Tips and tricks for selecting and masking in Photoshop?

Hey all, I have been using Photoshop for several months now and have of course come by masks. I mainly edit portraiture and fashion imagery.

I am very eager to quiz you all on anything I may need to add to my selecting and masking arsenal e.g. quicker work arounds or longer yet more in depth techniques.

Here is my routine for selecting and masking something:

1. I draw around or select the subject with whatever selecting tool I choose (normally pen tool).

2. I right-click and select "make selection". Then when the marching ants are visible I create a curves layer, which creates a layer mask.

3. Thirdly, I'll use the "select and mask" tool to develop my mask further, primarily for the hair, overall reaching more intricate parts of the image.

4. I will then (alt-click) go into my layer mask and clean up any imperfections e.g. clean up any unwanted black paint inside the white silhouette.

5. The next step would be to blur the mask and be rid of overly sharp edges.

6. Following that, I would click out of the layer mask and select the backslash key, to visualise my mask.

7. Able to visualise my mask I can now use the blend modes Multiply and Screen to help pinpoint parts of my mask, which don't completely fit the subject. Once I have pinpointed the faults I will either brush in the corrections or use the dodge and burn tools to push in or push out the mask.

This is my method. Feel free to critique it and comment sensibly below. I value all your comments so please do post. I would love to develop my select and masking skills further and your minds are full of ideas.

If in need of understanding or clarification on anything I've commented do not hesitate to ask!

Thanks!