The Black- and Veteran-Owned Brand Brings Textured Hair, Salon Culture and Entrepreneurship to Roblox
The beauty shop made it’s way to Roblox.
Black-owned hair care brand The Doux has launched “My Salon Empire,” a free Roblox experience that lets players style textured hair, serve clients and build their own virtual salon from the ground up.
Created by husband-and-wife founders Maya and Brian Smith, the game brings a distinctly Black beauty shop experience to one of the world’s largest gaming platforms, combining hair styling with lessons in customer service, pricing, staffing and entrepreneurship.
Players start with their own salon in Atlanta and grow the business by consulting with clients, shampooing and styling hair, earning rewards, adding salon chairs, hiring employees and eventually expanding their operation. They can also visit salons created by other players.
The Doux says players can build their businesses without purchasing Robux, Roblox’s virtual currency.
Textured Hair Takes Center Stage
Players can work with styles including braids, locs, twists, blowouts and wash-and-gos, with textured hairstyles developed in collaboration with creators from the Roblox community. The brand also plans to expand avatar customization options.
“For me, Black beauty has always been about self-expression, and gaming is another place where people get to express who they are,” Maya Smith told AfroTech Culture.
But Smith said the game is designed to reach beyond hairstyling.
The licensed cosmetologist and mother of five said her own household helped inspire the move into gaming. With gamers already in the family, Roblox offered The Doux an opportunity to introduce younger audiences to both salon culture and the work behind building a business.
“My brand started in a salon,” Smith told AfroTech, describing the experience as a way for players to learn about running a salon, serving customers and building something of their own.
From a Salon Chair to a Virtual Empire
The concept closely mirrors The Doux’s own beginnings.
Before its brightly colored products reached major retailers, Smith built her career as a stylist. She and Brian launched their business while stationed at a U.S. Air Force base in Germany, eventually growing it into salons and a nationally recognized textured hair care brand. The company describes itself as Black-owned, veteran-owned and family-operated.
“My Salon Empire” turns part of that journey into something younger players can experience themselves.
Players must attract clients, provide good service, determine pricing, improve their shops and decide when it is time to hire help — introducing basic business concepts through gameplay instead of a traditional lesson.
The company summarizes the idea simply that styling may get players started, but ownership is what it hopes they take away from the experience.
The gaming expansion also builds on The Doux’s previous efforts to expose Black children to technology and entrepreneurship. The company has partnered with Black Girls Code, tying its beauty business to a larger push for Black participation in technology and innovation.
For The Doux, moving onto Roblox represents another way to meet a younger generation in a space where they are already creating, socializing and expressing themselves.
“My Salon Empire” is free to play on Roblox and is available on phones, tablets and computers.
