I agree with you..... I don't like 'painting' hilights or shadows in my hair... unless its for a specific reason. I like the natural look :)
This is my first hair model... but I have created textures for hair.. and I just don't think it looks good. SOME hilights are ok... but to soley rely on that to force it to look natural defeats the purpose if there are dark or colored lights in the scene lol....
hehe :D
I added to your rant ;)