TALK ABOUT a really bad hair day.
Most women faced with stress won't hack off all their tresses, but when the going gets tough, many turn to the scissors.
"When a woman walks in and wants something drastic, it's usually because they've been through something - a baby, a breakup," said Debbie Glenn, co-owner of Wink Salon in Virginia Beach.
"It's all about control, or lack of it. When life is out of control, hair is something they do have control over."
Britney Spears' mane meltdown - she razored to a chrome dome after ditching rehab - has been the topic of debate over the blow-dryers at Wink since the pop star turned up bald two weekends ago.
"She's insane," said stylist Lindsay Blake, 19. "If she wants to be the talk of the year, she succeeded. It's very punk rock, but that really doesn't suit who she is.
"
Tori Glenn, 20, joined in the chatter without looking up from the client she was highlighting.
"I say, 'Bad idea,' and I think she's saying the same thing right now. She just became the perfect client for Jessica Simpson.
"
Uh, help us out here? What's one pop tart got to do with the other?
"Jessica Simpson?
" Glenn said, peering through her own fringe of black bangs. "She's got a new line of hair extensions."
Spears isn't the first celeb to turn heads with a radical new 'do.
Singer Faith Hill risked trimming her fan base when she cut her traditional country singer's big hair into a choppy bob.
Christina Aguilera morphed from pin-straight teen-queen hair to a crisp-and-crunchy rock style for her "Dirrty" days, then ditched the grunge for a '50s pin-up look.
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow and both Simpsons - Jessica and Ashlee - have bounced through bottled shades of brown and blond.
Madonna has done everything short of shaving her much-abused locks.
There have even been other female skin heads, with Demi Moore, Sigourney Weaver and Natalie Portman all going hairless.
Those Ms.
Cleans did the 'do for movie roles, though. And most of the other female stars' choices didn't smack of Britney's desperation.
But her reaction to life's pounding - taking it out on the locks - is common, according to the more seasoned stylists at Wink.
"After I had a baby, I dyed my hair black," said co-owner Cheryl Griggs, 45, shaking her sun-and-sand-colored hair. "I don't know why I did it, but it was a big mistake."
Debbie Glenn, 49 ( she's Tori Glenn's mom), recalls a blonde client who absolutely, positively needed to become a redhead.
"She came back two days later and said, 'Dye it back,' " Glenn said. "I said, 'You wanna tell me what that was all about?' "
A giggle erupted from the woman having her hair foiled under Glenn's fingers.
"She tells me her husband hates redheads," Glenn continued, "and it was a spite thing. I told her, 'That's going to be a really costly argument, going from red to blonde again.' "
Actually, Glenn can sympathize.
"When I had a baby, I got a perm. And I have naturally curly hair."
Anything to be learned from the Brit clip?
"If you're going to shave your head, you've got to have flawless features to carry it off," Debbie Glenn said. "She's a pretty girl, but you need to be Sharon Stone, or Halle Berry."
When the going gets tough, don't go to a strange salon.
"If she went to her real hairstylist, that wouldn't have happened," Griggs said. "The stylist would have talked her down, and she'd have walked out with a cute little workable cut."
Reach Roberta T.
Vowell at (757) 446-2327 or roberta.vowell@pilotonline.com.
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