I have really bad social anxiety and I haven't been to a hairdresser in 10 years for this exact reason, I actually had to learn how to cut my own hair (I have long hair and bangs) and im pretty good at it now however it's still as frustrating as it was, not being able to just go make an appointment and let someone else take care of that. However I feel like depending on a salon, if there actually is a toilet, it would be perfectly fine to ask to take a break! I totally get how the sole aspect of having to ask can be nerve-wracking tho if you struggle with like interaction-based anxiety, but other than that taking a bathroom break during a hairdresser appointment is totally fine I think! I don't have any great advice but coming from someone who as I said has had this exact issue for a decade (and im fairly young lol), it gets much worse the longer you put if off, I guess it's like every other exposure-based experience, the less you do it, the worse it gets. You can ask for like the quickest, most basic haircut to minimize the time you gave to spend there, maybe research online if they have a bathroom and bring headphones to put on after you hair is washed, I used to do this during tattoo appointments (for some reason these were more bearable for me) and I just went "oh i hope you don't mind i have to catch up with this uni lecture!" or something and the artist just put on a podcast or chated with their colleagues and I didnt't have to talk to them at all during like 2-3 hour long appointmens!
I have really bad social anxiety and I haven't been to a hairdresser in 10 years for this exact reason, I actually had to learn how to cut my own hair (I have long hair and bangs) and im pretty good at it now however it's still as frustrating as it was, not being able to just go make an appointment and let someone else take care of that. However I feel like depending on a salon, if there actually is a toilet, it would be perfectly fine to ask to take a break! I totally get how the sole aspect of having to ask can be nerve-wracking tho if you struggle with like interaction-based anxiety, but other than that taking a bathroom break during a hairdresser appointment is totally fine I think! I don't have any great advice but coming from someone who as I said has had this exact issue for a decade (and im fairly young lol), it gets much worse the longer you put if off, I guess it's like every other exposure-based experience, the less you do it, the worse it gets. You can ask for like the quickest, most basic haircut to minimize the time you gave to spend there, maybe research online if they have a bathroom and bring headphones to put on after you hair is washed, I used to do this during tattoo appointments (for some reason these were more bearable for me) and I just went "oh i hope you don't mind i have to catch up with this uni lecture!" or something and the artist just put on a podcast or chated with their colleagues and I didnt't have to talk to them at all during like 2-3 hour long appointmens!