I stumbled alright. When I finally got an ok (irritation free) shave, I kept doing the exact same thing to try to repeat the results. Sometimes I could, sometimes I couldn't. Now, I'm changing one thing at a time to see what happens. I don't know why, but I never really bought the "lather softening the beard." I thought, yeah right, it's mostly lubrication. Now my sentiments have changed. See if I can repeat the same results tomorrow.