Page 74 of Between the Boards
Kairi walksinto my room holding a blue wide-toothed comb, a tub of hair product, and a towel piled atop her head.
“I washed my hair and did a deep conditioning mask in the shower so hopefully that makes this a lot easier for us than it normally is,” she says, placing everything on the bed next to me. ”Do you have a pillow I can sit on?”
I grab the pillow I sleep on without a second thought and hand it to her. She pushes my knees apart and places it on the ground between my feet before taking a seat in front of me.
“You can help with the part I hate the most,” she says, untying the towel. “Detangling my hair.”
Her beautiful curls tumble down her back, still damp and potent from her coconut vanilla shampoo. For the next ten minutes she shows me how to section off her hair into parts so that it’s easier to work through.
“Remember to start from the bottom and work your way up,” she says as I grab the comb.
I do exactly what she showed me, careful not to pull too hard when I find a tangle, chipping away at each section one by one. I notice that whenever I finish a section, she grabs onto it and applies a thick layer of leave in conditioner before splitting the section into two and twisting it.
”Do you have to do this after every practice?” I ask.
“Yup,” she replies while lathering another section. “It’s the worst part of my day most days.”
I run my fingers through the section I just finished combing, waiting for her to finish the twist she’s working on before I hand this one over.
“That sounds so tedious,” I mumble distractedly.
I think of all the products I’ve seen on the shelf of our local surf shop, and how they all only cater to straight hair. I think of the sponsor that shut down working with Kairi after noticing her curls.
“Very tedious,” she confirms, taking the section from me. “I asked Gabriel if he could find a brand that makes products for curls so that I could try and get a sponsorship through them, because hair products are expensive and I go through them like crazy.”
”Any luck finding one?” I ask, picking up the final section of her hair and beginning to comb through it.
”Nope,” she replies. “I’m not surprised though. Like I said, poster girls don’t look like me.”
It’s like a lightbulb goes off in my head and I slow down combing her hair until I completely stop—mulling the idea over in my head.
”Have you ever considered collaborating with a big brand instead?”
“Collaborate?” she asks, turning to look at me over her shoulder. “Like work with a brand to create a collection of products?”
I nod. “I mean if you can’t find a brand that already carries the products surfers with your hair type need,” I shrug, “then why not work with one to make it happen?”
She bites her lip as she falls into a deep thought while I take the time to admire her. Even with her hair half done, she looks stunning.
“That’s not a bad idea actually,” she finally murmurs, looking back at me.
“It’d get you on the posters that matter,” I wink.
Her cheeks flush delicately and she quickly turns around so that I can’t see.
“Thanks,” she whispers, continuing the twist she was working on. “I‘ll speak to Gabriel about it.”
When we finish her hair a few minutes later, she ties the twists back and stands with a sigh of relief.
“I don’t know how we finished that so quickly,” she says. “Normally it takes me an hour or two to get through that.”
I grin. “Four hands work faster than two, I guess.”
“Yeah.” She nods. “I guess so.”
A beat of silence passes between us, and as much as I don’t want her to go I know I should probably send her on her way.
“Off to bed?” I ask, picking my pillow up off the floor and tossing it back onto my bed.
