US:A tearful Britney Spears defiantly shaved her head at a Los Angeles hair salon after the owner refused to take part in her latest extreme makeover.
The Friday evening visit to Esther's Haircutting Studio in the Tarzana district of Los Angeles was followed by a trip to a tattoo parlour where the 25-year-old mother of two young sons added two designs to her body.
The transformation came on the same day People magazine reported that Spears recently entered a rehabilitation centre in the Caribbean island of Antigua and checked out a day later. The reports were denied by Spears's representatives.
Spears's busy Friday night began in the salon of Esther Tognozzi, who told the syndicated TV gossip show Extra that she was afraid to shave Spears's head in case she was sued for ruining the singer's image.
After Tognozzi protested that Spears was maybe being "hormonal" and would feel differently the next day, Spears coolly "grabbed the buzzer and started buzzing her own hair off . . . I just cleaned it up when she was done with it," she said.
Tognozzi said Spears seemed to be "just there in body and not really emotionally there", but did get "a little bit teary-eyed" when she realised her mother might get upset.
The whereabouts of the hair was a mystery yesterday, although one enterprising person in Pennsylvania was selling 10 lots of the purported locks on eBay at $50 a shot.
Spears rose to fame eight years ago in the guise of a virginal schoolgirl and had hits with tunes such as Oops! . . . I Did it Again and the Grammy-winning Toxic.
As little girls around the world clamoured to mimic their idol, Spears ditched the clean-cut image by kissing Madonna at an awards show, using public toilets in bare feet and marrying a childhood friend for two days.
She has become a fixture on the nightclub circuit since her split in November from her second husband, Kevin Federline, a former back-up dancer.
She was repeatedly photographed in December climbing out of cars without wearing underpants while in the company of celebrity Paris Hilton. Both recently made the cover of Newsweek magazine with a story headlined The Girls Gone Wild Effect and a poll of readers who said celebrities like them were having too much influence on young girls.
In January Spears posted a message on her website acknowledging the negative publicity, while writing, "I look forward to coming back this year bigger and better than ever and to reaching out to my fans on a more personal level".
The singer's recent behaviour is erratic and worrying and she needs help, a leading psychologist said yesterday.
Prof Cary Cooper of Lancaster University said: "She's obviously quite a disturbed girl at the moment, she doesn't know who or what she is.
Prof Cooper, an expert on stress, added: "I think it's a call for help. She's saying, 'I'm very confused, I'm not in control of myself at the moment, I need a fresh start, I need help'."