Client demands to stop her appointment at hair salon school after being stuck there for 8 hours, then refuses to pay for the half-done service: ‘The situation was extremely unprofessional’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Feb 7, 2026 2:00 PM EST

If she hadn't put a stop to the appointment, she could still have been there right now…

As someone who hates confrontation, I often find myself agreeing to do things I have no interest in while internally having a breakdown because I can't come out and say it. This is most apparent to me when I'm being serviced by someone else. It doesn't matter how much I paid for the service or how clear I was about what I wanted from them; I cannot, for the love of me, correct someone if they are doing something wrong.

When I go to my monthly nail appointment, for example, I always go on Pinterest to find inspo for the nail design I want. When I show it to my nail tech, she always nods and gets to business, but sometimes she makes a mistake or uses the wrong color. It's not a big deal, and it happens to everyone, but you would at least think that as soon as I notice the error, I would say something before it's too late, right?

Wrong.

I never say anything, I just sit in silence and accept the fact that for the next month, I am going to have nails I hate because I couldn't correct a professional for doing their job with a silent error.

The same can happen to me, and many others like me, at the hair salon, at the doctor's, and even at work. We keep things bottled up because we don't want to face others while we stand up for ourselves, until finally we reach a breaking point and let it all out.

The client in the story below waited 8 hours before she finally stood up for herself and left the hair salon. Since she scheduled her appointment at a cosmetology school, she knew the service might take longer than usual. But the way this salon was operating was so unprofessional that this client found herself leaving after 8 hours with unfinished hair and a bitter taste in her mouth.

She could have said something much earlier, and she definitely shouldn't have tipped the stylist as she did, but at least she didn't stick around for longer and wasted anymore of her time…

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  • AITAH for asking a salon school to stop my service and leaving before it was finished after 8 hrs?

    I booked a full foil hair appointment at a cosmetology school with a "top" stylist for 1pm - this means they are experienced and almost graduating therefore you pay a little more for your service.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • Female clients at a hair salon
    via Mariakray

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 9 days before my appointment, they called and told me to come in at 11 AM instead because my service would take longer.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • When I arrived, I was told my stylist was close to "graduating," and an assistant who was not Phase 2 would be doing my hair with her supervision.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • The Phase 2 stylist helped at first, but would leave for hours, I assumed lunch and then around 3pm she left for a mock interview and never came back.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • By 5pm (6hrs in), all the day students had left or I had assumed. There was no instructor present for a long time, and I wasn't introduced to the night instructor nor them to me and she wasn't given any explanation of what had already been done.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • I asked my stylist much longer it would take as I have kids and was told about two more hours.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • Two hours later, a little over half of my hair was unfinished still wet while the stylist was trying to blow it out.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • This is where I lost it. At 7:15pm, the Phase 2 stylist walked back in and was shocked I was still there, saying she thought I had been done.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • She then sat another student next to me and started working on that person's hair instead of helping finish mine.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • There were also issues during the service, including inconsistent instructor supervision. At one point, foils were removed without proper instruction to deactivate the product, leaving them resting on my hair long enough that my hair began bleeding.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • At that point, I became upset and asked to stop the service. I started crying because | hate confrontation.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • tipped the stylists in cash and left. The night instructor seemed annoyed and didn't really engage with me.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • I feel bad about how emotional I got and how abruptly I left, but I also feel like the situation was extremely unprofessional and poorly managed.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • woman having hair foiled while coloring in hair salon
    via Mariakray

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I do want to say that the stylist was very sweet and a rockstar for taking on my project without hesitation.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • She was definitely set up to fail for my appointment. AITAH for asking them to stop the service and walking out without paying?
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • Professional-Face709 Even the most intricate foil/color shouldn't take longer than 4 hours if you have LONG hair. You should have left around 3:00 at the latest (at the same time the student who was working on you did). NTA for anything you did. Shame on them.
    via Professional-Face709
  • starstruck_glimmer Original Poster's Reply Being a school there are many processes that go into it so I was trusting this process. But even the night instructor was trying to gaslight me by saying this is a school and I should expect to be there for a while when doing my hair. Yes it's very long, I'm 57 and it's almost to my bellybutton. It's also completely healthy and natural dirty blonde so didn't have to work through color or dark pigments.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • Behold TheseComics >The Phase 2 stylist helped at first, but would leave for hours, I assumed lunch and then around 3pm she left for a mock interview and never came back. Are you saying you were just left without service for hours? And you didn't say anything then? Or was the stylist that was graduating soon working on you at that point? Also if you didn't pay, why would you tip, or did you pay...? This makes no sense.
    via BeholdTheseComics
  • starstruck_glimmer Original Poster's Reply So I was placed on a students schedule who was busy. So she chose another student to "assist" her. The stylist I was booked with would then chaperone or instruct assistant. The only thing she helped on was half of my hairs foils, so 1/2 looks different than the other 1/2 due to the two different stylists and different experience levels they were at. Original stylist would often leave assistant alone and not return for long periods of time and then after
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • Behold TheseComics Why did you tip when you didn't pay? I was confused about which one of the people was leaving. Did the assistant just not say anything to anyone when she was left alone and clearly didn't know what to do? It doesn't make sense that the two sides were different if they did them at the same time with the stylist watching/guiding her. What a weird situation.
    via BeholdTheseComics
  • starstruck_glimmer Original Poster's Reply I work in the service industry and I felt the assistant did a wonderful job for what she was made to do by herself. If tipping was the only thing I did wrong, so be it. Yes I felt she wasn't experienced in what I wanted but I also felt she was left alone and no she didn't speak up either. In my previous experience I'd often have students come up and ask if the student stylist needed anything - they didn't even let assistant stylists take lunch or drink
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • Happy-Elephant7609 YTA for tipping or paying in any way and also for staying for that long. I would have rinsed my hair myself and bounced. Leaving product on your hair that long will likely cause damage in the coming days. Like...your hair will fall like confetti. The minute they changed your stylist you should have left. Never risk your hair and scalp health to save a buck at a hair school. This ain't over for you. You better start some repair treatments asap.
    via Happy-Elephant7609
  • starstruck_glimmer Original Poster's Reply I'm a once a week hair washer and I've already done 3 conditioning treatments, this happened Thursday.
    via starstruck_glimmer
  • Square-Turnip-6558 You should be making them pay to have your hair corrected. Actually insane on their part. I thought there was always supposed to be an instructor at the school salons??
    via Square-Turnip-6558
  • TiredEnglishStudent NTA but you shouldn't have tipped.
    via TiredEnglishStudent
  • 2dogslife I would call and insist on talking to someone in charge because what happened to you needs to never happen again! Sometimes, 1-star online reviews will get a reaction if a phone call fails.
    via 2dogslife

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hair customer service school appointment salon client hair salon hairstyle stylist service industry
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