NEW YORK • Pop star Joe Jonas was feeling blue after his break-up with model Gigi Hadid, and it showed. Literally.

Jonas, 26, was spotted on Nov 17 with a festive cobalt-coloured streak in his dark hair, shortly after the duo called it quits.

Teen Vogue called it the "ultimate post-breakup move" and his colourist Laura Estroff told People StyleWatch that the shade was called "lapis lazuli blue". (He has since dyed his entire mane.)

While making a drastic change in appearance after a break-up is not uncommon for women - it is sometimes referred to as a "breakover" - it seems that more men have been embracing the idea.

And Jonas is just the latest celebrity to swop the whisky bottle for a bottle of hair dye after a fizzled romance.

In August, Zayn Malik, a former One Direction band member, was seen sporting silvery hair after calling off his engagement to singer Perrie Edwards. (Coincidentally, reports are circling of a developing romance between Malik and Hadid after the two were spotted together.)

Around this time last year, rapper Wiz Khalifa debuted a head of purple dreadlocks on Instagram, two weeks after filing for divorce from model Amber Rose.

Dr Logan Levkoff, a New York- based sexologist and relationship expert, said: "Even when your heart is broken, you want to feel like you can pick up and be a new person.

"Dyeing your hair or doing something dramatic, in an idealised way, tricks us into thinking that we are."

For men, dyeing their hair is a natural progression of the breakover, which in the past has been a more straightforward affair.

Think of singer John Mayer's cutting his shoulder-length mane in 2012 after his split with Katy Perry, or Ashton Kutcher shaving his beard after separating from Demi Moore.

It also aligns with the more general trend of men being willing to experiment with hair colour.

"Men have been colouring their hair way more in the past year, more than ever before," said Ms Zoe Wiepert, a colourist and technical lead at New York's Bumble And Bumble salon.

She confirmed that she has had "real men" (that is, non-famous people) in her chair looking to change their looks in this way after relationships have come to an end - a service that can set them back US$200 (S$280) to US$300 for a double process, which consists of bleaching and then dyeing their hair.

Ultimately, Dr Levkoff sees the act as a positive way to deal with heartbreak, a way of outwardly signalling the end of one chapter and the beginning of another and one that can add some levity to an unpleasant experience. "I love the idea that we can own wherever we are in a particular moment," she said. "It can be very empowering to change your look and start fresh."

Meanwhile, keep an eye on musician and actor Gavin Rossdale, who has split with singer Gwen Stefani.

NEW YORK TIMES