Hi robert
I have the same problem here… this is my first time doing hair on a commercial, it’s a L’oreal ad. And the agency is VERY annoying with the hair subject.
So… I first tried the same things as you describe on your first post, those was the first things i thought too. But after an hours of trial and error i came up with a “technique”(?)… It’s far from been perfect or ideal, but i think it could help in some cases, specially on the shots with a very blurred background (the typical HAIR SHOT).
What i did was duplicate my hair layer, to the one below i put a median effect ’till it make the little hairs go off. Then on the above layer i started to erase the little hairs mixing the eraser tool and in some cases masks. I know it’s a pain in the ass to do it, but the good thing is that you don’t have to be so much precise because it’s all so blurry that it doesn’t get noticed.
I’m still trying to make it look better, at this stage it still looks kinda blurry on the edges, but i think if i put a sharpen effect, or something like that, it may give some detail back.
hope it helps!!
PS: Sorry for my english (i’m Chilean) i can speak better than write.
saludos!