Three years ago, a good friend of mine started to dread his hair. Back then, I was ignorant and I didn't know what dreading was about. I asked him, and he explained to me that he wanted to be his natural self. He was a lot more philosophical about it, but that's the gist. We spent a year after that inseparable, and his thoughts on dreads spoke to me. I spent some time researching it, and only found information about wax and the like. I wasn't a fan of the idea of smearing beeswax in my hair, so I decided that maybe dreads weren't for me.

I lost contact with my friend in May of '11, and in November I started thinking about him again. I planned to attend his band's first concert, but on November 11th I got really sick. I wanted to remember him, talk to him, think about him. In early December, I learned that he had gotten killed in a car accident on his way home from that concert on November 11th. I wanted to commemorate him somehow, so I planned for a small tattoo, began flying his flag on my boot, wrote songs I knew he would have liked. And yet none of this seemed like it was enough. I began thinking about his dreadlocks again. When he cut them off last year, he gave one to me. I decided I would have dreadlocks, but not JUST for him. I began doing some more research, thinking that if it came down to it, I'd buy the nasty-sounding wax. I found this site, lurked for a while, and decided that tnr was the way for me.

I still have his dreadlock, and I want to sew it into my own so I can always carry his journey with me. RIP Nick. eNVy to the end.