Evolution of Chia Head- Professor Edition

A long-running joke in my family has been about this classic, best of Saturday Night Live sketch called "Chia Head." The premise for the sketch is that now those who are going bald, now have a great alternative with Chia. I unfortunately couldn't find the video clip, but some classic scenes show a teenage with longer chia type dreds saying "Going bald at 16 was hard for me, until I found Chia head." Another guy then picks a flower out of his head and gives it to his wife. I had a friend back in Boston who actually did this as a Halloween costume one year- he was "Chia- the Club for Men" and took a swim cap and covered it with alfalfa sprouts. Since this has been a joke in our family, for my graduation, my sister bought me a real "Chia Head- The Professor." And it even came with a stuffed chia bear- who really doesn't look anything like the chia.
I waited until after my graduation to start it and I have a mini photo essay below chronicalling the process specifically for my sisters. You soak the terracotta head overnight in water as well as some of the seeds in water. Next you spread the seeds (it makes this gross jelly like consistency) into the groves on the head in a single layer. Then, you daily fill the chia with water and watch it grow. I was afraid that since we live in an apartment that doesn't get any natural sunlight, it wouldn't grow but the artifical actually has obviously worked out ok. It is starting to get completely out of control since we moved him around so much to watch the shoots grow towards the light within a period of hours. He has a mass of sprouts on his head and ones randomly growing different lengths all over the place. And check out his new "bangs" made of the roots coming down from his hairline. The whole process has taken nearly two weeks to get this much growth.

William actually finds the whole thing kind of disturbing. But I have long had a friendly affinity for head creatures, such as the plastic shrunken head that used to hang from the mini-van I drove in high school and now for little Dr. Chia, even though his hair is 100% out of control.