The 25-year-old mother-of-two reportedly visited Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Centre in Antigua for just one day last week.

Entertainment website TMZ.com said that according to sources Spears was at a Los Angeles in-patient facility.

Her wild weekend began on Friday night when she turned up at Esther’s Hair Salon in Tarzana, California, and demanded that owner Esther Tognozzi shave her head.

When the hairdresser refused, Spears grabbed the clippers and did the job herself, as shocked passers by and photographers watched through the windows.

The star then moved on and got two new tattoos of pairs of pink lips, while listening to a Janis Joplin CD.

Unconfirmed reports claimed she later turned up at the Cedars Sinai Medical Centre in Beverly Hills wearing a dark wig. But apparently she left soon after arriving.

Britney ’may be rebelling against mother’ - Feb 20 2007
Britney Spears’ decision to shave off her hair might have been an act of rebellion against her mother, according to a US report.

As celebrity watchers struggled to make sense of the singer’s move, it was also revealed she’d been deeply upset by the recent death of an aunt from cancer. Britney was said to have been very close to Sandra Bridges Covington, who died last month.

Another report suggested the 25-year-old may have opted for the cut after hairdressers discovered her hair was so damaged by dye-jobs that bald patches were appearing.

She and her mother had been feuding over Lynne Spears’ demand that her daughter end her wild behaviour, a source from the X17 photo agency told the New York Post.

Spears’ surprising new hairdo, which has led to speculation she may be on the edge of some kind of breakdown, did not stop her socialising.

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’.