Soft pastel chalk as an alternative to airbrushing?

Since soft pastels are quite popular for temporary hair colours these days I decided to mess around with them on a white fur sample and the results didn't look too bad



even after giving it a good wash until no more paticles were coming off it still only faded a little bit which is better than my experiences with acrylic paints.



My question is has anyone used soft pastels as an alternative to airbrushing before? If so, how long did they last and how does it compare to acrylic paints?
I have not used an airbrush before but I heard that it can easily make the fur feel nasty so I was wondering if this was a good alternative.