overlapping parts

I think you have the right idea. If you want other discussion threads on this topic you can look up “rear hair” for a similar problem. How to get some hair in front of face, head in front of body, but other hair behind body. It is a limitation of the Character Animator model.

Oh, and too much independence mixed with the above is impossible to make work. That is why I have not found a solution that works if Head is independent with hair in a sibling group - it cannot attach the the head any more because it is not a child, but you cannot change the Z-index to be behind the body Mesh Because the hair has to be a child of head to attach to it.

If your Head group is above your Body content in the layers list, then anything within the head (e.g., the beard) should render above the body. The shoulders would be part of the body.

For example, in the Chloe template puppet (available from the Start workspace), if you increase Gravity Strength, you should see her hair appear above her shoulders/body.