Woman Sues Hairstylist in Small Claims Court Over Missed Appointment and Withheld Deposit
Published Nov. 15 2023, 6:37 p.m. ET
Social media isn’t all about sharing memes and liking adorable photos of your classmates’ babies. It can also be an excellent tool for entrepreneurs to find new clientele and stay in their current clients' algorithms.
Many entrepreneurs who provide services like hairstyling have found their clients by hopping into their DMs or vice versa. However, as with online shopping, dating, and anything in between, trusting a person you’ve never seen before can have negative consequences.
While taking a risk with a stylist she found on Instagram, one woman shared on TikTok why she will never look to an app to choose where she gets her hair done again. Keep reading to see what went down!
Stock photo
A woman’s hairstylist slept through her appointment.
Hair salon nightmares are an unavoidable downside someone faces when they don’t want to do their own hair. And, unfortunately, no one knows this more than Black women who want to add a little razzle-dazzle to their hair at a moment’s notice.
Black hair salons have notoriously been known for keeping long hours, upselling clients with jewelry or other creative efforts, and overpricing clients. The issues have only worsened with stylists offering their services on Instagram.
In November 2023, a TikTok account called Nosy Bystanders (@nosybystanders) reported a post from an X user named Jade (@jadecarsonxo) that read, “The girl took one of them IG stylists to small claims court because the stylist overslept, canceled the appointment, and refused to give back her deposit.”
Nosy Bystanders then showed a response tweet from the woman who was suing. The woman — whose name is Joanna (@thejogeorges) — wrote: “I’m the one suing the IG stylist, and she didn’t even show up to court.” Nosy Bystanders then shared that the drama may have gone viral on X, but it started on TikTok.
The woman, Joanna, said her hairstylist refused to refund her deposit after missing the appointment.
On Nov. 6, 2023, Joanna shared on TikTok what led her to take the stylist to small claims court. After finding the hairstylist on Instagram, Jo scheduled an appointment for the stylist to braid her hair.
On the day of the appointment, the stylist, Foreign Stylist by Lex in New Jersey, texted Joanna at 5 a.m. to tell her she had just gotten done with an appointment and needed to rest for a few hours. She then asked Jo if she could come at 10 instead of 8, to which she replied yes and told the stylist to “get some rest.”
Jo told her viewers that she felt the stylist, who was running on at least seven hours of no sleep, would likely oversleep. Still, she kept the appointment and went to the stylist’s house at 10 a.m., as instructed.
When Jo arrived, she DM’d her stylist, who wasn’t responding to her messages. Several calls and unanswered messages later, she received a text from the stylist confirming she had overslept and apologized for her coming out. The stylist then offered to reschedule Jo, but she declined due to the wait and told the stylist to give her a refund.
The stylist agreed to give Jo a refund on the following Monday. However, Monday came and went, and Jo didn’t get her money back from the stylist. She then continued pressing her about the money, and the stylist said she had other obligations, including a vacation she went on before refunding the deposit.
Joanna sued the “IG hairstylist,” and the hairstylist missed that appointment too!
Eventually, after a month of hunting the stylist down and hearing excuses from her, Jo decided to take legal action against the stylist and informed her she would receive a “summons” from the court on Oct. 1, 2023.
Once again, the date came and went, and when Jo saw no payment in her cash app, she signed her summons on Oct. 3 and sent it to the stylist on Oct. 5. On Oct. 6, Jo claimed the stylist blocked her.
Despite being blocked, Jo moved forward with the case proceedings. On Oct. 27, 2023, she and the stylist were supposed to have their day in court. However, Jo shared that the stylist didn’t make it to the courthouse, which caused her to freak out even more.
Thankfully, she could still have her day in court, and the judge ruled in her favor and ordered the stylist to pay her the $100 deposit plus court fees in the amount of $42.
Those who experienced IG hairstylists felt Jo’s pain.
While Jo received her justice of $142, many people who Instagram stylists have scammed in the past felt her pain. Maybe we can blame it on the digital age or lousy communication skills, but some “service providers” on Instagram and other social media apps must do better.
As Jo explained, many stylists are doing subpar work (or, in this case, none at all!) and charging double what some would get elsewhere. Doing so will leave these “professionals” with a bad reputation and legal fees when they mess with the wrong customers.
Underneath Jo’s post, she received tons of support from users who agreed she needed to teach her stylist a lesson. Many also enjoyed Jo taking an extra, petty step in reporting the stylist to the New Jersey Board of Cosmetology. I stan!
“All sis had to do was send the money back,” one commenter stressed.
“All of this over $100 is crazy,” another wrote. “She could’ve easily sent that back, especially when there was never an appointment.”
“My theory remains. These deposits are a front for their bills,” a third user predicted. “They use it as a cash advance. This is infuriating, and it’s not even me.”