Mane Metaverse: The Doux Founder Maya Smith Talks…
Black hair is formally getting into the gaming chat, and for The Doux Founder Maya Smith that means more than laid edges on an avatar. It’s an opportunity to convey the tradition, creativity and entrepreneurship of the Black salon experience right into a new digital area.
Source: The Doux
The Doux has expanded into Roblox with an immersive salon experience that brings textured hair, salon tradition and entrepreneurship into the digital world. Developed with Exclusible, the experience permits gamers to build and function their very own salon while shampooing, drying and styling shoppers across a variety of hair textures and protecting types.
For Smith, a cosmetologist who has labored in the magnificence business since 1995, getting into gaming isn’t about following a tech pattern. It’s an extension of the same salon tradition that impressed The Doux in the first place.
“I think one thing that The Doux is known for is being innovative, but also really thinking about not just the hair itself, but the everyday life and the quality of life of the people that we serve,” Smith said.
She said Roblox supplied the model a chance to fulfill shoppers the place they already are while increasing conversations about textured hair, entrepreneurship and the function salons play in Black communities.
Source: The Doux / The Doux
“My thought was really to take our consumers and our followers on this journey of what it was like for me to start The Doux,” Smith said. “You know, if you know anything about The Doux, you know we started from our salon.”
The Doux Is Taking Players Beyond The Styling Chair
Rather than merely dropping digital bottles of The Doux right into a game, Smith wished gamers to experience what it takes to truly function a salon.
Source: The Doux / The Doux
That consists of serving shoppers, retaining appointments, deciding on hairstyles and managing the particulars that can decide whether or not prospects go away blissful. Smith said that method also speaks to ongoing conversations about the variations between “new school” and “old school” salon tradition.
“People have always seen the craft or seen what hairstylists or barbers and Black salon culture produces in the community, but nobody really thinks about the actual business,” Smith said.
For her, the neighborhood salons many Black prospects grew up visiting have been constructed on more than expertise.
“The long-standing businesses are built on great customer service, being on time, no ‘hey boo’ text, right?” she said. “All of the things that make you love your neighborhood salon from back in the day are parts of the actual business of hair care.”
The experience provides gamers an opportunity to explore those behind-the-chair tasks while still having enjoyable with the inventive aspect of magnificence.
More Than 50 Textured Hairstyles Put Representation At The Center
The digital salon consists of more than 50 textured hairstyles created with members of the Roblox creator community, with choices spanning different textures and types.
Source: The Doux / The Doux
Smith said making that illustration intentional was one among the project’s largest priorities.
“We all know what it’s like to, you know, be in the store and not see your name on a little license plate, or you know, want to pick an avatar in a game or any of your younger memories of playing and not seeing yourself represented in play,” she said.
Players will encounter avatars with various skin tones and hair textures, together with hairstyles including twist-outs, braid-outs, Afros, fades and locs.
Smith said she wished customers across backgrounds to have the ability to establish with somebody in the game while also gaining an appreciation for the broader community represented within it.
Source: The Doux / The Doux
“The first game where the representation of the actual avatars is very, very intentional,” Smith said.
Maya Smith Wants Players To See The Business Behind Beauty
Entrepreneurship is just as important to the experience as styling hair.
Source: The Doux / The Doux
Smith’s personal path to turning into a magnificence founder started behind the chair. She said she initially wasn’t targeted on turning into a product entrepreneur. Her enterprise centered on constructing areas the place Black women may really feel secure, perceive their hair and enhance their haircare experiences.
“The heart of the brand really rests in that salon space,” Smith said.
That origin story is mirrored in the game as gamers make appointments, serve prospects and even select components for his or her digital salons.
Source: The Doux / The Doux
“All of the little things, the little details that are missed because everyone’s so focused on the hair, I wanted to bring that to the space and give our user an opportunity to experience that,” she said.
For The Doux, Gaming Is Part Of A Bigger Lifestyle Play
Smith also sees the Roblox experience as a chance to challenge concepts about the place impartial Black-owned corporations belong.
Source: The Doux / The Doux
“I hope it says a lot more about what Black founders are capable of in the beauty space,” she said.
Smith acknowledged that Black creatives are ceaselessly acknowledged for setting traits that later affect bigger manufacturers, however she desires Black founders to have alternatives to steer conversations round rising technology somewhat than merely inspire them.
“I see The Doux as a lifestyle brand,” Smith said. “So yes, hair, but also art, music, fashion, tech.”
That means getting into areas that could not historically be thought of a part of a haircare company’s lane.
“More Black founders, more people of color that are willing to step outside of what other people may see as their lane, I think really will inspire and empower other creators,” she said.
Smith added that taking part in those areas is turning into more and more important as shoppers encounter manufacturers digitally before they ever stroll right into a retailer.
“How do we engage with them from a place that they are instead of demanding that they come to find us?” she said.
The Products Are There, But Smith Says Serving Comes Before Selling
The Doux’s real-life merchandise are included into the styling course of. If a digital buyer requests a twist-out, for instance, gamers can encounter merchandise related to creating that fashion.
Source: The Doux / The Doux
The experience also incorporates age-based restrictions. Users 13 and older can see branded content, while procuring performance is reserved for adults 18 and older.
Still, Smith said the final purpose isn’t to show the game into another digital storefront.
“We want to create and entertain, edutain, if you will, the people who love the brand,” she said.
Smith said she’s more taken with constructing a relationship with gamers by inviting them into The Doux’s world.
“I think a lot more about serving than selling, and that really is like what this game is about,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for us to engage in a way that is unique.”
As The Doux continues exploring what exists past the conventional magnificence aisle, Smith isn’t placing many limits on the place the model may go next.
“My mission has always been to create more spaces and provide more opportunities for people to do whatever it is that they want to do, just through the lens, right, of The Doux,” she said.
For now, that lens is bringing the Black salon experience into Roblox, full with the textures, creativity, enterprise classes and sense of community Smith hopes gamers acknowledge from real life.
“My hope is that the people who use the game will feel seen, and have a sense of belonging, and feel included in this world,” Smith said. “So I’m super excited about it.”
For more on The Doux, its textured haircare merchandise and the latest from the model, go to TheDoux.com.
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The submit Mane Metaverse: The Doux Founder Maya Smith Talks Delivering Digital ’Dos & Black Hair Culture To Roblox [Exclusive] appeared first on Bossip.
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