root touch-ups

Hi,I have my hair highlighted approximately 3-4 times a year professionally at the salon. It costs me $60 for the highlighting and if I get a trim or anything else done, that is extra. I realize that seems expensive, but to me it is worth it because I avoid most damage to my hair.The highlight involves pulling all my hair through a speical plastic cap and applying Matrix SoCol on my roots ONLY. It is a formula that contains only color and no bleach because my hair is normally blonde. However, my natural hair is dark blonde so that works for me.Doing my highlights every 3-4 months and using color shampoos at the end of the cycle prevents me from ever having any obvious "regrowth".One thing I have to say about all this. Years ago I used bleach on my hair because I wanted to be a "white" blonde and I used Clairol Nice & Easy. I only did the roots. My hair had roots every 3-4 weeks. My hair was also damaged from the Nice & Easy.When I made the decision to grow my hair long over 10 years ago, my long hair stylist told me I had to let my hair grow out closer to its natural darker color and stop using any bleach products on it. So after much soul searching I did that and now only have to highlight every 3-4 months.You can all see the results. I am still blonde but not white blonde but I don't have any regrowth and I only have to do this every 3-4 months rather than ever 3-4 weeks.If money is a concern...why not investigate having it done at the nearest beauty college where they have experts who do supervision on any highlight procedures. Tell them you want a cap highlight rather than foils and tell them you want to use the mildest form of color or highlight that will give you the lift or color you want.You may want to just go and talk to them first before you do anything to make sure you are comfortable with the process.Some salons do charge over $100 for the same process I pay $60 for. I think if you want to have it professionally done there are ways to still not pay outrageous prices if you are careful and check around.Best wishes,Karen> Greetings all!> I've been lightening my natural medium, dark blonde> color a very light, golden blonde(almost a platinum> color) with L'oreal's Les Blondissimes extra light> natural blonde for about 5 years with minimal damage.> This is due to the fact that when I do do my roots, I> ONLY do my roots; I don't "freshen" up the> rest of my hair. I have a small area of damage on the> back of my head where my ends have been dragged> through the color, but it's nothing major.> Anyways, for fear of damaging it anymore, I was> wondering if anyone knows how much, on average(I know> all salons are different), it would cost for a salon> to do this instead? Would they be able to match the> rest of my color with just bleach, or would they have> to add color to it? I'm still a college student so I> can't afford to slap down $50 or more dollars every> 4-5 weeks.> I'd appreciate any suggestions, and thanks!> Kara