Papa Skincare founder Kahn Denton uses rongoā from Tahāroa and Kāwhia to create a line of skincare products for tāne.
Denton (Ngāti Mahuta ki Te Hauāuru, Waikato-Tainui) says the products are to help empower tāne to take care of their skin all while taking care of Papatūānuku in the process with reusable, recyclable or compostable materials.
He uses harakeke, mamaku, kawakawa, mānuka, kūmarahou, horopito and even Arohaki iron sands from Tahāroa to make his face scrub, body wash and moisturiser products.
His inspiration for Papa comes from growing up being always connected to the taiao and using the environment and rongoā to heal, without having access to western medicine.
Papa cares for men's skin and the environment.
“I guess our tāne don’t have anything made for them from our whenua with them in mind and our tāne deserve to be looked after.
“We don’t use [rongoā] as a marketing ploy, we use them for the benefits that they deliver.”
Denton says he wants to see the market saturated in Aotearoa and then wants to see it taken to the world to have a spotlight shined upon te ao Māori.
He's no stranger to television, having already been on Whakaata Māori programmes Home Land and Sea and also Marae DIY, where he provided solar solutions to marae. His passion for helping comes from the idea that he and his whānau "are purely only caretakers" and that he does any mahi for the next generation's future, educating tamariki and rangatahi about the taiao.
“It’s like our reo: if it doesn’t get passed down, it won’t continue to happen.”
