Highlights At Home (And I Don't Mean the Magazine For Kids)

I've come a long way from those elementary/middle school/high school days when I'd get a wild hair, cut my strands super-short and then cry. Feeling desperate, I'd make matters worse by begging my mom for a perm to try and camouflage the shortness. Home perm, of course. I cannot imagine those aren't carcinogenic.

These days, I'm much less white-knuckle about my hair. It grows. I've done all-over color, and even though more than once it's been too dark (making me a ringer for Professor Snape from the Harry Potter movies), I think I've got it now: When you already have dark hair, go lighter than you think.

My latest exploration into at-home haircare — L'Oreal Touch-on Highlights. Readily available at drugstores for around $12, I figured I could tackle this. The finger-tip brush was intriguing. Let me assure you — it is nowhere as neat and fun as that trollop on the box makes it look.

First, you still have to wear gloves beneath the applicator. You mix up the sludgy stuff and are supposed to separate hair into just three strands. This is hard, people. Really hard, especially when you have on one-size-fits-all gloves, and while the fingertip applicator is better than a brush, it still isn't meant for detail work.

I ended up getting tired and kinda haphazardly brushing stuff on. I worried I slapped on too much, so I rinsed off at the least amount of time possible. The result wasn't at all bad. My dark brown hair had very, very subtle reddish highlights — not as distinct and streaky as pictured on the box. My goal was achieved — it was hard to pick out the gray strands with those lighter ones around.

When I do this again and I will do this again — insert mad scientist laugh here, bwahahahaha — I'll trade the fingertip applicator for a mascara wand. That ought to fine enough and easily enough to wield — even with plastic gloves.