i use polyplanes, roughly shaped like the desired haircut and layer them. since they are irregularly shaped, i usually have to uv them individually and later in the process create a few copies, mirror and tweak those to create more volume. for long hair i model a guidemesh and use clothsim to shape the planes as desired. i…
final fantasy hair was made from curves (renderman primitive). the approach is very similar to what e.g. shag hair uses but probably they had better controls and didn't have to fight against that performance eating memory hog. of course their solution was never released (unlike their clothsim which is now marketed as…
Poop in my Mouth hand something or other a while back... Here... http://www.poopinmymouth.com/process/hair_tutorial/hair_01.htm Looks like its mostly about texturing, but the examples page might give you some ideas if the actual tutorial isn't what you're after.