By default, when you attach fur to a model, each hair making up the fur points in a direction normal (perpendicular) to the surface. This direction is called the fur normal.
If your model appears to have very short fur after you attach a fur description to it, it could be because the fur normal is pointing in a negative direction (the fur appears to be attached to the inside surface). To remedy this you reverse the fur normals. This makes the fur point out from the model rather than into the model.
Before modifying your fur description and adding attractors, check that the fur on all surfaces making up the model “grows” out from the surface, rather than into the surface. Reverse fur normals on any surface with fur growing in.