Has anyone here used those self-applied hair highlighting kits?

[Flaxbee]

As I have gotten older, my hair has gone from being very blonde as a child, to darker blonde with streaks when I lived in southern California and was in the sun a lot, to now a very dark blonde / light brown.

I want some of my childhood gold back. And I do NOT want a full-head of hair color change nor do I like the current style of chunky highlights. So I'm thinking of trying the highlighting kits to put a bit of lightness back around my face.

Anyone here successfully use a kit? Are any brands better than others? :hi:

And yes, I'm vain :D

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

1. I have used them a couple of times

but they are difficult to control. By that, I mean that it is difficult to judge where you need highlights and/or to make the highlights appear natural and balanced.

I would suggest a better alternative: go to a cosmetology school. If you have one of those near you, they offer inexpensive salon services performed by the students and I've gotten excellent stuff done which would have cost tons more in a salon.

[blogslut]

2. A few suggestions

1) Apply shine drops liberally to your hair before you put the cap on. The hair will pull through a lot easier if it's slippery.

2) If your hair is long, forget the cap altogether because it's just going to get all tangled up...or find a beauty supply that sells these:

http://www.totalbeautysupplies.co.nz/consumables/sundry-consumables/shrinkable-processing-cap-sunglitz-pkt-20.cfm


Those are heat-shrink frosting caps from Sunglitz and hair slides through them much easier than with the traditional caps. You might need to buy a super small-gauge crochet needle while you're at it but one should come with the store-bought frosting kit.

3) Don't pull hair from all over your head. Just concentrate on pulling pieces of hair from the frame of your face and the top/crown of your head.

4) Consider not using a frosting kit at all and instead opt for buying a frosting cap/needle and applying a lighter shade of permanent hair color. Bleach is the hardest on hair and it usually strips all the color out and you might end up looking gray as opposed to blonder. EXAMPLE: On dark blond hair, apply a light beige/blonde permanent hair color via a frosting cap.

[AngryOldDem]

3. My daughter just used one this past weekend.

Clairol Nice 'N Easy. For most of the summer she's had various day-glo colors but since school is starting again soon she wanted to hurry the process along back to her natural shade of blonde/brown. Her hair turned out wonderfully -- perhaps just a *tint* of red when the light hit it a certain way, but you could not tell she used a highlighting kit. She had enough left over for her younger brother, and his hair looks very nice. I read the directions and you have to be really, really careful with mixing the stuff and then applying it. They give play-by-play instructions. If I were to use it, though, I'd have a professional do it because most likely I'd make a botch of it, knowing me.

Oh, and if you do use it, make sure you do so in a well-ventilated area.

I don't blame you for wanting a kit. I got my hair highlighted a few times at a salon I went to awhil back, and it was NOT cheap.