Welcome to the site! Don't disregard the straight razor!

As for your coarse beard and prep, I will be able to give you the name of a product tomorrow that works very well for people with coarse/heavy beards. I would tell you now, but honestly, I forget the name. It's a product we have at Barber school and a fellow student purchased a tub of it and tried it on his son's touch beard and said it worked wonders.

I will be sure to post the name of the product when I get home tomorrow evening!