Hi everyone and thanks a lot for your replies,
sorry for my late reply. I didn’t have much time to get back to the project last week but I took some screenshots today to clarify what I mean by toggling the mask on and off: 
Depending on that button, the area can be seen and edited (but it also un/hides everything else):

This is how it looks like in normal mode (missing parts of the ear):

I will try to clear the mask again in accordance with your 7 steps and will let you know if that solved the issue! There should be an eraser tool for that mask or some button to undo any selection. 🙂