Even when you’ve known someone a long time, it’s inevitable that sometimes you’ll say the wrong thing.

And in those frozen moments after you’ve opened your mouth, you’re saddled with that sinking feeling – the knowledge that you’ve really put your foot in it.

But in strong relationships, these things heal – a heartfelt apology and maybe a hug is all it takes.

However, the woman in this story seemingly crossed a line that she didn’t even know existed.

Read on to find out what she said to offend her mother-in-law.

AITA for indirectly telling my mother-in-law that her haircut makes her look old?

My best friend is a hairdresser.

Recently, my mother-in-law (71, female) wanted to change up her look for the holidays and asked me to set her up with an appointment.

From what she told me, she wanted her hair – which used to be shoulder length (mostly gray, but she was blonde so it looks all gray) – to be cut down pretty short, almost like a pixie.

I loved her hair, but she said it was getting hard to maintain. My friend also gave her a lot of other easy maintenance options, but she was set on super short hair.

Let’s see how her mother-in-law’s hair transformation went.

This last Saturday she debuted her new hair, and she wasn’t super happy with it.

She said my friend did a great job, but she just couldn’t recognize herself.

I told her I understood it was a big change, and it might take a while to get used to, but it really suits her face and is a very stylish, mature haircut.

But her supportive comments went down the wrong way with her mother-in-law.

That’s where I went wrong. The word “mature” set her off.

We have a really good relationship, so this has been the only time she’s lost it towards me. She started crying and saying I called her old and told me I set her up and told my friend to make her look old.

They took her into another room, but at that point we all knew dinner was over.

My husband and I went home, and he told me it’s ok and she’d get over it. But I’ve since texted her twice and she refuses to talk to me.

AITA?

This is really sad, and the fact that it’s completely out of character for her mother-in-law is quite concerning.

Perhaps her comment tapped into an insecurity, but the truth is, at 71 years of age, her mother-in-law is old.

And that’s no bad thing – and certainly not something to hate on your daughter-in-law for implying.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit had to say about this.

This person agreed that her mother-in-law could be proud of her age.

While this Redditor thought she’d worded her compliment poorly.

But this person explained that she was taking out her disappointment in her haircut on others.

It’s a shame that this interaction between the mother- and daughter-in-law turned out this way, since neither of them did anything wrong.

In fact, her mother-in-law also stated that the hairdresser did a good job, and her dissatisfaction was entirely down to her own taste.

Which makes her attitude toward her daughter in law, ironically, quite immature.

But implying she set her up?

That’s just not fair.

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.