Could a Merkin Actually Be The New Birkin?

Indeed, every time I brought up my purchase (yes, I’m an oversharer), hairy conversations were had—which, beauty historian Rachael Gibson argues, is sort of the point. “This is a marketing piece to get us talking, in keeping with the nipple bra,” she says. “It feels uncomfortable to me to monetize and market bodily features as a punchline, which is what this feels like, opposed to some kind of celebration of body hair, which it definitely isn’t.”

Kardashian, to be sure, is on-the-record virtually hairless. “I am Armenian, so of course I am obsessed with laser hair removal,” she told Allure in 2010. “Arms, bikini, legs, underarms…” And more recently, she’s shared selfies from laser hair removal spas. Could it be, then, that she’s experiencing a bit of hair envy?

“I was one of those girls who sprinted to get laser hair removal the second I was old enough,” says Vogue sex columnist Eileen Kelly, “a decision I now mildly regret, as I’m as bald as they come down there. For people like me who have a touch of bush envy, this feels like a charming experiment in wish fulfillment. Though I suppose the logistics get tricky. What happens when it’s time to actually have sex? Does the bush have to come off?”

While I myself haven’t quite figured out the when-where-how of wearing my new merkin outside the house, I do think the Birkin comparison is apt: you buy it to show it off, not trap it under a pair of Levi’s. It should be noted, though, that I’m more of a Margaux 15 girl.

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