Lydia celebrates thirty years of haircuts on campus: ‘She is the glue of our community’

Owner and hairdresser Lydia van Santen-Blom is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of her salon on campus this month. For many students, staff, alumni and retirees, her hair salon is more than just a place to get your hair cut.

Customers come in one after another at Hairdesign by Lydia at the corner of the Polak building. Every half hour, someone new takes a seat. In between haircuts, owner and hairdresser Lydia van Santen-Blom takes bookings over the phone and chats with customers. On average, she cuts the hair of twenty people a day and knows everyone by name.

Top 40 songs from Radio 538 play softly in the background of her salon on a grey, cold day in January. An etching of Erasmus hangs on the wall. Van Santen-Blom received the artwork from the university at her twentieth anniversary on campus. “This etching is very special to me. It was made in a limited edition and mine is number 11 of the 50.” She looks at it with visible pride. “I’ll definitely take it with me if I ever leave.”

Loyal customers

“Lydia has been cutting my hair ever since she started here”, says Jan Schildt sitting in the barber’s chair. He worked at the university for thirty years and has been retired for several years now. “Yet I still come here every four weeks. There’s simply no hairdresser better than Lydia.”

Van Santen-Blom laughs. She picks up a razor and spreads foam on Schildt’s neck. “I remember when you had an Elvis theme for your fifty-fifth birthday. Everyone in your department dressed up: the men in Elvis suits, the women in petticoats. And the men queued up here to have their Elvis hair styled.” Jan nods. “That was such a great party.”

Using a round mirror behind his head, Van Santen-Blom shows Schildt the result of her work. He nods with satisfaction. Before he pays, Van Santen-Blom invites him to pick something from the lucky dip. To mark the anniversary, Van Santen-Blom has made a lucky dip containing cards with prizes, ranging from a free haircut to shampoo. “Ten per cent discount!”, Schildt reads from his card. “Well, how nice!”

Schildt is not the only loyal customer of Van Santen-Blom. “Some customers have been coming for so long that their children are now studying here. Once a student came up to me and said: my father always had his hair cut by you. And I thought: are you serious?” Some still come even after moving away from Rotterdam. “I have a customer who lives in Ireland. When she visits her parents, she sends me a message: ‘Lydia, I’m back.’ Then she comes by.”

Students also come to her salon. “Sometimes parents call me. They ask whether their child can come in and whether they can pay for the haircut by bank transfer. Of course that’s no problem.”

Thirty years in business

In January 1996, a hair salon opened on campus for the first time. Van Santen-Blom started working there in 1999. Five years later, she took over the business and changed its name to Hairdesign by Lydia. The takeover succeeded partly thanks to her customers, she says. An Econometrics student made a business plan for her, but the bank rejected her application. “They said: you don’t have a higher education degree and you’re already over thirty. So that’s not going to happen.” Another customer offered to help. “She said: my husband will sort it out for you.” The man turned out to be an alumnus and worked at the Stichting Ondernemersbelangen Rotterdam, a foundation that advocates for entrepreneurs and small businesses. “He said: it will be fine. And it was.”

The salon moved several times. At first, Van Santen-Blom was based in the basement of the Tinbergen building. A corridor had been set up as a ‘shopping street’ with a florist, a bookshop and a clothing store. “It was very cosy. Every morning, we drank coffee together before opening our shops.” In 2012, she moved to the V building because of the renovation plans for the Tinbergen building. The Polak and Hatta buildings followed. “After half a year in Hatta, I was allowed to move back to Polak. I’ve been here for eleven years now.”

The glue of the community

The next customer arrives. “Hey, where’s your beard?”, Van Santen-Blom asks with wide eyes. The customer, Jeroen Melein, Director Digitalisation & Information Services at the Rotterdam School of Management, laughs. He too has been coming to Van Santen-Blom for years. “Lydia cuts my hair well and it always feels warm and welcoming here.” Half of his department also comes to this salon, he says. “And my son used to come along as well, because he was allowed to grab something from the bowl of sweets.”

According to Melein, Van Santen-Blom plays an important role on campus. “We sometimes forget that entrepreneurs on campus, like Lydia, are the glue the community needs to feel connected. She makes it pleasant here. Besides your work and your colleagues, you also have your hairdresser. It feels like you belong here.”

The hairdresser’s chair as a confessional

Van Santen-Blom agrees. Her salon is more than just a place to get your hair cut. “This chair is also a kind of confession booth. People share all sorts of things here.” Sometimes the stories are heavy. “Once, a member of staff told me he was depressed and thinking about suicide. By chance, I knew a psychologist who also came here. I immediately sent him to her.”

Her customers also support her in return. When her daughter had to undergo a bone marrow transplant, she worked half days for eight weeks and spent the rest of the time in hospital. From her customers, she received the support she needed. “The thousands of cards we received from my customers, that was unbelievable. I’ll never forget that.”

Still, she does not think she will carry on for another ten years. “I’m 58 now and it’s hard work. But as things are going now, I enjoy it. I love the campus and the people, so we’ll see how long I can keep it up.”