Help, I Need(ed) somebody, Help A.K.A. How not to do it

They say that compost is great because healthy plants grow from it. I'm hoping this saying rings true as I post what can only be described as a complete disaster. As much as I loathe the uploading of this; it's a helpful warning to others and is still a part of the process (As I was fortunately able to salvage something out of this). Are you ready? Ok, look down...

Yeah, pretty bad isn't it? Now, this is what happens when your topology has a few errors in it! Key points to note: Every line should either connect with itself or one of the borders. If you have a line that ends in the middle of the face, it too will create a blotch (Apparently, 5-sided quads are just as bad as 3-sided ones! Oops). This is also the problem when you have too many quads. A ton of quads means a ton of micromanagement. A single quad out of place will lead to a noticeable blotch/dent. The same will also happen if the topology lines flow incorrectly. Ironically, I was correct in my previous statement that the topology seemed too easy and was going to bite me in the backside, so that is at least something.

Luckily, there was a chance to save the face from the recycling bin. Taking a sneaky peek ahead at a few more of the later tutorials, I spotted a few handy tools which it turned out were lifesavers here! The first was the 'cut' tool, which allows you to add more lines to the mesh (In other words, creating more folds in the mesh) and hitting 'backspace' on edges, which would remove said folds. The result of this was the ability to edit the topology at this later stage, without having to go back to square one (I could add and remove lines as I saw fit) ... which was an incredible relief! Having a quick word with my flatmate, he took one look at the face and said "You have too many quads. If you look at the tutorial, the guy uses far fewer". Bingo. Step 1 was to start chipping away unnecessary quads. So I went through and started removing lines that didn't cleanly flow through the mesh. A few of the blotches instantly started to disappear, which was an incredible relief.

In addition, I also cut a few more handy lines where they were most needed. The ugly 'pinch' along the central line was a clear sign of the edges coming to a point. Another line just near them would allow me to reduce the harsh gradient towards the centre and smooth out the lines slightly.

Still far from finished, but making steady progress, I continued to nip/tuck the mesh. Vertices were readjusted, lines were straightened and unnecessary edges were removed.

Getting there... with the worst of the blotches were now gone, and the central pinch now considerably reduced, the only other main eyesore was the 'pulling' effect you could see with the cheeks. Another hour or so of gentle tweaking and flattening produced the result below:

Now, this is by no means near perfect, but I'd at least register this as presentable. There's still a few marks around the eyes and the corners of the lips pinch... but the worst of it is gone. Considering the pretty shameful start, this was a vast improvement. What sweetened the success was the fact that I was able to do this with the existing mesh, rather than having to rebuild it all over again. Though I could have sat there for hours, making additional tweaks, I decided to put it to one side for the evening... it had caused enough stress for one day