As I see it, the key is not so much in using the VSS tool when trying to develop that perfect skin shader: VSS is a great tool, don't get me wrong! but it is totally separate from Bill's clever approach to shaders per se. The genius behind the shaders is far more clever and bears careful study far more than the tool. So much so that people confuse the shader with the tool.

In my extremely humble opinion, the node set itself is what warrants study, particularly for us newbies. Understanding the intent of this:

which I'm sure Bill wishes would just go away... well for us pedantic, want-to-know-it types, this is an incredible piece of work, well worth hours of study and getting one's head around.

Getting there, thanks to CobaltDream!

You know how, as texturer, you get the map and you create a new texture set and soon you feel like you own that textureMap. Okay,  Colour_map, in deference to Bill. This is basically where I am. All the nodes are there, slightly tweaked here and there. But no, I don't own it yet. Because I don't fully understand it yet. I will, but I don't, yet. And this PR1 is such an incredible work of art and produces such brilliant renders, it'll be a while before I venture to PR2 or 3 again.

But I'm heaps closer. I do owe CobaltDream so much for her explanation of what really goes on.

Monterey/Mint21.x/Win10 - Blender3.x - PP11.3(cm) - Musescore3.6.2

Wir sind gewohnt, daß die Menschen verhöhnen was sie nicht verstehen
[it is clear that humans have contempt for that which they do not understand] 

Metaphor of Chooks