One Vlogger Used Mountain Dew To Dye His Hair — But Is It Safe?

In the world of wacky beauty treatments, there are plenty of crazy hair color trends to go around. You've got strands the same hue as Starburst candy and Starbucks Unicorn Frappicinos, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to hear people are using soda pop as DIY hair dye. The drink of choice for LA-based YouTuber Bradlee Wannemacher? Mountain Dew Code Red Soda.

A pro with lots of food-based beauty experiments under his belt, Wannemacher has used everything from green Jell-O to Warheads, his latest video has gained a lot of traction. He created the concoction with two-thirds conditioner and a splash of Mountain Dew, mixing the formula into a cream and applying the paste to his platinum-blond hair. (He then let it sit for 40 minutes.)

The thing that surprised so many people: It worked. His hair ended up a sunset, orangey-red color, which certainly made his bright blue eyes pop. But, according to Stephanie Brown, a colorist and Nunzio Saviano Salon in NYC, this is one sugary hack you should probably skip.

"I wouldn't do it for the extreme stickiness and mess of it all, " she says. "This is [one of those times] when you should stick to products actually made for your hair. Unless you are dyeing your hair with beets or some kind of hair-safe vegetable or fruit, I wouldn't recommend using processed foods. One time, my sister used Kool-Aid and Crystal Lite in her hair, and it was stiff for a week."

So what should you use instead? "If you want to give your hair a pop of color, try the color conditioners from oVertone instead," Brown suggests. "Or, Manic Panic is always a safe option, too."

Some things are just better sans high-fructose corn syrup.