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Winter Wonderland.

Alex and I finally got to visit Hyde Parks annual Winter Wonderland; a Bavarian style village with stalls, rides, food and drink and generally a good atmosphere. I'm so glad i finally got to go and have plans of making a visit next year. We ate bratwurst (german sausage) and i also had a hot chocolate, we took a peak at all the different stalls selling food and fashion items, although with the fashion stalls once you'd seen one, you'd seen them all. I also made a purchase for Alex's dad: a pot of 'gooseberry and eldeflower' jam, from a stall selling unique curds, chutneys and marmalade's which was really nice to see and taste! Alex and I went on the big ferris wheel overlooking Winter Wonderland, hyde park, and parts of London could be viewed in the horizon. We also visited the Ice Kingdom which was sub zero so our fingers and toes felt like they would fall off if we took any longer inside. Winter Wonderland isn't the cheapest of attractions but i would recommend it, look up the rides and events available and scope out what you think you'd be interested in the most to get the best out of your visit.

m.

My, my, my edges.

I've had a serious battle with my hairline. As alot of us do but it seems to be more so in the black community. I do actually have a few of those coveted baby hairs but i rarely catch and gel them so they look non existent and yes i do have a large forehead but i am unashamed in fact i have a slight dislike for fringes on myself; i love showing my forehead, and i share the forehead sisterhood with some good looking intelligent people. However something i was slightly embarrassed by was my edges- or lack there of. Back when my hair was relaxed i had trouble trusting stylists to do my hair as they were scissor happy and often experimented with old fashioned hairstyles i never asked for. The problem with this distrust was that i kept trying different salons and stylists meaning i would get different chemical relaxers (everything from QP to Olive Oil by ORS) and different techniques of applications which left my hair over and under processed. Alongside that I wore my hair in high buns and ponytails and straightened my hair more often than i should. A combination of this caused me to lose my fragile hairline. No not just lose a couple hairs but go BALD. Here's some pictures of the offending edges!

It was first brought to my attention in january 2013- the last time i relaxed professionally. I thought nothing of it until again i saw small thinning around April. Then in June 2013 i really took a good look and saw it was bald, about 5cm on the right side and about 2cm on the left.

(RIGHT SIDE) Look at those stringy relaxer ends. LAWD. i am holding my wispy hair back i can't believe i've cut this all off.

(LEFT SIDE) So plan of action: do a long stretch before the next relaxer (i used to stretch 3/4 months it was suggested i do a full year), stop manipulating my hair, massage emu oil into my missing patch and basically leave it alone.

The above image in september 2013. I stopped relaxing in July and rubbed emu oil in every night. You can see its starting to fill in.

Fast forward to the present and i fell in love with my ringlets and coils and decided to transition to natural.

My edges have grown back i won't say fully as there is still thinness but i no longer pull on my hair in anyway and stopping the relaxer truly helped not only with my hairline but to embrace my true self.
If you want to see how i grew my edges back with tips and tricks check out my youtube channel.

Hope you enjoyed this post, and had a good giggle! x