Surfing an Alaia: To wax or not to wax?
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Surfing an Alaia: To wax or not to wax?

Not that this is a huge point of debate, but deciding whether or not to wax your alaia can have its pros and cons either way. I’ve heard that American women tend to shave while Australians prefer not to. However, living in Hawai’i, I prefer the latter.

Waxing your alaia makes it a little more comfortable by removing some degree of rubbing from the wood, resulting in a slightly less painful nipple or stomach rash. When your board is freshly oiled, the wax also helps it stay on the board without slipping like it should.

However, and this is the big deal for me, if you wax your board and then decide to re-sand or reshape it in the future, you will need a whole pack of sandpaper just to get the wax off the board. Even if you don’t have much in there, a sheet of sandpaper only needs a few small patches of wax to ruin the entire sheet.

On the other hand, not waxing your board can be a bit slippery the first time or two after a lube. Also, you will be completely exposed to wood rubbing which can cause some pretty serious skin rashes. Since this is my preferred method, here are my solutions to the dilemmas above. First, hold on and slide here and there for a session or two. After a couple of sessions, the excess oil is gone and the wood has plenty of grip to hold you without having to add wax. Two, wear a shirt. You may still have a small rash, but it will be much less intense.

You can decide for yourself, but hopefully this will point out some of the pros and cons of each method.

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