Hair Sticking Simulation I have a hair particle system. I would like the hairs to be attracted to a nearby mesh based on its proximity, not unlike how human hair reacts to a statically charged balloon.

This would be enormously useful for a number of animated effects, from the aforementioned balloon hair, to chaotic alien tentacle walking, to a plasma ball.

I feel like force field physics might be key here, but so far I've not found much in the way of results here.

How might I achieve this?
As you guessed, you can accomplish this using Force Fields, which by default interact with hair particles that have Hair Dynamics enabled.

I recommend trying the generic Force, which tends to well for most cases that need a uniform radial force. To have the field attract hair instead of repel, you need to set the Strength to a negative value.