What are some general practices for showing non-linear functions injective?
Particulary I've learned to do it with linear functions (even multiple variable), but since one cannot solve non-linear systems of equations by hand, nor do results regarding the Jacobian determinant apply, then what to do with non-linear functions?
Simply use the definition!
Let $f: A \rightarrow B$ be a function. Then, we call f injective if and only if:
$f(x) = f(y) \Rightarrow x = y \quad \forall x,y \in A$
or equivalent:
$x \neq y \Rightarrow f(x) \neq f(y) \quad \forall x,y \in A$
(This follows from contraposition)