Almost five days after Britney Spears fired up the clippers at Esther's Haircutting Studio in Tarzana, California, fans and followers are still trying to figure out what the hell was going through her head. But one need only look to career-killing hair horrors of the past for explanation. Britney is participating in a time-tested mechanism for coping with breakups, financial collapse, parental crises, and artistic angst: the Trauma Haircut. More than just a "new 'do", the Trauma Haircut serves as the signpost at the end of a long road of poor career and life decisions, a totem depicting hubris and idiocy holding hands and skipping into one's career sunset.
The good news for Spears: She's not alone. After the jump, some of the more memorable Trauma Haircuts ...