A pregnant woman has found unexpected support online after a frustrating encounter with her hairdresser, who canceled their appointment the night before her birthday.

Reddit user u/Healthy_Screen_5153 shared her experience on the subreddit “mildly infuriating,” where the post racked up more than 12,000 upvotes. According to the post, she showed up for a late-night 11:45 p.m. hair appointment only to be met with delays—and ultimately, disappointment.

The woman explained that she has remained loyal to the stylist despite a long history of lateness, as he is the only loctician in the area. But on this occasion, the inconsistency pushed her to the brink.

“I’m 6 months pregnant, and I have to be at work at 5 in the morning, plus commute 45 minutes back home and back again to get to work. This stylist said she had one person in front of me when I got here, and it’s two people. I could cry. I’m so angry,” she wrote.

Tabitha L. Osman, a master hair stylist and trichologist at Haven Holistic Salon weighed in with Newsweek, saying professionalism must flow both ways.

“When a stylist allows their business to be unpredictable and disrespectful to a client’s time, it often sets a tone that invites clients to do the same in return,” she said.

Osman also said that midnight appointments are extremely rare in the beauty world, but added that it seemed the stylist was genuinely trying to accommodate the client. Given the importance of timely loc upkeep, clients may feel pressured to accept whatever slot is offered, even at unusual hours.

“But in this case, it sounds like the stylist was genuinely trying to help the client be seen on a specific day. We have to give her some credit for that—because not many people are willing to work that late (or early, depending how you look at it),” she added.

Still, Osman emphasized that every appointment is a mutual agreement—and rescheduling should come with added effort to make things right. “Respecting someone’s time is a key part of showing up as a professional,” she said.

Reddit users were quick to rally behind the woman, offering words of comfort and encouragement.

“Cancel the hair stylist,” one user advised bluntly.

“I’m sorry that happened, hope you have a great rest of your birthday! We all deserve to,” said another.

A third user reflected on the situation from an economic angle: “Honestly reading this, it looks like there is a big market inefficiency in play. This single hairstylist has only X supply to give, but the demand Y > X. Like, much bigger, to a comical degree. Even overworking herself all the way to 1AM she still can’t keep up with the demand.”

“Girl please LEAVE! She doesn’t deserve your money,” another commenter urged.

Newsweek reached out to u/Healthy_Screen_5153 for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.

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