It’s kind of a fun word to say, and is a fun decoration!

You haven’t heard of a mirkin? Well, dear reader, please continue reading and I will share what I have unearthed for you this month!

As early as the 1600′s there are accounts of women AND in some cases men, wearing mirkins- essentially a genital wig. In my research I have found that the mirkin was generally used by prostitutes for sanitary reasons. It seems the prostitutes of the day knew the best way of keeping away sexually shared mites, crabs, nits, lice and the grand buffet of critters that sometimes came from a client with poor hygiene. Since most people did not bathe regularly until (I’m guessing) the 20th century, a mirkin was a great plan for a hygiene conscious whore. It turns out prostitutes weren’t the only ones said to wear mirkins.  It is said that Marie Antoinette wore one. In the Dauphine’s crowd of ladies at court, she would have likely had a human hair mirkin, undoubtedly decked out in ribbons and jewels. It was a mix of modesty mixed with excess.  In this time, mirkins were worn quite long. I read that they would often nearly reach the knees- Imagine the hairstyles Marie Antoinette wore, now apply that to her nethers. Oh fashion……what it does to some of us! As I said, the wealthy would use human hair- this was usually hair harvested from cadavers. The royal wig-makers, and hairstylists likely were the designers of such accessories. Poorer people would use horse or goat hair- I wouldn’t be surprised if a finer furred creature’s previously owned fur bedecked a gentleman, or gentlewoman’s mons pubis.

In modern times, we have merkins appearing more frequently. Actors starring in period films that have full frontal nudity will often times be fitted with a mirkin to make the period look of the film more realistic. Most recently in the HBO movie “Mildred Pierce”, Kate Winslet and Evan Rachael Wood wore mirkins for filming. Our modern ideas of a bare beaver was not the trend in the 1930′s- people may have trimmed, but did not remove all their pubic hair.

Some celebrities who prefer to not wear panties, choose to wear a mirkin–seemingly to smite the paparazzi’s goal of the “getting out of the car beaver shot” as a way of covering , but still feeling the freedom of going commando.

Vajazzling was popular for a while; applying jewels to the mons pubis likely with either eyelash adhesive, surgical glue, or possibly spirit gum.

There’s a new mirkin in town! One of the Real Housewives of New York has a spa that specializes in fox fur and feathered mirkins. First the pubic area is made hairless, and some type of skin safe adhesive is used to add tufts of colorful fox fur. This spa seems to offer pink and purple as options. I read in Cosmo last month about feathers decorating the pubic area. I was baffled! What direction did the feathers point?  Why are people doing this?  Well- in this type of decoration, the quill end of the feather seems to be pointing downward while the fringy feather ends fanning out pointing to the belly and hips of the proud wearer.

Once I read about this seemingly obscure trend, I began asking my clients–mainly men in their 20′s–what they would think if they discovered that their girl had a feather mirkin on- most found the idea odd and distasteful. Just a small slice of a survey.

I’m not aware of anywhere locally that this is a service offered, but I believe it is upwards of $200 in NYC .

As a word of precaution to anyone thinking of trying this, please find a proper adhesive and test for skin allergies before proceeding to bedeck your nethers!

Play safe!