Starting with the original video game, anime, and TCG, all Chanseys depicted had 3 side hairs (growths, tentacles, dreadlocks, who knows). However, I have come across two Chanseys from manga shown with 4 side hairs, and one early Chansey art used in multiple products with 5 side hairs. This Chansey can be found in the Stage 1 box for Aquapolis Blissey.
Please let me know if you have seen any other Chanseys with unusual amount of side hairs so I can keep track! 
Are we sure those are hairs and not fingers?
I’m not sure which is worse, an egg with hair or an egg with fingers.
Those ain’t hairs, chief.
One of many wonderful things I learned lurking on E4 discord.
Maybe it’s a comb over like Our honorable president. Also, that picture above is scary.
Now this is the sort of thread I can get behind, are the 3 and 4 hairs just because of the angle that Chansey is standing?
No, sprites, various cards, and any back shots in the anime all show 3 when the camera is at any angle
You know that sci-fi movie where they can wipe your memories? “Total Recall” based off the great Philip K Dick book. Anyway every time I see this picture I wish that technology existed.
Maybe Chansey grows more head dicks with age, or experience. It could also be a seasonal type thing I guess… does mating season count as a season?
Maybe it’s a regional variation dating back to a time where this very concept itself was still uncharted. The 3-pronged Chansey might be our bread and butter Kanto region variant whereas the 5-pronged Chansey might be the more typical Johto variant. This could help explain why it’s used as a Stage 1 Box for the Aquapolis Blissey. Don’t get me started on the 4-pronged Chansey! Kids in the Sinnoh region would often leave their homes for days, much to the dismay of their parents, in the search for what they called the “4-Leaf-Chansey”, the apex of luck-granting Pokémon, combining the magical properties of the 4-Leaf-Clover and Chansey’s inherent luck factor. I’d like to end on a saying though: “Never put all your eggs in one Chansey, ladies and gents!” All of this information is purely speculative and should not be used as grounds to invest in Chansey cards!
@melchior love this!
Exciting update: Some of the Chanseys featured on the Memo Card included with Trainer Mag Volume 2 have 4 or 5 side hairs!
Are we saying that the amount changes? Or the angle showing the amount. Because I think the amount of sperm shooters stays the same and the angle revealing how many changes.
Between 3 and 5.
First of all let’s stop this crap about “sperm shooters”
But no, it’s not the specific front angle; in every angle post 2002, whether in the anime or on a card, there are frames on Chanseys back instead of front which show 3 per side.
Lolhaha. I’m sorry, I was just going based on the science. Sooo I guess the real person to ask would be the OG designer or pokemon themselves. ORRR Even better, watch the show. This would prove to us the “real” number of hairs. Just so we have a base on whats right.
I think I like more hair tendrils to less. Kinda like a rastafarian vibe.
no wonder the tips are red…
Yeah, aren’t all Chanseys females anyway?
Base set could be the angle tho, the other 2 may be covered
Is it not decently safe to say that the 5 hairs is the original design as those are very early sugimori artworks featured on a bunch of different products?
now we are for sure just looking at 3 on each side consistently, so the very interesting question becomes why did they settle on the three, as plenty of early art/comics/media the hair was not set in stone
It could be because of the way it was interpreted by the anime makers, and thus was accepted as the way most children experienced the character, or maybe the base set card misinterpretation for the same reason
I would put my money it being the animators of the original anime that helped push it towards 3, as it is much easier to keep track of secondary action on 6 hairs instead of 10