ROSE IS THE MANIP GODDESS
*worships the fingers she uses to make all the pretties*
BUT! To do manips I actually use a layer mask when deleting/editing the head of a character onto the body of someone else. I find that I can make cleaner edges and it makes for editing things MUCH MUCH MUUUUUUUCH easier than using the eraser tool. With the layer mask you can go back and fine tune things at any point in your editing process
I also tend to put a texture on soft light or screen or some other light setting once I am done to help make a consistent color all around....and to sort of hide any mistakes I made in the manip process