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Oak & Razor - Automated Booking for a One-Chair Brooklyn Barbershop
One-line description: Oak & Razor turns haircut inquiries into confirmed bookings automatically, handling realtime availability, reminders, self-service changes, and cancellation recovery for a busy solo Brooklyn barber.
Linkedin Post: https://lnkd.in/p/eR6KewvJ
Oak & Razor is a fictional premium one-chair barbershop in Brooklyn operated by Marcus, a solo barber who needs to spend his day cutting hair—not answering booking texts, confirming appointments, chasing customers, or trying to refill last-minute cancellations.
The problem I focused on was the exact moment the challenge describes:
“Can I book with you?” → “You’re booked.”
The experience is designed to make that transition happen with as little owner involvement as possible.
The business scenario
Oak & Razor operates Tuesday through Saturday from 9 AM to 6 PM. Marcus works alone, takes a daily break, needs cleanup time between customers, deals with busy days and no-shows, and previously had to manage scheduling conversations manually.
The booking engine therefore reflects actual business constraints rather than acting like a generic calendar:
- Signature Haircut — 30 minutes
- Haircut + Beard — 45 minutes
- Premium Experience — 60 minutes
- 10-minute cleanup buffer between customers
- 60-minute minimum notice for same-day bookings
- Daily break
- Owner-created blocked times
- Existing appointments
- Waitlist holds
- Business closing time
Automated customer booking
Customers can see real availability, select a service, choose a valid appointment time, provide their contact information, and confirm their appointment without Marcus being involved.
For returning authenticated customers, contact information is automatically reused so booking another appointment requires even less effort.
Availability updates in real time. If another customer takes a slot or Marcus creates an appointment or blocks time, that slot is removed from other customers' calendars without requiring a manual refresh.
The system also performs a final availability check when the customer confirms, reducing the risk of double booking.
Customer self-service
Booking is only the beginning of the workflow. Customers can access My Appointments and manage their relationship with Oak & Razor themselves.
They can:
- view upcoming appointments
- confirm appointments
- reschedule
- cancel
- view past appointments
- manage waitlist entries
- see booking-related notifications
- receive 24-hour and 2-hour reminder states
This removes many of the calls and messages Marcus would otherwise need to handle manually.
Cancellation recovery and waitlist
The waitlist is designed around one of Marcus's most expensive problems: an appointment cancels, but Marcus is too busy to find someone to fill the chair.
When a matching opening becomes available, Oak & Razor can:
Cancellation → recalculate availability → match waitlist customer → offer slot → hold it temporarily → customer claims → new booking confirmed
That transforms a cancellation from owner busywork into an automated recovery workflow.
If nobody is waiting, the valid opening simply returns to public availability.
Owner experience
Marcus has a protected Owner Console where he can see the business without having to manage every transaction manually.
The dashboard includes:
- appointment ledger
- booked revenue
- remaining appointments
- completed appointments
- waitlist status
- appointment confirmation states
- blocked times
- future-date navigation
- Add Appointment
- Block Time
- Needs Attention
- automated activity
The design intentionally separates things Marcus must handle from things Oak & Razor already handled automatically. Instead of forcing the owner to monitor every booking, the product aims to surface exceptions.
Business controls
Marcus can configure operational rules such as:
- business hours
- cleanup buffer
- same-day notice
- daily break
- waitlist behavior
- reminder schedule
Those settings directly affect customer-facing availability.
Authentication without booking friction
Customers are not forced through a complicated signup process just to get a haircut.
They can book with their contact details, while lightweight customer authentication allows returning customers to access appointments and notifications securely.
The owner has a separate protected account and Owner Console.
This keeps the customer experience simple while making the application feel like a complete operational product rather than a static prototype.
Brand and craft
I designed Oak & Razor to feel like a real premium Brooklyn barbershop rather than a scheduling SaaS template.
The visual system uses:
- dark wood and barbershop photography
- cream, black, and orange
- bold editorial typography
- scissors branding
- appointment-ticket-inspired components
- consistent buttons and interaction states
- responsive customer and owner experiences
The public site combines the real-world brand with the automated booking system instead of treating them as separate products.
How it addresses the evaluation criteria
Problem-solving impact: Oak & Razor handles the complete journey from finding availability to confirming and managing a booking. It also addresses cancellations and no-show-related workflow rather than only building a calendar.
Owner-effort reduction: Customers perform booking, confirmation, rescheduling, cancellation, and waitlist interactions themselves. Realtime availability and automated booking state changes reduce the amount Marcus has to coordinate manually.
Craft & execution: The project combines customer booking, authentication, customer account management, owner tools, configurable scheduling rules, realtime availability, waitlist behavior, reminders, and a cohesive barbershop visual identity.
Storytelling: The before-and-after is simple: Marcus previously had to stop cutting hair to manage scheduling conversations. With Oak & Razor, the customer can go from “Can I book?” to “You’re booked” without Marcus putting down his clippers.
I really like the designing and idea for appointment-based website - Oak & Razor - Automated Booking for a One-Chair Brooklyn Barbershop
Awesome project!
Really well thought through. The cancellation recovery flow is especially strong, since that’s exactly the kind of operational problem a solo barber usually ends up handling manually between appointments.
I also like that the owner console is built around exceptions and “needs...
Thanks all.
Awesome
Really strong execution. Oak & Razor goes beyond booking and solves the actual operational pain of a solo barber-real-time availability, self-service changes, reminders, and automated cancellation recovery. It feels like a real business system, not just a scheduling demo.
Awesome, the design is really unique
Perfect!!
What an amazing thing!
The design looks clean, modern, and very professional. Everything feels well organized, and the overall presentation is impressive. I really like how polished and visually appealing it looks!
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A Telegram bot. It understands "table for 4 tonight at 8" in English or Russian and finishes the booking with buttons.
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