Help. Highlights ior allover?

First off heres the story: Naturally I have dirty blonde hair but for years I have been dying it various colors. My most recent color was black. I wanted to go to a color close to my nature hair color so that the roots coming in wouldn't look too bad. After stripping color and dying my hair I now have a red/brown color.

I went to a hair stylist today and she gave me a consultation. She suggested either stripping the color and then dying my hair or just foiling and putting blonde highlights in. I am sick of doing touch ups and what not and I want my hair dying exploration to come to an end for the time being. I am wondering if it would be a better idea to get the highlights or the strip and color. Any suggestions would be very helpful.