With several shaves under my belt these are my findings/preferences so far:

1) taking your time to shave is really nice. I find that it now takes about 30-35 minutes to shave. Its not a race so I don't care as its actually enjoyable to shave now and cannot wait until my next shave
2) my cheeks have never felt so smooth. I am still looking/learning the angles and positions for the jawline and neck but they are improving with only minor irritation. (A lot less than a face shredder) I have been using the Trumper's Extract of limes skin food after the alum bar with good results. It calms the skin down.
3) I am leaning more towards the creams than soaps as they are easier to lather and seem to allow the razor to glide better. I have tried to following creams to date. Trumpers coconut and TOBS almond and I am leaning more towards the almond as I really like the scent of this product. Tried MWF today and had to work a bit to get it to lather and found that i had to keep re lathering and adding a bit so the razor didn't skip but I chalk that up to my shaving speed at this point. Smell was okay but tended to linger a bit more than my tastes.

Thanks for all the little tips and tricks and helpful advice so far.
Lou
Another straight razor convert