Jedward are going bald.

However, the identical pop twins are not suffering from alopecia or male pattern baldness. Instead, their hair loss is voluntary.

The X Factor stars are shaving their famously tall hair, because they want a new look. “We're going to have a change,” John told the Sun. “[We’re going to] go to the barber's and get it all shaved off. We might get in trouble but we like breaking the rules all the time. We'll definitely do it.”

The 18 year old also told the newspaper he thought their old hair styles “intimidated” bald people. He also joked: “I'm going to contact Britney Spears and ask her how her management dealt with it when she shaved her hair off.”

Britney caused concern when she asked a hairdresser in America to shave her head entirely. Commentators speculated that she was going through a mental breakdown. Baldness on women is not as common as it is among men, 1 in 2 of whom goes bald. However, women may suffer from alopecia, a condition that causes bald patches to develop. Alopecia may lead to total baldness. Many alopecia sufferers will see their hair grow back within one year. But 1 in 5 will develop alopecia totalis or other severe forms of the condition that lead to more long-term hair loss.

Men most commonly go bald due to male pattern baldness. This hereditary condition affects half of all men.

Although men are often embarrassed about hair loss, and use treatments such as Propecia to help to treat their hair loss, some women say baldness is attractive. Celebrities such as Bruce Willis, Vin Diesel and John Travolta have been praised for the way they look with a bald head. Could Jedward’s voluntary baldness be an indication that hair loss is even becoming fashionable?