I like my highlights

Earlier this year, I got my hair highlighted for the very first time. I liked it, and got a lot of compliments.  But honestly,  it's really rough on my hair--and it takes a LONG time, and it ain't cheap.

Now when I wash it, I not only use special shampoo for colored hair, but a special conditioner.  Then I squirt on something that supposedly stays on it. Finally, when it's dry (and frizzy), some kind of smoothing stuff (that the hairdresser said, "don't get it near your roots, or your hair will look greasy").

I'm thinking about forgoing highlights until my next big speaking gig (in the fall), but I really like them.  I was thinking of using a product like Sun-In.  I remember it was a BIG scandal in high school when one of the girls came back from summer vacation and her formerly brown hair was blonde.  She said it was from swimming in her family's pool, but we all knew she'd been using Sun-In all summer.  Another friend of mine used it every day during the summer and her dirty blonde hair went to platinum blonde.  (She was really fair-skinned, so it actually suited her.)

So, what's the low-down on Sun-In -- will it take the place of the expensive highlights at the salon?