Sometimes - albeit rarely, Reddit is an amazing place.
Above, see antique photo of Travelling Merkin Salesman.
Who seems to be wearing one upon his chin as a sort of endorsement, or badge of the trade.
Now - these all are far too bushy for my taste - were I to come across one of these in real life I'd definitely flee in horror - but, something about the trade amuses me and I can't quite put my finger on it...
Imagine, after a hard day of fitting merkins coming home to your wife - "Honey, I'm bushed".
I mean, between the start of the day and the end of the day the many adventures of the travelling merkin salesman. Which I'm sure in every way beats a day in the life of James Bond, I'm sorry.
I most definitely missed my calling.
And - somewhere in this furry mess there has to be a Netflix movie or miniseries...
Oh, and it's very definitely still a thing (I've never seen one in the wild, others must have), but I'll let you do your own google searches and - note the abundance of festive and seasonally themed merkins.