Who does AI recommend when someone asks for a hairdresser in Oslo? We measured it for a month.

Through July 2026 we asked ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude the same eight questions about hair salons in Oslo, and collected 424 answers. The dataset shows how the assistants assemble their recommendations, and which sources they build on. The short answer is that the same ten or so salons come back almost every time.

What we did

All through July 2026 we asked ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude the same eight questions about hair salons in Oslo, in both Norwegian and English. That gave us 424 answers in total. The questions were similar to the ones a typical customer would ask.

• "Can you recommend a good hair salon in central Oslo?"

• "I just moved to Oslo and I'm looking for a new hairdresser."

• "Where is the best place to get a haircut in Oslo?"

For every answer we noted who was recommended, and which sources the answer was built on.

A short list of salons dominates the answers

Around ten salons kept coming back all month, no matter when we asked. Jan Thomas Studio, Adam og Eva, Escape Hairdressing and Oslo Hair & Beauty are among them, and the first three were recommended by all three AI models.

More than 250 other salons and barbershops were named in at least one answer, but most appeared once or twice and then disappeared. In practice there are two groups: a short list that gets recommended again and again, and a long tail of businesses that show up from time to time.

One Vogue Scandinavia article carries a lot of weight

The single most used source in the whole dataset is a Vogue Scandinavia article about the best hair salons in Oslo. Gemini used it as a source in almost nine of ten of its answers, and Claude in nearly three of ten. The salons featured there are largely the same ones that keep getting recommended.

One piece of editorial coverage can matter more for how AI talks about your salon than most of what you do in your own channels.

Reddit threads get repeated as recommendations

Gemini built seven of ten answers on threads from r/oslo, and one thread about affordable, skilled hairdressers comes up especially often. ChatGPT used Reddit occasionally, Claude never.

Recommendations someone wrote there over a year ago are still being repeated to people looking for a hairdresser today.

ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude read different sources

ChatGPT pulls ratings from sjekkscore.no in nearly half of its answers and uses Fresha in every third. Claude relies on Yelp and the Vogue article. Gemini leans on Fresha, Reddit and the salons' own websites. Gulesider appeared in about two percent of answers overall.

That is why visibility in one assistant says little about visibility in another. One of the salons that kept coming back all month was never mentioned by ChatGPT, and another is often recommended by ChatGPT but almost never by Gemini.

Salon websites actually get read

Salon websites are among the most used sources in the dataset. One salon's website was a source in almost nine of ten of Gemini's answers, and ChatGPT cited several salons' websites directly.

The assistants read what you publish yourself, not just magazines and platforms.

What does this mean for a hair salon in Oslo?

Three things are worth acting on. Make sure your Fresha profile and Google profile are complete and up to date, that is where the assistants get facts and ratings. Have your own website that clearly says what you do, where you are and what customers think, it does get read. And work towards editorial coverage where it makes sense, one good article can do a lot.

At the same time, AI answers vary from day to day. This is one month of data from eight questions, so read the numbers as clear patterns, not a verdict.

What you can control, and what you can't

The findings point to a split. Some of what shapes these answers sits outside any single salon's reach, like a Vogue feature or a Reddit thread from last year. Other parts are yours: your website, your Fresha and Google profiles, and your reviews on the sites each assistant actually reads.

The practical starting point is to understand what shapes the answers about your salon specifically. Which questions you appear in, who appears instead, and which sources sit behind it. From there you work on the parts you can influence, and follow over time whether it moves. The Reddit thread above is over a year old and still being repeated, so changes take time to show, which is exactly why a one-off check tells you very little.

There is also a more targeted way in. The broad "best salon in Oslo" questions are crowded, but the more specific ones are not. If you specialise in balayage, extensions, curly hair or a particular neighbourhood, you can follow those questions and win them long before you break into the citywide recommendations.

This is what we built Doory for. It shows how your salon appears across ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, which sources sit behind the answers, and suggests what you can do each week, then follows whether it changes. You can also add your own questions to track, including the specific ones that matter to your salon. If you want to see where you stand, you can try it free at doory.app.