Dwayne Johnson Debuts Men's Grooming Line Papatui: 'Dude, Why Are We Whispering About Skincare?' (Exclusive)

Turns out, The Rock is the skincare guru you never knew you needed

The Rock PAPATUI
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson launches men's personal care like PAPATUI. . Photo:

Mark Seliger

Wrestler. Actor. Director. Father. 2016 Sexiest Man Alive. Fanny Pack Enthusiast. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson wears many hats, so it's no surprise he's joining the pantheon of celebrity skincare brands with his own line.

Meet Papatui, Johnson's debut men's personal care brand featuring skin, hair, body and tattoo care products made with cleaner ingredients and focused on performance. Even more exciting? Every product is under $10.

To hear Johnson tell it, Papatui, launching in Target stores and on Target.com on March 10 and available now on the brand's website, was born out of conversations with peers at, where else, the gym!

"I found over the years as men, we can have these great conversations about working out, recovery, ice baths, saunas and we can talk about trucks and cheat meals and tequila and our favorite movies, but every conversation I would have regarding skincare, I was always pulled to the side privately like, 'Hey, can I ask you a question? What do you do for your skin?'" he explains in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE.

So in an effort to normalize men taking care of their skin, The Rock used his business savvy and charm to create a line that falls into the masstige bucket (accessibility was crucial).

"So many times I would say, 'Dude, why are we whispering [about skincare]? It's okay. We should be able to have this open conversation.' Papatui has allowed me to encourage just a more open, greater conversation about skincare and grooming."

The Rock Launches Men's Grooming Line PAPATUI

Mark Seliger

Over the course of three years, Johnson built a team and started to "educate" himself on clean ingredients, scent profiles and more.

"I am passionate about trying to do my best to take care of myself inside and out," he tells PEOPLE. "Like so many of us, I had a great curiosity; I'm always experimenting — how can I improve my skincare and my grooming? And with that daily intention. I saw an opportunity here to create a product with great quality but also great accessibility in terms of cost. Let's think about the consumer and let's deliver quality at a very accessible price."

Below, more from PEOPLE's conversation with Johnson about his debut in the skincare space, the advice he got from Emily Blunt and which fellow Sexiest Man Alive he wants to see using Papatui. (Try not to swoon.)

Papatui's Name and Foundation Are Rooted in Fatherhood

The fun part about creating a brand is you get to come up with a name. There were so many iterations of the name. I remember telling my team, "I'm getting ready to take the girls back to Hawaii. Let me go back there and let me just sit in that aloha spirit that I always talk about." And out of that, something really cool happened. I'm half Black and half Samoan. On my Samoan side, my grandfather, even when I was a kid, he was the first man who made a mark on me in terms of [his appearance]. He always smelled amazing, he was always well-groomed. He had beautiful skin. He was a big tough guy. He was the professional wrestler. He was my influence as a kid. He's why today I'm not going through my day without a good-smelling cologne. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, where I'm going, I'm always putting good-smelling cologne on. My grandfather nicknamed me "Tui." And I thought, "Okay, let's start there. There's something interesting there." On the Papa side, I'm a proud girl dad. I have three daughters, house full of estrogen, and my favorite role is being a dad. So Papa. And then I started to realize that, "Oh my God, this is all coming together in a kismet way. Papa in Samoan means "rock."

Women Can Use These Products Too

It was designed with the intention for men, but every product, by the way, is unisex. My wife [Lauren Hashian] uses it too!

Dwayne Johnson and daughters
Dwayne Johnson Instagram / Christopher Polk/Getty

Emily Blunt Turned Him on to Toners

I was working with Emily Blunt, who is one of my best friends. And we were talking about our morning routines and bedtime routines in terms of skincare. We were sharing tips back and forth, and she said, "Hey, well, what toner do you use?"

And I went, "I don't use toner."

She said, "What? You don't use toner?"

I went, "No." I said, "Guys don't use toner."

She's like, "I'm going to send you a few toners that are going to change your life."

I said, "Okay, I've heard that a million times. But okay."

So she sent me toners, I tried them and I realized, 'Oh my God, this is a secret weapon in terms of evening out your complexion and tightening your pores!' Our toner balances the pH of your skin — it's become a secret weapon for me. I appreciate that kind of feedback from either Emily or family, friends — it's been so helpful.

The Rock Launches Men's Grooming Line PAPATUI

PAPATUI

The Luxe Scent Profile Behind the Line Has Nods to Le Labo's Santal 33 (IYKYK)

I wanted to make sure that our three scents rivaled some of the best scents in the world. I love a great-smelling cologne. I love and appreciate a great-smelling perfume. We have the Coconut Lush that always takes me back to the islands in Hawaii. We also have a Sandalwood Suede and a Cedar Sport. We worked with the iconic fragrance house Firmenich and collaborated with the famous perfume maker Frank Voelkl. When we first started working on Papatui years ago, we were sitting around a room and we were talking about the scents. My partner said, "Is there a favorite cologne of yours?"

And I said, "I have 50 colognes at home and there is one scent that I just smelled and I love it. It's Santal 33." And he got quiet, and I thought, "Did I say something wrong?"

And then he said, "Well, that's exactly who we're going to. The man who we've enlisted who's agreed to come on and collaborate with us to create Papatui scents created Santal 33!"

The Rock Launches Men's Grooming Line PAPATUI

PAPATUI

The Soap Packaging Has a Built-In Scent Tester

When I used to be able to go to drug stores before I became famous for wearing a fanny pack, I would go inside and I would spend 30, even 45 minutes in these grooming sections and open up every bar of soap, every deodorant, because fragrances and smells are really important to me. And I used to get in trouble and they used to kick me out of these drug stores. So I thought, "Well, how can I take care of our guys and girls who want to know what our scents smell like?" So on the back of every bar, there's a small hole in the packaging where you can smell these.

The Rock PAPATUI

Mark Seliger

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The Papatui Tattoo Balm Won't Stick to Your Clothes

Over the years, I was always looking for a great tattoo product that would protect and hydrate my tattoos, that would also give them a pop and sheen when I went out, but also didn't stick to my clothes. I had never found that. What we wound up doing is going back to the basics with mango butter and cocoa butter and mixing those together for the tattoo balm and the stick. I love every single tattoo — they all tell a story. And I wanted a product within Papatui that took care of that for our tattoo-lovers out there.

He's Going to Stock Up PEOPLE's Sexiest Men Alive with Some Papatui

Let's start with Chris Evans. I remember when he got it — we did something funny. And I'm going to send it to all the SMA guys — they're all going to get Papatui because they all need it.

The Rock Wants to Hear from You

With everything, I encourage feedback and I can't wait to get feedback from everybody out there who's using it. We'll learn from it, and that will inform whether we need new formulation, tweaked formulation, what we need more or less of. I can't wait.

Papatui is available in Target stores and on Target.com beginning Sunday, March 10.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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