Hair dynamics not going well

I have two Hair Dynamics questions. I have a model with simple fur. I have Hair Dynamics on. I set the stiffness and mass and it is reasonably ok, until the Hair count is 10000 and below. But I need more hair, some 20000. But if I set that much, the Hair Dynamics won’t work anymore. The hair won’t fall down. First question: what is a workaround, how to set 20000 and get the dynamics to work, I need the hair to fall down slightly. Do I have to set the stiffness, mass etc. parameters differently if there is more hair? Question two: how to set self-collision on the object growing hair, so the hair won’t go through the object, but will lay on top once it falls down? (Note: I don’t want to use Hair Children at this point, only base Hair.)

One more question: is there a way to control curl, kink etc. on base Hair or do I have to use Hair Children to achieve these effects?

Are you using children? Try - that way, it’s still only the guides that get dynamics, but all the hair will obey.