Ask for help on day two, not day twelve. Nobody hands out medals for suffering in silence.

Asking early and asking late are different requests. On day two the problem is small, the person helping loses ten minutes, and nothing has been built on top of the confusion. By day twelve you are asking someone to unpick a fortnight of work, and the delay itself now needs explaining. The reluctance is usually about how it will look, which is exactly backwards.

Set yourself a limit in advance. If you are stuck past it, ask, and say plainly where you got to. Nobody judges an early question the way they remember a late one.