On my bottle, it says to dip the stick in urine or hold in your stream. I experimented with both (I used an old cottage cheese container that I will never use for food again!!!!!). In my stream, it came out on the lowest end of ketosis. When I dipped it, it was one shade from the darkest purple. (These were performed at the same time!) I read that if you hold it in your stream, some of the chemical can be "washed" off. So, you might try it the dipping way.