Can I borrow your comb?
Katie Nickels forgot her brush. She forgot everything she needed for her hair that morning.
In two hours the 17-year-old needed to be in Monroe, in a dress, with a tiara on her head, riding in the Evergreen State Fair Parade as one of Snohomish County’s alternate dairy ambassadors. No problem. She moseyed on over to the Beef Cattle Barn where her friend Trista Peterson had everything she needed.
“This is a Katie and my type thing,” Trista said as she brushed through Katie’s hair with a scotch comb, the same instrument the Stanwood 4-H member uses to fluff up her cows before competition. Katie sat patiently in the stall they’d temporarily turned into a salon, her black-and-white cow-print rubber boats still on her feet from the morning’s work. They had both been up since 5 a.m., digging out, washing, combing, getting ready for Saturday’s Fit and Show. They wouldn’t leave the barn until it closed that night at 10 p.m.
This wasn’t the first time the pair had to improvise since Katie was elected to her position by the Dairy Women of Snohomish County. In the past they’d gone so far as spraying Katie’s hair with the adhesive they use for the cows. The secret to getting it out? “Just condition twice,” Katie confided.
One can learn a lot in 14 combined years of 4-H. Trista started showing when she was 9 years old. Katie followed two years later. In another year, both plan to be in college. Katie plans to study to become a nurse practitioner. Trista’s interested in staying in the agriculture industry: “I like all the bumps and bruises. For some reason, that’s exciting for me.”
By 9 a.m. the morning barn meeting had taken over the row of stalls next door, and Katie’s hair was finally finished. The scotch comb and wash brush were back to their intended job. The tiara placed carefully on her head, Katie hurried off to find her dress and trade her rubber boots for high heels.
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