A hand-held device (2) for applying a barrier material (4, 6) to a lock of hair to be treated with a highlighting composition (32) is disclosed. The device may comprise one or two rolls (8, 10) of a tape of barrier material (4, 6) that is dispensed to the lock of hair as the same time as the roll or rolls (8, 10) are unrolled. The device may also contain the highlighting composition (32), either applied on the rolled tape or via a reservoir contained in the body.