I'm fortunate to be able to usually take as long as I want to shave. (Retired) I usually start with a warm water face rinse then a cream face soap that lathers well then on to the main soap. Today I used a new-to-me Kai captain and a TSD lanolin soap Desperado. This soap really would have been able to stand alone with out the pre wash but another tomorrow might not. As I like the pre wash I just do it for every soap.