Hello you lovely lovely browsers ♥

Those of you who know me will know that my hair is my canvas. It's been blue, pink, orange, yellow, green and aaaaaaall the colours of the rainbow. Pretty much...

Significantly fewer of you will know that a few years ago I suffered a devastating episode of depression which made life unbearable to live, and gave me first hand experience of the damaging stigma that surrounds mental health. I was alarmed to discover the prevalence of misconceptions about depression, even amongst some medical professionals. Furthermore, I realised that my own lifelong misunderstanding of the condition had ultimately made it worse.

As well as my incredible family and friends, without which I could not have made it this far in my recovery, mental health charities like Mind kept me going by reminding me that I was not alone, and that it would get better. I discovered that depression isn't necessarily something that can be cured but something that one must to learn to live with.

Now that I am feeling a gazillion percent better - despite the ongoing battle - I want to do something to give back to Mind, and to do my bit to help the millions of people around the world suffering from mental illness by raising awareness and lots of shiny coins.

The liberation of being able to dye my hair whatever colour I could get my mitts on helped me regain my confidence when I feared it might be gone forever. So it's time to take the stabilisers off and start again - and of course give everyone an eyeful of my funny shaped head.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's head shaving time.

Give all you can, and let's KICK MENTAL HEALTH STIGMA'S ASS.

Love & Snogs,

Stephers

"The Baldification of Steph" took place on the 18th April 2014 - donations and support still much appreciated ♥

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.