Hurtin' for a Merkin - Is down there hair coming back into style?
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 9:46PM Style is a pendulum. You know when a trend swings so heavily in one direction, it's bound to go back to the opposite sooner or later. Take all the NEON we are seeing for Spring. Didn't we all swear off of those hues in 9th grade? Over the past few years, one of the most radical changes we've seen in beauty and female maintenance has been the acceptance of the Brazilian Bikini wax. Once reserved for porn actress or crab infested Victorian-era prostitutes, a hairless (or almost hairless) va-jayjay is now the norm for most women.
While one can argue that modern media and the popularity of Howard Stern, Sex and the City, and The Girls Next Door has brainwashed women into sexifying themselves for male approval, the argument has been made that in our current society, we just don't need pubic hair. And its removal has quickly become a multimillion dollar business industry. When Holly Madison made the comment about the old days of Playboy, "when girls had fur bikinis," women across the country took note. Fashionable, modern women do NOT have hair down there... or at least not a lot.
But now that the thought that less to none is more, is the style going to change? Just like the thickness of eyebrows have switched back and forth over the years, are pubes now going to be all the rage? Some evolutionary experts think that hair that comes with puberty, such as underarm hair, male chest hair and pubic hair, helps secrete pheromones, making one more sexually attractive to others. And while hairless vaginas have been popular - is it because it was considered "naughty" or risque' when women first started doing them? And now that they are the norm, will the hairy beaver make its comeback? Is it like the belly piercing phenomenon? At first it was deemed wild and crazy, then 16 year olds and 50 year olds started getting them and they lost all their appeal.
Ad from American ApparelIf you follow a basic rule of fashion and trends, then yes, bushes will be back.
Take the latest scandalous ad from American Apparel that shows a model's pubic hair through a pair of lace panties. Admit it - when you look at this ad you are shocked. But why? Victoria's Secret shows see-thru lace underwear all the time, but there is neither hide nor hair of, um, well...hide or hair to be seen. If this picture did not have a dark spot where we are (now) used to seeing a flesh tone - would you even think twice about this ad?
What about famed waxer and "real" NY "Housewife" (who's not married and is a working woman, so how she qualified for that title escapes me) Cindy Barshop trying to bring back the merkin? While these are not your 1800s hooker vag toupees, these modern merkins are brightly colored and made of REAL fox fur. Yes. You read that right. She is selling not only the application of bright fox fur and feathers to a woman's cooch (post wax of course, homegirl still needs her bread and butter money) but she is actively promoting this as the next big thing to hit your nether regions. For only $225 the hippest of the hip can now you can now have a Merkin to go with their Birkin.
You can watch the G rated video demonstration of the process here...
The moral of the story is that bald may not be beautiful anymore. And while we (hopefully) will never go as far back as to the unmaintained wild bush woman days, maybe we'll think twice before having it all permanently removed.
What do you think - will pubic hair make a comeback? And are you willing to grow yours out under the guise of fashion?
