help me AVOID a blooper! highlighting short hair: cap or what?

I`m a dorm-room cosmetologist by all means but hey, I`ve yet to mess up TOO TOO badly on the "DIY dyes" (mostly because I jsut keep dying it dark brown or dark red and it`s pretty hard to mess that up )

So anyway I`m bored with my now-medium brown hair and I want to streak it... I picked up Feria Colorstrands (the red streaking one) and I`m IFFY about using the "strander" comb on my short short hair...

Here`s the sitch- I had a short, spiky `do this summer and am in the process of growing it out... it`s about 4 inches long now (give or take) so if I want decent looking highlights, should I pull it through a cap or just be REALLY careful with the "strander" Feria gave me? I`m afraid I`ll look like a patchy skunk if I use the strander since my hair kind of piles on top of itself (damn layers)...

Anyway, I hope you all can offer some suggestions!
Thanks!

I think I would stick with the cap, but have a friend to help you out with pulling it through. I had my hair streaked before a LONG time ago, and my mom had used the cap to do it.
Good luck!