Can't Erase in GIMP the Way I Used To

With the older version of GIMP, if I wanted to, say, put my head on a different body, I would open the pic of the other body then open the pic of my head. I would then cut and paste my head onto the body image, then use the Eraser function to erase the edges and areas of my head that I didn’t want. That doesn’t work now with the latest GIMP version 2.10 and I can’t figure out how to erase only the parts of the image that I’ve pasted onto the other image. It either doesn’t erase at all, or it erases everything, including the base image. I can’t get it to work the way it used to.

Are you pasting on the layer directly (anchoring as some point, [Ctrl-H]) or are you making a new layer from the paste (Layer > To new layer, [Ctrl-Shift-N]). You need to do the latter…

Still with copy and paste but in the Edit → Paste As menu, there is a New Layer option.

If using the eraser tool
(1) Make sure that layer has transparency Layer → Transparency → Add Alpha Channel
(2) Using the eraser tool, a suitable brush ?

I would say, maybe change your workflow and use a layer mask. Quick example

https://i.imgur.com/HqTgkEe.mp4

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That did it! Thank you, that was very helpful. Sort of counter-intuitive, though. I never would have gotten to the Paint Brush instead of the Eraser, much less all the Layer, Mask, etc. stuff.

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