Bald and Broken: Inside Britney's Shaved Head

Feb. 19, 2007 — -- The latest buzz on Britney Spears has a lot of people shaking their heads.

It wasn't long ago that few thought or cared about what went on inside the mind of the pretty, perky pop star. Now, after she shaved her head in a bizarre episode that culminates a months-long saga of controversial behavior, it's the question being asked by her fans, her foes and the general public: What was she thinking?

While psychologists and those around Spears speculate about the cause of her downward spiral, two things seems clear: The one-time pop princess is acting out and in dire need of help.

On Friday evening, Spears walked into Esther's Hair Salon in Tarzana, Calif., reportedly complained that her hair extensions were too tight, and asked owner Esther Tognozzi to shave her head.

"She sat in my chair and said, 'I want my hair shaved off.' I said well I'm not doing it," Tognozzi told the syndicated entertainment news show "Extra."

"Of course I tried to talk her out of it," Tognozzi continued. "I said, 'You know maybe you're having a hormonal moment or something, and maybe tomorrow you'll feel differently about it. Let's talk about this."

Tognozzi said she was talking to Spears' bodyguard when the pop star grabbed the buzzer and began buzzing off her own hair.

"She buzzed off all her own hair and I just cleaned it up when she was done with it, Spear said.

According to Tognozzi, Spears showed little emotion as she chopped off her brunette locks, except for tears in her eyes and voicing fear for her mother's reaction when she looked at her newly shorn head in the mirror.

"The only emotions that she showed was when she said her mom was going to be mad that she was doing this to her hair and she got a little bit teary eyed," she said. "Then she all of a sudden realized what she did."

Tognozzi said she tried to talk to Spears about her kids but that "she wasn't very talkative."

The salon owner speculated that maybe Spears is on the cutting edge of a new trend.

"I said to her now all these kids are gonna be following her and shaving her hair and what did she think of that?" Tognozzi said. "I told her she's lucky she has a nice-shaped head. She looked cute. She's a cute little girl."

The strands of hair Spears left on the salon floor were posted on e-Bay. There are reports the bidding reached $1 million before the auction was removed from the Web site, because the hair could not be authenticated.

After leaving the salon, Spears headed to the Body & Soul tattoo parlor in nearby Sherman Oaks, Calif. According to Us Weekly, she got two tattoos there, one on her hip and one on her wrist.

When a Body & Soul employee looked at the pop star in disbelief and asked why she shaved her head, Spears said, "I don't want anyone touching me. I'm tired of everybody touching me," Us Weekly reports.