IT MAY COME as a surprise to learn that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a secret skincare nerd. He’s lived many lives in his 51 years—wrestler, actor, father, to name a few—but we were a bit shocked to learn he brought the same dedication to his skincare as he does to his famously intense training. Though, when you really think about it, is it really that surprising? Not only does he look great, but he’s spent decades in front of the camera, so he’s bound to have picked up a skincare tip or two.
Now, he’s bringing that knowledge right to your shower with the launch of PAPATUI, his new line of men’s grooming products that includes moisturizers, eye creams, body washes and tattoo lotions, all with a Dwayne Johnson twist. While this project is lifted from his own personal skincare routine, it’s named after Papa Tui, Johnson’s dapper grandfather who taught him the power of personal presentation.
It’s those lessons, both from his past and present, that helped inform his surprisingly extensive line, which took Johnson and his team three years to develop. Available today at papatui.com and at Target stores nationwide on March 10th, not a single one of the 12 products in the range cost more than 10 dollars. The price point was important to Johnson, but overall, two tenets held most true: “As a dude, I need to know that it works, and I need to know it smells good,” he says.
Men’s Health caught up with Johnson to find out exactly what went into creating the collection, why he felt so strongly about it and what he himself uses to keep his skin looking so fresh.
SHOP PAPATUI HERE
Men’s Health: Have you always been into skincare? Where did you learn about it?
Dwayne Johnson: I was always curious about skincare and wanting to take care of my skin. And over the years, I’ve been fortunate to have worked with a lot of great groomers. I’ve picked up some tips. Like, with my PAPATUI stuff—the toner, the face cream, the eye roller—I’ll put it all in the fridge. I like having that cold sensation, especially with the toner. And I like a cold cream before bed. I’m a cold cream guy.
I’ll tell you a funny story: I was on set with Emily Blunt, who’s become one of my best friends, and we were talking about skincare and we’re going back and forth with what we do. She finally goes, “What kind of toner do you use?” And I went, “What do you mean?” She goes, “Shut the fuck up, you don’t use toner? It’s going to change your life.” So she sent me two or three toners. I’d never used toner before. This was about five, six years ago, and it’s become my secret weapon. As we started to put PAPATUI on its feet, I remember saying to my partners, “Okay, we’ve got to have a toner.” And at first, the feedback was, “Well, men usually don’t use toner.” I was like, “Exactly. That’s why we need to have a toner because it’s the secret weapon.”
I was surprised to see toner in your offering, honestly.
It’s funny that as dudes we’re comfortable talking about everything across the spectrum generally, except, “Hey, what do you do for your skin, man?” I get these side conversations from men pulling me aside like, “Hey, can I ask you what you use with your skincare?” Ultimately, I always tell my guy buddies, “Man, use a toner. It’ll balance you out, bring your pH down, tighten your pores. It’s what you want.”
Mark SeligerWas it those side conversations that inspired you to create the line?
Yes, it was those conversations that I was having over the years with a lot of my buddies. I would also get asked what I was doing by women like [Blunt], even as experts at this stuff, to pass on to their own husbands and boyfriends. I want to encourage those conversations that we have privately. Let’s be open about our men’s care. I think that we’ve made a lot of great strides as dudes to talk about mental health, and the importance of bringing your friends in and making sure that you’re talking to people when you’re down and in the gray. Not to that extreme, but certainly of importance, is men’s care and taking better care of ourselves. Let’s talk about it.
I’ve been able to build trust with people and consumers over the years. That’s very important to me, that I protect that trust with great products and then also, come in at a price where everything’s under $10.
Do you consider grooming part of what I’m sure is a very extensive recovery routine?
1000%, yes, absolutely. In the mornings, and at night, and after workouts, I’ve become obsessed with it. Much like we are cold plunging, hitting the sauna, and going cold plunge, sauna, cold plunge, sauna, and training however we’re training. Whatever sweat equity that you’re putting in, the grooming part is just as essential. It’s the final thing.
You’re this very cool example of a modern man. You’re a family guy. You’re very open and very sensitive, but you’re also a total badass. What do you say to guys who might not think caring about grooming is masculine?
That it’s actually the opposite. In my opinion, and what I’ve learned over the years, what makes a guy masculine isn’t this ideology of masculinity like “Hey, man, I got to be a man and do manly things and say manly things.” To me, the most confident men that I have found aren’t necessarily the most masculine, or the toughest, or the most badass. They’re anchored in who they are. From all walks of life and all colors, all religions and genders, it doesn’t matter. They all ultimately just have this confidence in like, “Yeah, I’m down to talk about anything, especially men’s care, especially skin, and sure, I’ll talk about toner. Yeah, give me some tips. What are your hacks? Here are mine.”
One of the aspects about PAPATUI that I have found, and it’s happening so quick, is the encouragement of this conversation and making it fun and easy. I love that aspect of this because it’s allowed for a greater conversation from me to all my guys out there who we haven’t talked about this with yet. We’ve talked about the downs and the struggles of mental health. We’ve talked about working out, we’ve talked about relationships, we’ve talked about tequila, we’ve talked about cheat meals and all that stuff. But this conversation has been very gratifying, and I’ve been enjoying it.
Mark SeligerI was most surprised to see the tattoo care part of this, which obviously speaks to you and your own tattooedness. Why did you feel that was important to have in this offering?
I’m a fan of anyone’s ink work because it all tells a story. Over the years, I had always been searching for a great tattoo product that would take care of, and protect, and hydrate, and pop my tattoos. And I was also looking for a product that didn’t stick to my clothes. When we put the line of PAPATUI together, we started kicking around the idea that there might be a need out there. At least, there was a need for me and I feel like if there was a need for me with the tattoos that I have, we might get a few guys and girls out there who would find this product important to them, too. I had so much fun creating the balm, as well as the tattoo stick. When it comes to tattoos because a lot of people have tattoos across their clavicles and in certain areas where it’s hard to get in there with a tattoo stick, we created the balm.
I kept going back to the basics of mango butter and coconut butter because I do spend a lot of time in the islands in Hawaii with my family, and I thought, if I’m going back to the basics, let’s create a product that starts with the basics, that’s just so good for your skin and your tattoos, and then let’s enhance it. One of the most fun parts about something like this, as I have found, is that you go through so many iterations of the product, and the vessels and the proper application and what feels good, then also what doesn’t.
Let’s talk fragrances. How important were the fragrances to you? Are you a big fragrance guy?
I am a massive fragrance guy and fragrance was so incredibly important. I felt like one of our PAPATUI anchors had to be the scents. As dudes we’re tactile. We like to grab shit, and feel it, and smell stuff. I used to get in trouble a lot when I would go to drugstores because I’d be in the grooming section and I’d stay there for 30, 45 minutes. I would open up the bars of soap and open up the deodorants and just smell. I’d smell everything before I bought it. And so, fragrances are super important to me.
We worked with [fragrance house] Firmenich and master perfumer Frank Voelkl who has created some incredible scents. We collaborated with him to create these scents and went through many iterations of them, which was a lot of fun, and we landed on three that I feel great about.
Also, in the spirit of me getting in trouble for opening all the soaps at the drugstore, we created a little hole in the back of every bar soap package that says “you can smell this good” with a little evil eyebrow. You can smell it right there and you don’t have to open the box.
