Image Gwen Stefani last September, after cutting her hair into a bob. She had announced her divorce a month earlier. Credit... Christopher Polk/Getty Images for MasterCard

Donna Rockwell, a clinical psychologist who has done research into fame and celebrity, took a more positive view of Mr. West’s light locks, however, comparing the change to Megyn Kelly’s decision to cut her hair short this year, which the anchor attributed to “a stronger mood,” or to Sia’s use of wigs to shield her face, a method that the singer said created a sense of mystery and gave her a modicum of privacy.

“Changing our look can be very empowering to us,” Dr. Rockwell said. “For Megyn Kelly, it wasn’t so much a style issue as about empowerment. And for Sia, it’s almost as a political statement: ‘You will see me when I deem so.’”

She noted that hair, as a physical feature, has a special role that can be traced back as far as biblical times. “You have Samson,” she said. “He was this big, burly fellow, but his strength was in his hair. He lost his power when his hair got cut. Hair is how we define our strength, prowess, identity.”

She concluded that for Mr. West, as for other celebrities, a hair transformation tells the public that despite the scrutiny and the competing narratives being told by onlookers, he is still in charge of his own life.