L'Oreal Couleur Experte Express

I love to color my hair. Usually I fork out the obligatory $100 to have a professional do it, but occasionally I just buy a box and go to town.

The one thing I've NEVER been brave enough to do is highlight my hair. That's for the professionals, I thought. Plus, how do you see the back of your hair?

Then I found myself talking to a resident and complimenting her hair, asking where she got her color done. She laughed, then admitted that she and her sister color each other's hair using the "red box" color. I was immediately intrigued.

So I went and got a box of L'Oreal's Couleur Experte in Chocolate Macaroon, a nice medium brown with "warm" highlights. I set out to start this project at 9:45 on a Thursday night, because I'm an idiot. I finished about 11, which was less than ideal, but the results were GREAT!

It really did highlight my hair an appropriate amount for a dark headed person, without getting Marilyn-blonde highlights in my Jackie-dark hair.

So, the point is, I highly recommend this product, with a few caveats:
1. It is a more time consuming process. You color with the all over color, then dry your hair to your normal style, THEN do highlights. So, all told, you need probably a good 1.5 hours. This is a good Friday night or Sunday afternoon project.

2. It might be good to enlist the help of a friend. Or mirrors set up with multiple views. Without mirrors, I might have ended up with a blonde patch behind my left ear.

3. The options offered in the kit include a brush and a little wand that works flat-iron style to make highlights. BUT, the brush includes a hook on the end, for using with a pull through cap (not included, but available at Sally Beauty Supply stores). I used the flat-iron style wand, and it did great, but it made more highlights at the part/crown of my head, which is cute, but next time I will be buying a pull through highlight cap to get a more all-over highlighting. I also think a pull through cap would make it easier to see what you're highlighting and color more evenly.


They make this in colors ranging from super blonde (this is what my friend had tried with GREAT results) to VERY dark with reddish highlights. It ranges about $13-15, and currently at CVS they are offering $5 extra care bucks if you spend $20 on L'Oreal. So this would be a perfect time to try L'Oreal's new sulfate-free line of hair care!