly chomp at that hair a little bit and just give it a little bit of roundness, like what we've been doing, but just don't, you don't have to take a lot off. Perfect. Beautiful! And let's work on the other side, and you can do the same thing if you feel comfortable with that. That looks good. Now just connect the bottom a little bit more. Good, I think that's really good.
Brad: So now let's get into styling them, so we can see how they're really laying down. All right, so do you have anything to wet your hair with, or, like, kinda wet your comb and maybe wet your bangs a little bit?
Caroline: Yeah, I have some water here.
Brad: Perfect, yeah, let's just, you can, like, dip the comb in if you are OK with that, and like...
Caroline: Audience, I'm not gonna drink out of this after I do this. There we go. [laughs]
Brad: Perfect. And just get right at the root with that water. And now let's grab the round brush and a blow-dryer. Do you have a blow-dryer?
Caroline: I do.
Brad: And let's just do a simple round-brush blow-dry on the bangs.
Caroline: Sometimes my hair dryer has, like... it's janky as well. OK, just, like, roll it down and brush? OK.
Brad: Let down the rest of your hair for me.
Caroline: Ooh! [laughs] Well, that was supposed to be glamorous. [laughing]
Brad: And then give everything a brush, and then see that long piece at the ends?
Caroline: Yes.
Brad: Can you cut that off?
Caroline: Like this, off entirely?
Brad: Yeah, just cut it off. OK, perfect. OK, now let that go. Perfect.
Caroline: You caught that from 3,000 miles away on a virtual webcam, and I couldn't see it with, like, four cameras set up in front of me.
Brad: It looks so good, I'm so happy.
Caroline: Thank you, I love it. I absolutely love it. I like that they're long. I'm pretty sure a week later I'm gonna probably have to go in and, like, shorten them, but for now, I like how it's just, like, subtle. It's fun, and it's, like, framing my face.
Brad: And for your first time, I don't think we should try and go any shorter, just in case, like, things go wrong. And then the better you get at this, you can definitely go shorter and shorter if you feel comfortable, but I think this is a great place to start for you. It looks fabulous.
Caroline: Yay, thank you so much! I absolutely love them. I guess I just wanna hear from you, like, what do you recommend people do right now to support hairstylists and brands and just anything that people can do to support you guys?
Brad: You can work with them virtually, you know, people can teach you how to do hair through webcam, like I am. Especially supporting, like, indie brands is really important right now. You know, tell your
Caroline: Thank you again.
Brad: Thank you so much for having me. I hope you love your bangs.
Caroline: Look at all that mess. Merp. Merp, merp. I did such a great job.
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