Normally I get my hair highlighted at the Aveda student institute where I live. Based on the advice of other reviewers, I decided to try this product. First I would recommend you take a deep breath and make sure that you are prepared to put some time into this. I used the cap. I am satisfied, especially based on the money I spent. In the future I would not use the cap, because I ended up highlighting previously highlighted hair and had some breakage. My hair is a medium ash brown color. Next time I just plan to paint my hair and use foils as it is mostly highlighted. I think I would like to paint it along the curl and just hit the dark roots at the crown. I think this will also allow me to get closer to my scalp.

I highlighted my hair for the first time ever last night using this product. My hair is long, natural red, and layered, about to the middle of my back. My boyfriend had agreed to help me do that back, so I strapped on the cap and went to town. I knew I didn't want it all over, so I only pulled hair through the black holes. The hook sucked, but I wasn't sure if it was the cheap hook, or that I had put the cap on so tight I was choking myself. As I was pulling hair out I wasn't sure if I was pulling too much hair through. I had to pull hair through each hole about three times to get what i thought was enough. It went fine until I got to the top of my head. I had the cap on soo tight that I could barely catch any hair! After an hour of this (seriously, it takes forever if you have long hair) I only had the front done and went to ask my pitch hitter to start on the back of my head. He was dead asleep and I was becoming claustrophobic with that thing on my head. I called my cousin, and asked her to finish it for me. She agreed, and I slipped a hoodie on and I was out, praying I didn't get pulled over while looking like the Tales from the Crypt monster. She quickly calmed my nerves by telling me that I had the right amount of hair through the holes. She started pulling hair through, and it was a nightmare once she got to the back. Long hair and these caps just do not work. Every piece was tangled. I finally untied the death cap and we had to comb out my hair underneath, which still did little good. Okay, after 3 hours of pulling, and cursing, my hair was out. She took it out of every black hole on the entire cap. I took a glance in the mirror and had a moment of panic when the back looked FULL of hair and it looked like there was barely any out of the top. She assured it would be fine, and began slathering my hair with the grindy mixture. Half way through she says "uh oh" which is always so nice to hear when you are getting your hair done, and informed me we did not have enough dye. I should have known this, I wasn't even thinking, so I tossed a $20 and the old box at her husband and told him to make it fast. The old dye set on my head for about 15 min before he got back. It was all over, just thin, and not saturated at all. She threw the second batch on my head, covered it with the platic thing, and we were good to go. The crappy thing about this is trying to seperate your hair under the cap, from the dye. I wrapped a towel around it but was still nervous stuff was getting on it. After about 20-25 minutes I looked in the mirror (for the 20th time) and notcied it looked super blonde. I rinsed my hair in a big sink, and pulled the cap off with great ease. I was beyond shocked because I knew what kind of rats nest lived under there from all of the pulling and tangling. I wrapped my head in a crap towel and headed for the shower. I did have an "oh shit" moment when I took the towel off and saw platinum streaks in my hair, but after shampoo & conditioner I saw it wasnt so dramatic. My hair def wasn't silky soft anymore, which I expected, I combed it out and blow dried it and was seriously surprised at the results. I thought for sure it would be jacked up. It was not only even, it was a blonde honey color. It of course had a golden tint to it, because of my previously red hair. It lightened my hair nicely, and the streaks are visible. For some reason the hair at the top in the middle of my hair is a big blonder, but i think it's just becuase that is where the dye was first put, and was on the longest. I wish you could upload before and after pics on here. I think this has to be a fool proof highlighting kit. I thought for sure the cap wasn't tight enough, I didn't have enough hair through, I had too much hair through, not enough dye, on too long....and it turned out great. I can't say i would have left it on any longer, or any shorter. I would say that if you don't want the entire thing highlighted (which will dramatically lighten your hair) don't do the back section of the cap. Even all my hair underneath that I left out is full of highlights. I would also say that if you have long hair, you better have at least 4 hours to do this from start to finish. The only reason I said I wouldn't be buying this product again, is because it was too much of a hassle to get my long hair through. In fact my cousin told me about 20 times she wanted to just stab me in the head with the comb because she was so sick of every piece being tangled. Make sure the person you have help you has a lot of patience. :) This product rocked, and I was suggest it to anyone. continued >>

Ok so first thing is first: this is probably one of the only lightening kits that doesn't turn my dark reddish-brown hair orange! I did end up with very very subtle highlights (read the below) to the point that I have to redo them but what I do have, I like very much!

I used this kit last night but I used it VERY conservatively because I was very afraid. I did a strand test and it came out wonderfully but you can never be too sure once you start using the product all over.

Ok, so I learned a few things after using this:
1) Read MUA reviews/hints/tips first! I ended up doing this by myself and was able to do the front section by myself but anything further I would have needed help. I noticed a lot of people had said this about the product and now I know why!

2) Read all of the instructions before starting. I opened the packet and didn't open it away from my face. After a brief coughing fit, I was good to start mixing

3) The hook isn't the greatest but once you get the hang of how to use it, it wasn't so bad. It took me quite a few tries to figure out how to "properly" use it but once I got it, I was good to go

4) DON'T BE AFRAID! As said before, I did only the front section because I decided I would have needed help to do the rest. Even then, I didn't pull nearly the amount of hair that I could or should have through the cap. I do have some very nice highlights but they are VERY subtle - so much so that I am going to get my mom to help me and redo my entire head.

Back when I frosted my hair for decades, this was the only brand of frosting bleach that would strip color adequately to avoid brassiness in my med. brown (hard to strip) hair. I just got tired of the production of pulling all the hair through so I switched to an all-over color. If I were still frosting, I would definitely buy again. Not sure about the new three-variety products. The descriptions are confusing. Before, the one for brown hair was a stronger bleach. Now, I am not sure.

I've always gotten my hair done at a salon ( I've had pervious bad experiences) therefore I'm willing to spend close to $200 for my highlighting and i have very long hair. I purchased this on impluse and never planned oneven using it, until when day I was fed up with my hair. I had my mom do it for me and we didn't even strand test it. The cap straps broke so I had to hold the cap on my head and the plastic hook really sucks but I find it you put about a dime size of a product like biosilk(thats what I used its easier to pull hair through). I used the lightest shade and well I was a honey golden blonde and after about 25min ( i took it off because it looked like my hair was turning white) I had beautiful highlights. I;m so impressed with this product and at first I feared my hair would turn orange or i would look like the girl on the box( her highlights do not look natural or blended) but I am overall so happy with the results. I will definately use this again. Overall I saved about 2 hours of time in a salon and about $185. I seriously love this product

This is a pretty good highlighting kit. I did this myself for the first time ever highlighting and it was pretty easy to do. I only did the front sections, with the big holes (every other hole) and it gave me a lot of highlights. Here are things that surprised me and you might find for yourself as well-

1. The difference-
I really wasn't expecting much of a change because I was pulling out very thin strands of hair and only in the front, but it made a big difference/color change. So if you are expecting something very subtle, I probably wouldn't try this kit. Even going the safest route advised on the instructions gave me a lot of highlights.

2. The color-
I was expecting more of a gold color like my hair naturally highlights to in the sun, but this came out more of a lemon yellowy color. I think it's just because of the natural tones already in my hair- I would probably have to use a toner after this to get rid of the yellow. The yellow doesn't look bad on me though because I have yellow tones to my skin and a light warm brown hair color already. It's not brassy at all, just a bit warm. I thought about getting a toner and I still might but for now I am satisfied. I asked my family and they think it looks good as it is. If you are a cool toned person this warm blonde might look bad on you but on my coloring it really goes well so it depends on your own hair and coloring on how it will come out.

The coloring time: When I was doing the strand test, I was fully prepared for it to come out right at 45-60 minutes. I set the timer for 20 first though, and when I checked it, my hair was a honey blonde color- just what I wanted. I checked again at 30, then 45, then 60. All my hair did after that was become more bright and yellow. It didn't lighten at all for whatever reason. I put the cut strand of hair, rinsed and dried off, next to my own hair to see what it would look like and it was just so bright! It looked really bad. So I'm really happy that I didn't listen to the other reviewers who insisted that you needed the full 60 minutes....DEFINITELY do the strand test first!
It is the only way you will know what your custom color is.

Some tips-
When you condition your hair afterwards, leave the conditioner on and then pull off the cap. I did this because of helpful MUAers on here and I had no pain whatsoever.

The plastic hook was really easy to use. Mine didn't break at all and was really simple to pull the hairs out and I only pulled out too much once. I'm pretty klutzy with my hands and didn't have a problem at all using the hook provided. My hair is fine though so if you have thick hair that might be different!

Don't forget about the plastic heater wrap! I did until the last 5 minutes and I said "Oops!" and put it on and left in on for an extra 3 minutes. That made my hair a little more yellow than the strand test but only slightly. The plastic wrap thing really makes the color process faster though, so you will have to check every 5 minutes to make sure your hair isn't lightening too fast. My ends only got slightly dry since I forgot the plastic wrap, and since my own color custom timing was so short- I probably didn't even need it after all.

Cons-
I didn't get a very even color this first time around. Even though I parted my hair in the middle, one side of my hair got more highlights than the other. It's easy to disguise though for me by doing a zig-zag part and you can't tell. I also didn't get enough color on a few of the strands towards the back because they are brighter on one side than the other. It's not significant enough to be noticeable and I'm sure if I use this kit again I would do better.

I like that this kit was easy and fast to use, not messy, not smelly, and not too damaging either. It's also super cheap. I used the medium-dark brown hair kit, and even though my hair is the lightest brown in the picture chart on the side of the box, my highlights actually came out closest to the color of the darkest color on the chart for whatever reason. I think it was fun to do and really brightens up my face a lot but I don't know if I'd do it again. The highlights are just a little too stripey for longtime wear, and the color wasn't exactly what I wanted. But this is good to use if you want a temporary change.

I finally got to use the kit yesterday. I used it for dark brown hair/chestnut highlights. I have to say it turned out pretty darn good for something that costs $7.99. The highlights are a bit more red than chestnut, but I still like it very much. My husband did have to help me with its application, especially the back. I'm VERY pleased and will be doing it again in the future.

I was surprised at how well this actually worked. I have dyed my hair many times with dark colors so I didn't think the bleach would work, but it turned out nice and even without toning afterwards. I let it process for about 25 mins to get to a honey blonde and my hair is still soft and shiny, i didn't notice much if any additional damage.

I have naturally dark ash blonde to light ash brown hair. I purchased this product in hopes of lightening my hair to more of a medium, natural toned blond. I had no problems whatsoever with the cap or using the plastic hook, HOWEVER, the big issue that I had with this haircolour (unlike some of the other reviewers) is that after 25-30 minutes my hair went REALLY blonde. And by that I am talking lemony yellow bleach blonde. The upside is that the color made my grey-green eyes look great, but the hair was too light and bright for my skin :( . I am going to give tris product another try in the future and maybe reduce the time.

This stuff is AWESOME!! I bought it on a whim as I was dying for summer after a long, cold, midwestern winter. I asked a girlfriend if she would do this for me and had an appointment at the salon on Tuesday.


She came over on Saturday, and I cut up foil in order to do it like they do in the salon. She just did a partial. I only left on for about 35 minutes (I have medium to dark brown hair) and it came out a beautiful blonde color - what I remember having at the salon years ago!!


It doesn't smell strong of chemicals at all and isn't making my hair fall out like the stuff used in the salons. If you have a friend you trust to help you out - I highly recommend this stuff for salon quality (or better) results for a fraction of the price!! Love it!!