If you want to keep the spikiness but still have that fading off to alpha, you can keep the mesh, and when texturing alpha the hair mask at the end -> thats how they did it in AdventChildren (albeit with ultra highrez textures and meshes).
This way, you could maintain the stylish anime hair, as well as get some quality hair textures in.
The only thing i'd add is a plan covering the base of 'cone' with more unalpha'd hair, to simulate the scalp, on the change the camera pans perpendicular to the spike and could see into his head.