I've never found that showering before a shave causes the skin to swell, in fact I get my best shaves when I have really soaked the beard with a shower and then a hot towel.

What I usually do is this:

- Shower and rub a load of conditioner into my beard
- After the shower, lather up and strop the razor leaving the lather to sit
- Slap on a piping hot towel
- Re-lather
- Commence the shave

I also reapply the lather to each section of my face as I get to it to make sure that the lather is giving me the maximum glide for each pass. I never shave any area of my face without brand new lather applied to it, and that includes re-applying lather for touch up passes.

After the shave I rinse with hot water, then cold water and pat my face dry with a towel. A dab of Trumpers sandalwood skin food and a splash of cologne on the sides of my neck and I'm done.