Hi,

It depends on how this base mesh was constructed.

If those are open tubes without triangles, you can use Hairs from Mesh Strips to convert them to hair. 

If the base mesh is not appropiate to use with Hairs from Mesh Strips, maybe you can extract curves manually from the base mesh and use them to generate hairs with the Guides from Shape modifier. 

Jeordanis Figuereo (Product Designer. EPHERE Inc.)