High-flying IT executive Johnny Wong knows from bitter experience the importance of keeping up appearances. Failing to do so in the past cost him his marriage and almost his career.

Like many Hong Kong husbands, Wong was single-minded about his work and took the view that if he was doing well in his job and climbing the corporate ladder, his wife would love him regardless of his looks.

Wong was wrong, and when he started to lose his hair, it was the start of a downward spiral that led to the breakdown of his marriage and a crisis of self-confidence that saw him come close to losing his well-paid job.

"I didn't realize my looks mattered and I didn't realize if I let them go, I had so much more to lose besides. It was a bruising lesson.

"Now I look around me and see that so many of my friends and colleagues are making the same mistake, I want to warn them before the same thing happens," Wong was quoted by the South China Morning Post.

For Wong's wife, the fact that he was losing his hair and did not seem to care was a sign that he no longer cared enough for her.

Souring divorce rates in Hong Kong indicate tens of thousands of wives feel the same, the Post said. It is not enough to have a husband who simply works hard and supports them. Today's women want husbands who care enough about them to take care of the way they look.

Hong Kong now has the world's third-highest divorce rate, with a staggering 41 percent of marriages breaking down, compared with just 26 percent in Singapore and 15 percent on the mainland. Only the United States and South Korea have higher divorce rates.

A major factor in the rocketing divorce rate is the rising level of expectation among the city's modern, financially independent career women who expected their men to be solvent, healthy and meticulous about their appearance.

"Traditionally, men in Hong Kong have never been too bothered about their look, especially after they get married. That attitude might have been okay in the 1970s but believe me, it's a recipe for disaster today," Wong said.