I'm lightning my roots, but my hair is about 3 to 4 inches long and I don't want any of the dye to TOUCH the ends. Last time I lightened my roots, I got dye on the ends because my hair is to short to keep it off. Is there anything I could put on my ends like vaseline or something to protect them before I lighten my roots? I'm doing the process myself, but have a hard time keeping the lightener off my ends and my ends are pretty dry. Any suggestions would be great!

Yes, combing vaseline through the ends will help stop the lightener lightning the ends. As vaseline will basically block it out. :)