How to remove noise in between hair strands

[kdash1228]

This is a photo of a horse's head with a black background. I've attached a before and during.

Other than masking out the blank areas in between each strand, which I have done and is very time consuming and not completely accurate, is there a better way to clean up the white noise?

I've also played around with levels (lowering the midtones) to remove the noise.

This is going to be a 60"x60" acrylic and the eyes are the main focus so I'd like to get this part as perfect as possible.

Before: 

During: 

 

[Myra Ferguson]

You could make a rough selection and then take it into the Select and Mask workspace where you can use the Refine Edge Brush Tool to select the hair better.

• https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/select-mask.html