How do you make something look fluffy without using a lot of prims?

I image it's with fur textures.. or is it? I've been trying to use hair instead.. but it's not working! How would i make something fluffy like this: https://s3.amazonaws.com/products.shop.secondlife.com/agni/modules/Marketplace/Images/6/6/7/667aabed0189bf9005bb59a304a429f8thumb1.jpeg

for free please ! I can't find any free fur textures on xstreet..

Most use textures and/or sculpted prims to achieve that.
You need to try to create the ilusion.
Avoid hard edges.

Try to pick up a few modifiable, fluffy looking freebies and try to see why they appear to be fluffy.
Don't copy the work, but try to learn from it.

Good luck, persistance leads to succes.

The straightforward approach that does use multiple prims would be to make prims with a texture that is "furry" in the middle and transparent at the edges. Overlap a bunch of these shapes. Experiment with different types of prims with different values for twist, hollowness, etc.

The lower prim approach would use sculpties. Clever sculpty design lets you make what looks like multiple, disconnected prims from one sculpty. Some really clever texturing would let you put a furry texture on each of them. The disconnected looking parts of the sculpy don't actually need to be disconnected looking; they can overlap each other. Voila! A fur ball.

Natalia Zelmanov has a fur tutorial that might help:

http://www.mermaiddiaries.com/2006/12/day-78-snow-bunny-and-fur-trims.html

I lose, Autumn beat me.

That does take a few prims, but the picture of the texture at Natalia site is just what I was trying to describe, furry in the middle an clear on the outside.