Still relatively new and made job harder than I had to by learning to hone at the same time (still learning). Have a couple of hatzicho honed razors to show me really good edges, feel mine are getting good most of the time but definitely not as good as his.

Have been experimenting with different prep recently. I tend to bowl lather, wash face with warm water, apply lather, rub it in with my fingers (or leave this out), apply hot towel for a minute, re lather and shave. When I leave out the rubbing in, even with hatzicho honed blades, I get some irritation, more with my own honed blades of course. When I rub it in, I get much easier shaves and less irritation.

Wondering if many people do this and find the same?

Or am I making up for bad prep elsewhere by doing this?