Michael,

"One key thing is probably to not worry about the face cutout area at first, instead focus first on making a full dome shape and then trim or boolean out the face area rather than trying to incorporate that outline into the initial surfacing."

In this kind of model that's again so very true, haha, before you said this and I looked at the helmet I was already thinking "pffff, ok so i would lay a patch there, and there and then intersect and trim..."
I'm using Solidworks today but come from a poly background, and let me tell you, it never truly goes away! ;)