I recently build my first Alaia and it looks and rides awesome.
However, I do struggle with the slippery surface. The board is made from Powlonia wood, has one coat of fiber glass on the bottom and polyester all around.
I would like to ride barefooted, but would not like to use wax and I've tried the following:
1. Put salt in the not yet dried out polyester.
This kind of worked, but is still very slippery.
2. Use some special material on top of the wet polyester that can easily be pulled off after the polyester has dried and was supposed to give a rough surface.
This did not work.
As a last resort I ordered foam traction pads, but if there is a chance I would like to not spoil the board with them. (I am aware of transparent traction pads, but they are so costly it would essentially double the price of the board.)
Any other ideas to get traction on the surface other than developing lizard-feet?