How to make custom textured player heads in Minecraft 1.8.8?

Question

How to make custom textured player heads in version 1.8.8? Some players said it wont work anymore but some one command creation still can use custom texture player heads.

Answer 1

Player skulls will retain the texture they are loaded with, even if the player the skull received its texture from changes their skin.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Apply the texture you want to your player skin (via minecraft.net).

2. Create the necessary player skull in-game. Using the SkullOwner string tag will automatically populate the skull with texture data (specifically, the link to the stored texture on minecraft.net), turning into a SkullOwner compound. Note that there is currently a bug where /give will not allow it to populate within the inventory, requiring you to either throw the item down and pick it back up or to exit and re-enter the world. It will still populate on the block entity when placed.

   /give @p minecraft:skull 1 3 {SkullOwner:"Dinnerbone"}
   

3. Place the skull down and you will see your current skin.

4. Exit the world and change your skin to something else. Your old skin texture will still be saved on Mojang's servers for player skulls to use.

5. Re-enter the world and you'll see the skull still has your old texture and always will.

---

The data from the skull before populating:

SkullOwner:"Dinnerbone"

The result after populating:

SkullOwner:{
    Id:"61699b2e-d327-4a01-9f1e-0ea8c3f06bc6",
    Properties:{
        textures:[
            {
                Signature:"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",
                Value:"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"
            }
        ]
    },
    Name:"Dinnerbone"
}

The Value is the important part. It's a base64 encoded JSON object that states details concerning the texture, which does include the link. The decoded data is:

{
    "timestamp":1447174665161,
    "profileId":"61699b2ed3274a019f1e0ea8c3f06bc6",
    "profileName":"Dinnerbone",
    "signatureRequired":true,
    "textures":{
        "SKIN":{
            "url":"http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/cd6be915b261643fd13621ee4e99c9e541a551d80272687a3b56183b981fb9a"
        },
        "CAPE":{
            "url":"http://textures.minecraft.net/texture/3f688e0e699b3d9fe448b5bb50a3a288f9c589762b3dae8308842122dcb81"
        }
    }
}

And you can see the link to the player skin is saved. That link will never change and will always point to the skin that it was created with, even when you change your skin.