I never cared much about him, but it seems most of you think he´s really cool.
Why is that ?

Also does anybody else think he looks like a metrosexual version of Simon le Bon from Duran Duran ?

I was a bit irritated that he is this super "goodlooking" guy underneath the mask...but maybe thats why Nihei draw him like that, to surprise us, with him not looking like a freak

well, my reason is pretty simple.... I always side with the baddies and Higuide seems the most powerful of them. He's the only one who managed to kill a synthetic human (Gou Hinoto), he fought and defeated that officer of Nyaldee in an honourable fight (he took off an arm to be on the same level with him) and one of the two Rikan, I don't remember if it was Left or Right.
Then his brief quest in the recreator world.....

What exactly was he anyway, that enabled him such combat prowess?

he was not beheaded..... look at the scratch on his head when he recovers.... that's all the damage the bullet produced.

In chapter 35, there is a very small picture, where we can see, that Higuide´s helmet is able to "grow" (for lack of a better word). A bit like Zouichi´s protectice membrane, we see in ch32, p.19.
That would explain the "veins" on his helmet, after he got hit by the bullet.

Higuide:

Zouichi:

Maybe he is the DRFs version of simulating a synthetic human.
It´s not hinted to anywhere in the story - mind you, but I like this explanation the most.