A few centuries ago, prostitutes didn’t have it so good. Unfortunately, the world’s oldest profession was rife with some of the world’s oldest parasites: lice. To stop the itching and prevent reinfestation, working women had to shave their nether regions.
This was not necessarily good for business because a lack of pubes also exposed the marks of venereal disease and genital warts (getting excited yet?)
Enter the merkin, a false crop of pubic hair made from animal fur or human hair, trimmed to fit, and glued on. As sexual hygiene improved and drugs were discovered to treat sexually transmitted- diseases, the demand for merkins dried up.
Today merkins are still around for three main reasons: 1) sexual novelties, 2) penis coverings for transsexuals, and 3) to get around the contracts of some Hollywood actresses which stipulate their genitalia must not be filmed.
A historical footnote: At times, President Lyndon Baines Johnson seemed to believe he actually was a merkin! Many of his speeches started, “Mah fellow ‘merkins…..”
Merkin: https://www.google.com/