Bad haircuts have a way of sticking with you, literally and emotionally.

So, what would you do if you were sitting in a salon chair, watching a stylist about to chop five inches more than you agreed on? Would you speak up before the scissors hit? Or would your reflexes kick in and stop her mid-snip?

In the following story, one woman finds herself in this exact scenario. Here’s what she did.

AITA for pulling my head back when a hairstylist was going to cut my hair too short??

This just happened, and I’m wondering if I was completely out of line, but idk. I feel like I was justified.

I went to get a haircut, but my hair is curly, and I have not had good luck when I get my hair cut wet and curly, so I straightened my hair, which I never do, and asked for a dry cut. I just wanted my ends cut off and to fix the layering that was only in the front.

For context, my hair is long, about waist length. I have layering only in the front, starting at my collarbone, but it has grown out a few inches.

Scared, she pulled her hair out of the stylist’s hands.

I told the hairstylist exactly what I wanted.

When she went to cut the layers, she placed the scissors about chin length, about 4 or 5 inches above where I asked her to start, so I just pulled my head back, and my hair slipped through her fingers.

She looked at me, startled.

I apologized because I didn’t mean to be rude, but it was really more of a reflex at that point. I have gotten so many bad haircuts where I kick myself for not speaking up that I just cannot watch while my hair is butchered.

She tried to apologize, but the damage was done.

I’ll admit it was a bit drastic, but it happened so fast I didn’t have time to actually say “please stop your cutting too much.”

I tried to explain it was too short, but the stylist got really upset. She said I came to the salon for her expertise, and she knows what looks good.

At first, I told her I didn’t mean to offend, but she just kept going off on me, saying in her whole career, no one has ever done that.

I’ll admit that I lost my cool after a few minutes and matched her tone.

I told her I didn’t ask for her expertise, and I wasn’t going to cut off 5 extra inches because of her opinion, and I have to live with this hair. I told her I wear it curly and just straighten it for the haircut beforehand.

Frustrated, she left with half a haircut.

She just kept insisting that she knows what she is doing, and I just need to let her do her job.

I ended up saying I wasn’t comfortable with her finishing because it was clear she wasn’t planning on giving me what I asked for but what she thought would be best.

She scoffed at me.

I laughed because I’ve never been scoffed at, and it was just so bizarre to me. And I was like, yeah, I’m leaving.

Now, she’s waiting to speak to the manager and wondering if she handled it poorly.

I refused to pay for a half-done haircut and asked to speak to the manager, who wasn’t in yet, I guess.

I left my information and am waiting for a call back. I didn’t pay.

I called my friend, and she said she would have just stayed quiet and gotten a bad haircut. It’s good for me to stand up for myself, but the stylist had such an extreme reaction, saying how inappropriate it was.

I need to learn how to behave in a salon… whatever that means.

It caused a whole scene, and now I’m second-guessing myself.

AITA?

Wow! What a situation for both ladies.

Let’s check out what advice the fine folks over at Reddit have to offer.

Oh no! That’s some “slip.”

Here’s someone who also deals with curly hair.

She should do this.

According to this comment, she shouldn’t pay.

She did the right thing.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.