That would be my approach.
1 thing in maya that I hate is the viewport transparence render.
when many models overlay on top with transparence, the render sequence get weird, so might be difficult to tweak.

You can also do alot of things, like change just little bit the placement of UVs in layer model, so will give more non straight look, like "square" fur in all layer placed in the same place.
Unnatural, sometime became natural.

Or you can skin the layer mesh with different value as base mesh, so when moves to animate, the layer mesh with are the "fur" mesh will move bit different from base mesh, giving more impression that is something "attached" to base mesh, and not "as" base mesh.

Bit confuse, but hope this can help you to achieve or give you some different idea to get the look you want.

Good Luck.