The box packaging was quite standard. It came with 4 main items, each numbered in the sequence in which it was to be used:
1. Smoothing Pre Treatment;
2a. Color Treatment;
2b. Activating Creme;
3. Pro-V Colorsilk Conditioning Therapy.
In addition, the packaging came with 2 large plastic gloves and instructions which clearly laid out each step of the coloring process - including a standard warning sign about potential skin allergies. In going through the coloring steps, I realized that the first step was new to me: applying the smoothing pre-treatment at the end ends of my hair. I had never seen this step with other home colouring boxes. But I proceeded with this first step with ease. All in all, the coloring process was quite easy. The smell was not bad and the creme applied easily. For my long hair (past shoulders), it took a good 15 minutes to apply and one box was sufficient as I concentrated most of the color creme in the top half and only applied the lefts overs to my ends. Because of my naturally dark roots and stubborn grays, I kept the creme in for a full 45 minutes. Rinsing the color out of my hair was easy. I waited for the water to become clear of color before shampooing. Then I proceeded to apply the Pro-V Colorsilk conditioner. It was a very good conditioner. But due to my long hair, I used up over half the tube. It detangled my hair immediately, gave it a very smooth texture and smelled nice. After drying my hair, I could see my salt and pepper was 99% gone. Unfortunately I was still able to find a couple of strands of gray/white hair that didn't color. Overall the color was very similar to my original hair color before coloring but provided a fresher look with no roots and the salt and pepper look gone ... My hair was also slightly less brassy which is what I was trying to achieve. My hair was also very soft and very healthy looking. However after my next shampoo 2 days later, I noticed the brassiness came back! I was deeply disappointed. And another couple of weeks later, I found many more strands of gray and white hair with no color. It seems that the color didn't last very long and washed out easily despite the fact that I didn't change my shampoo/conditioning routine. Overall the coloring experience with Clairol Age Defy was similar to other in home coloring boxes. The color was very nice and left my hair soft and healthy looking. The results were immediate in that it made my roots disappeared, it covered "most" of my grays/whites, it left my hair looking smooth, soft, and healthy looking. But because the color didn't last as long as I hoped, I may not purchase this in the future. I also noticed several months later that my hair was breaking a lot more... not sure if that has anything to do with this product since it wouldn't normally break as much with other colour box products from the drug store.