Maya Smith on Her Natural Hair Line The Doux
As a black woman, there are a number of things I demand from my haircare line. I want it to support my natural hair, I want it to emphasize my baby hairs and treat my frizz, and I want it to produce results as quickly as possible. Now, imagine that same haircare line is also a black female-owned business (!!!) with a retro hip-hop style that's stocked at Target. This describes The Doux, created by the brilliant mind of Maya Smith. Smith is the creative director, stylist, and owner of the totally ‘90s haircare line The Doux, pronounced The Do. She’s been in the business for over 22 years, starting with a German salon also named The Doux, and brings with her knowledge, passion, a love for hip-hop, and an artist’s soul.
We spoke with Smith about creating her line and how it fits in with an industry that is finally evolving to better cater to the needs of black women.
Tell me about the journey of The Doux
We opened The Doux salon in Germany and we launched the product a couple years after that. We were selling our products online and in the salon and it got to the point where logistically it was really difficult to keep that up because a lot of our shipments were going back home to the U.S. We decided to come back to the states but instead of just going right back into the product line, I thought it was more important to create a branding environment.
I thought if people could really see The Doux and experience what we were about it would be easy for them to get the product. We opened the first Doux salon in Georgia and from there we relaunched The Doux products. We were pretty well known and doing pretty well with our online stores. It's been this natural progression of our brand and bringing things back to the market. I'm fortunate to be a hairstylist still so I can see the needs and wants of our consumer on a daily basis.