On Saturday she was spotted at West Hollywood’s chic Mondrian hotel sporting a short blonde wig and a mismatched bikini and smoking "cigarette after cigarette". On Sunday night she covered up with the wig again to go to at the Roxy nightclub.

Salon owner Esther Tognozzi is now selling Spears’ jettisoned locks on a specially created website, with an asking price of a million dollars (£510,000). The proceeds will go to charity.

Hours before committing her hair to history, Spears was talking about it without giving any clue of what she was about to do, video footage on website TMZ.com showed.

As she walked through Los Angeles International airport on Friday afternoon a photographer told the star: "I love the brown hair."

Spears replied: "Thanks, I think I’m going to keep it this way."

’Out of control Britney needs help’ - Feb 19 2007
Britney Spears’ recent behaviour is erratic and worrying and she needs help, according to a leading psychologist.

The pop star reportedly checked into rehab, then checked out again within 24 hours, before shaving off her own hair in a Los Angeles salon.

Professor Cary Cooper, professor of psychology and health at Lancaster University, said: "She’s obviously quite a disturbed girl at the moment, she doesn’t know who or what she is.

"If she’s checked in and checked out within a 24 hour period, it shows she’s kind of lost control. She obviously needs some help, and needs somebody to take hold, because her behaviour is very erratic."

Professor 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’.

"You couldn’t have anything clearer than that. To me, it’s a symbolic act, saying, ’Help, I’m not altogether here’ - and it’s certainly drawn attention to her."

Spears shocked fans looking through the window of the San Fernando Valley salon on Friday night when she grabbed an electric clipper and shaved her own head.

Owner Esther Tognozzi told CNN: "I tried to talk her out of it. I said, ’Are you sure you’re not having a bad day and tomorrow you’ll feel differently about it? Why don’t we wait a little bit?’

"She said ’No, I absolutely want it shaved off now.’ Next thing I know, she grabbed the buzzer and she went to the back of my salon and she was shaving off her own hair."

Britney avoids Paris? - Feb 9 2007
Britney Spears appeared to be doing her best to avoid ex-pal Paris Hilton at New York fashion week.

Scheduled to attend Wednesday night’s uber-hip Heatherette show, a brunette Britney apparently changed her mind at the last minute, sparking rumours that Paris’s expected appearance on the runway was to blame.

"Ten minutes before the show started, they got a call that Britney was in the parking area outside," a backstage witness told the New York Daily News.

"They went out with a Heatherette sweatshirt to throw over her head, but there was no Britney. She got to the parking lot and bailed."

Paris was a no-show too, apparently calling in sick for the show, according to the newspaper.

While Paris presumably rested up, Britney went for dinner at Midtown eatery Rue 57, before heading off to meet old flame Justin Timberlake’s former *NSYNC bandmate JC Chasez at Manhattan club Marquee.