Hair salon drafts answers to 10 price and duration questions with AI: fields to confirm and hand-offs to the stylist

At a salon, a price question is rarely just about price. "How much for a cut and color on long hair" brings in the combo, hair length and whether chemical services are still being accepted. "My scalp is often itchy, is coloring OK?" is not a question the front desk is allowed to answer. This article uses AI to draft a set of sample answers where each answer shows its basis, the calculation, where the schedule must be checked and where to hand off to a stylist.

This is article 2 in a two-part series for hair salons. You need the finalized service list from article 1. If the list still has lines marked "needs a decision", AI will answer with guesses.

The task and the output

The output is a set of answers to 10 common client questions, each with:

• the reply to send the client, short and polite;
• the basis: which line in the list;
• a [TO CONFIRM] field if front-desk staff must check the schedule or ask a stylist before sending;
• a hand off to stylist mark when the question needs professional expertise.

Step 1: prepare the list and 10 questions

The service list must include rules, not just prices: when the combo applies, which services are chemical, the latest start time, which questions must go to a stylist. Simulated list used in the test:

- Women's cut, short hair: 120,000 VND, 45 minutes. Women's cut, long hair (past the shoulders): 150,000 VND, 60 minutes.
- Men's cut: 80,000 VND, 30 minutes. Wash and blow-dry: 50,000 VND, 30 minutes. Conditioning wash: 80,000 VND, 45 minutes.
- Coloring, short hair: 450,000 VND; coloring, long hair: 650,000 VND; 120 minutes (including processing time).
- Root color: 300,000 VND, 90 minutes. Repair steam treatment: 200,000 VND, 40 minutes.
- Perm, short hair: 550,000 VND, 150 minutes. Perm, long hair: NO PRICE YET, the stylist quotes after seeing the hair.
- Straightening: 500,000 VND to 600,000 VND, the stylist gives the exact price after seeing the hair; 120 minutes.
- Combo: only for CUT + full-head COLOR in the same visit: 10% off the total price of the cut and color.
- Bleaching before a light color: surcharge, the stylist quotes after seeing the hair.
- Open 8:30 to 20:00. Chemical services (coloring, perm, straightening, bleaching): latest client start time 17:30, must finish before 20:00.
- Whether a slot is available depends on the stylists' real schedule; front-desk staff confirm.
- Questions about scalp, allergies, damaged hair, or whether a chemical service is advisable: do not answer on the stylist's behalf, hand off to the senior stylist.

Choose 10 questions from real messages (remove client names). Deliberately include a few hard ones: a combo question, one close to closing time, one with an undecided price, one about the scalp, one asking about a discount the list does not have. Questions used in the test:

1. How much is a women's cut for long hair?
2. If I get a cut and color on long hair, what's the total?
3. Can I come in at 17:00 today for a short-hair perm, is there enough time?
4. Can I come in at 18:00 for coloring?
5. How much is a long-hair perm?
6. My scalp is often itchy, is coloring OK?
7. How much is bleaching to get an ash color?
8. How long does a wash and blow-dry take?
9. How much and how long for root color plus a repair steam treatment?
10. Do students get a discount?

Step 2: ask AI to draft the answers

You are drafting sample answers for the front-desk staff of a hair salon.
SERVICE LIST FINALIZED BY THE SALON OWNER (the only source): [paste].
CLIENT QUESTIONS: [paste 10 questions].
REQUIREMENTS: for each question, write a short, polite answer, refer to yourself as "the salon" and address the client as "chị/anh" (Vietnamese polite forms for a woman/man). After each answer, note: the basis (which line in the list), a [TO CONFIRM] field if front-desk staff must check the schedule or ask a stylist before sending, and whether it must be handed off to a stylist. If the list does not have the information, say clearly that it is not available and do not make it up. Show the calculation for any price.

Results from the test run

Tổ Thạo Việc (the AI Thạo Việc editorial team) ran it on 2 Oct 2026 on ChatGPT web, temporary chat, Medium level.

The other three answers (long-hair cut price, bleaching, wash and blow-dry duration) also matched the list. The best point was question 9: AI did not apply the combo to services that are not cut + color, and noted on its own that the list does not say whether the two services can overlap in time.

What needs fixing:

• Question 2 was marked "no confirmation needed", even though cut + color takes 180 minutes and nobody has checked the stylist's schedule. Every answer that leads to a booking should have a schedule-check field.
• Question 4 only declined. Front-desk staff should add another available time, for example "the salon still takes coloring before 17:30 on..." after checking the schedule.
• AI addressed the client as "chị" in almost every answer, even though the prompt asked for "chị/anh". Fix this before saving them as templates.

Step 3: check and put into use

1. Check every number and calculation against the finalized list. Do not save templates before checking.
2. Add a schedule-check field to every answer that leads to a booking.
3. Read the stylist hand-off answers aloud: they must not contain any judgment about scalp, hair or chemicals.
4. Save them as quick replies on Zalo or your business page, each template with a short name. Keep the [TO CONFIRM] field in internal notes; do not send it to the client.
5. Put the price list date in the template name. When prices change, redraft the set.

Self-check

• Does every amount have a calculation that matches the list?
• Is the combo applied only under the exact conditions in the list?
• Do answers close to closing time include a stylist schedule check?
• Do all questions about scalp, allergies and damaged hair go to a stylist, with no advice given?
• Do questions about discounts not in the list say "not available", with no promises?

Apply and hand over

In the first week, front-desk staff use the templates but write down every time they have to edit an answer before sending. At the end of the week, the salon owner reviews: should the fix go into the template or into the service list? Add new common client questions to the set and rerun the prompt with the current list.

Next steps

If you want to use the templates on Zalo or Facebook following your shop's policies, see the article on drafting client replies based on policy (in Vietnamese). If your salon is undecided between answering yourself, booking software or AI call answering, read the article comparing three levels.

Sources & notes

• OpenAI Help Center: Does ChatGPT tell the truth?: AI can give wrong or incomplete information, so every amount and time must be checked against the original list. Checked 2 Oct 2026.
• The service list and questions are simulated; the prompt was run once on ChatGPT. No commercial relationship with the sources above.