HR Lady Hair tests

So, i've been having some trouble modelling hair. I've gone through 3 different styles of poly hair, but none of them have come out very well.

Initially, i had disregarded the idea of using a hair modifier as it would take up too much rendering time, i had another look into it. In order to keep render time short i'm looking at using bigger strands of hair. Need to work out how to make the shadows work.