Hey AmilLion. You guys are going to make me keep this color after all ( I was considering going back to black).
Achieving any color depends on what color you are starting with and the condition of your hair. My base color is almost a level 3, and has been ever since I've relaxed it.(1 is black and 10 is light blonde) With my highlights I chose to use creme bleach because I wanted to achieve a noticable contrast with the lowest possible volume of peroxide(aka developer) in the shortest amount of time. To get my hair to lift(get lighter) with a permanant color I would have had to use 20 volume at least, and leave it in a while to let it process.
The lower the peroxide volume, the shorter the time, the least amount of damage.
I literally applied the bleach to the area and as soon as I finished folding the last foil I went right back to the first foil and took it right back out (5-7min total). Relaxed hair lifts very fast! Using 20vol and leaving it in too long would have made them brassy and super fragile; this is the way they taught me to do highlights in school( I'd like to take this opportunity to say sorry to the girl that I did that to at school /images/graemlins/frown.gif ,I didn't know better then!). Natural hair can take that, not relaxed---and many stylists may not realize that. I like highlights because I got a lighter look without having to color my whole head, I just did the crown. I would never suggest trying to highlight your own hair, I shouldn't have done it myself, but just like in the "Things you Hate..."thread, it's a hassle trying to get a stylist to do something your way.