Alright, so if I put a shrinkwrap *after* the surface deform, it pushes the ends of the curves above the surface. They’re still smeared and smushed and matted in the areas where there used to be holes, but for stubble and vellus, it’s not noticeable. It’s a very very bad solution to this problem. If anyone with any station happens across this thread, I certainly hope they can reach out and maybe we can figure out a way to make this just work ™️
But thank you Spikeyxxx for suggesting it!