My friend began coloring her hair with a different shade of this product, & I noticed over the weeks how shiny/healthy her hair was all of the sudden. I asked what she was using, & she attributed her hair health to switching to this hair dye from one of the harsher brands, as well as a new conditioner she'd been trying. On gut instinct I tried this hair color product, & I'M NEVER LOOKING BACK!! ???????????????????????? It is wonderful!! Where have you been my whole graying life????? Aaaaah! It's ok at least I've found you now, my precious. ???????? To apply, it is a smidge more tedious, for me, anyway ... you first have to gently shampoo your hair with whatever shampoo you normally use, then after a *very light* towel dry, apply this product. Note: It does Not come with gloves, so BYOG - Bring Your Own Gloves - to the shower / application experience to avoid the dreaded Oompa Loopma color stained hands. I've tried it both ways, & in my experience, just putting it on blindly while standing or sitting inside your shower seems to work best. Trying to stand over your bathroom counter so you can watch in the mirror to see what you're doing during application is a not-needed drippy, sloppy, aggravating pirate-mouthed drama you *just don't need*. Just put your waterproof (vinyl, latex, etc) gloves on, hop into the shower, shampoo just 1x, rinse, wring your hair out a little bit in-shower, then apply the coloring product just trusting your gut & your gloves to work it through your whole head of hair from scalp to end. Also just a tip, the product seems to work better the wetter your hair is to some extent, so that's another reason to go with the in-shower method. I also brought a handy-dandy hair tie into the shower w/ me, so that after I'd saturated my hair with the color product, I put my hair into a bun so as to avoid the constant color-dyed streams of wetness dripping down me while I waited the necessary time for the color to do its job. The box recommends 25 minutes of wait-time once you've applied it, so I just use this time to bathe, shave, etc. Then all you do is rinse & condition normally with your own conditioner. (No conditioner included, but that's ok, the results are worth it, trust me.) If you must leave the shower to go chill somewhere for the 25 minutes while you wait for the dye to work, I'd recommend the bun idea plus tying a plastic grocery bag over your hair to further prevent drips/stains. It looks JUST AS TRASHY (haha no pun intended) as it sounds, but it works super great & you can just toss the bag after use. (Or recycle, of course.) Anyway, the results of this hair product ARE FABULOUS!! The very very first time you use it, you may see some small tinges where the product didn't knock away alll of your grays completely. However, not to worry, because after a few weeks when you're ready for the 2nd application, the color 100% builds upon itself & your grays WILL be covered after that 2nd round. Any small gripes with this product are so worth it, because ... IT DOESN'T DRY OUT YOUR HAIR! Hooraaay!! ???????? My hair is shinier than ever since switching to this product just 4 weeks ago! Happy dance initiated!!???????????????????????? Thank GOD for this product honestly, because my hair had become so fried out from regular coloring, I was about to give in and just go gray all the way, but I really didn't wanna! And I don't have the tax-bracket-status to visit a salon more than say, oh, once a year. So please, you owe it to yourself to at least try this product; I have a lot of hair, about medium-length, & I get 2 full uses per bottle. Which makes it affordable (aka possible) for me to buy. Go for it, you won't be disappointed! ????