While doing research on highlighting my color-treated, dark brown hair at home, l decided to call the customer service hotlines at color giants Clairol and L'Oreal Paris for help -- eager to speak to their color experts. Starting with Clairol (1-800-CLAIROL or 1-800-252-4765 for you cell phone users), I waded through a few automated prompts and was placed on hold for several minutes before getting a human on the line. The advisor listened to my predicament:

"My usual stylist would use bleach or lightener to lift my dark hair color, then use a level 8 natural/neutral toner to get the right highlight color. How do I achieve this with box color from a drugstore?"

He responded, "We don't make a toner."

I then asked if he could tell me which box color was the shade a level 8 neutral toner would produce. He said, "Well, like I said we don't make a toner, but you could go with Natural Instincts Shade 6. It's a medium blonde."

Then he got my name, address and the name of the drugstore at which I normally shop. Fair enough.

I then called L'Oreal Paris (1-800-631-7358), where a live "expert" picked up after the third ring, and I repeated my questions. She first asked what my hair color was, then said that while L'Oreal did sell a toner called Tone Refiner at the drugstore -- which I could use, she'd recommend a highlighting kit instead since it included all the necessary supplies including lightener. She also said I shouldn't bleach my hair then put box color over it.

"Since you're already processing your hair with the bleach ... [the box color] will end up processing your hair too many times and might damage it," she said. I expressed concern over the kit turning my hair orange (as box colors normally do) and she assured me that their Frost & Design kit in shades H45 or H65 would work well without brassy results.

While they were both helpful, I must say the customer experience was much better with L'Oreal Paris given the educational discussion and lack of wait time. As for Clairol, once I got to the store, Clairol Natural Instincts shade 6 turned out to be medium ash blonde. (I don't usually do ash, nor would I do blonde in this case.) To get a second opinion, I purchased both recommendations and took them to a pro colorist, stylist Marco Pelusi of Marco Pelusi Hair Studio in West Hollywood, Calif., who decided that the L'Oreal kit would be the best option for my hair. And you know what? My highlights turned out very well. Good job, L'Oreal!