I would argue that those "hours wasting time" looking for an answer yourself before you give up and ask someone more senior aren't a waste - they are an invaluable part of becoming senior yourself.

As a senior engineer, you will often spend hours and days stuck trying to solve hard problems with noone else to ask, and having the grit, determination and creativity to do this is one of the greatest skills you can teach an engineer. Having barriers and friction in the name of this self sufficiency is totally fine and likely beneficial to the development of a junior dev.