The Doux is a phenomenal haircare line produced by CEO and founder Maya Smith. She developed the idea for the hair care line while she was working as a licensed cosmetologist. Smith spent two years perfecting her products with chemists. The Doux is also the name of her salon located in Macon, Georgia. Smith describes The Doux as “a sucka free hair care line formulated for results and performance.”
The Doux can be found in Target, Walgreens, Walmart, Sally Beauty and other retailers nationwide.
Where did your love for hair care come from?
I’ve been doing this literally my whole life. I actually got licensed while I was in high school. So, by the time I started my senior year in high school, I was already working. I worked at the JC Penney salon. I would you know get in my little VW bug and drive down the street to work the second half of the day. Even before then, I was the kid that swept the hair up and answered the phone. My very beginning in the hair care industry was in service and customer service.
In the late ’80s, early ’90s I was watching these transformations happen. Seeing the educational environment and the synergy between the stylists was very different at that time. Black Hollywood was emerging and we had shows like “In Living Color” and “Living Single.” The stylists that I was working around were working on those shows.
How do you develop your products?
I actually have a system that I’ve been running since I started working with my clients in Germany. It really hasn’t changed. I use the same group of people, the same heads of hair, and I break everything down based on the conditions and textures of hair. I separate my clients that way. Then, I just run data, I do a lot of trials, I send them home with things. The way that I come up with the products that I’m going to launch is based on my community and on the culture. I’m listening.
I think the thing that is unique about being a hairstylist and being behind the chair, versus starting your career from the board room is that I’m in on all of the conversations that you all have, about what they’re doing, what’s working, what’s not working, where the white space is, the gaps and holes … on the shelves.
So, the things that I create have always been really guided by my consumer, which is my client. They’re guided by the people that I’m really talking to, this isn’t a girl that I’ve heard of or that I observed or just watched data from women with texture hair. This is a girl that sits in my chair every day, somebody that I know, and she is me. So every single thing that you see us develop from The Doux is addressing a very specific concern, thought, or feeling that’s been expressed.
