Thank you very much for the fast and thorough response - I've spent hours trying to fix this and you have no idea how much I appreciate your help. 🏆
Note: all of the pics below were taken in a sandbox with default environment setting (i.e., Noon).
1) When changing both the head and skin tone to the lightest tone both change. (And as I cycle thru each pair of tones both head and body change.) This is the second image below. I also included a snapshot of the items which are attached to clarify the version numbers.
2) Yes, the avatar looks normal... no new heads or bodies appear. The head turns a purple shade for less than a second before turning into the next darker/lighter shade. I have see the phenomenon of a second avatar appearing in the past (for example, when wearing clothing/attachment demos) and completely replacing my outfit to the base set of Belleza & Catwa components that I originally unpacked fixes this.
3) Yes, I believe the head does look "grey" or ashy when set at the lightest tone. it's difficult to see in the pic below but the lightest tone of the face is a more pronounced 'grey' than the body tone. as you can see around the eyes and lips.
4) No, i don't detect any shininess on any portion of the head.
Again, thank you very much for your help with this problem - I really appreciate it.