I'm still working on getting real thick lather but I solved my drying out problem a while
ago. For me, I wasn't hydrating my face enough before I applied the lather (so I guess my skin was sucking up some of the moisture from my lather causing the lather to dry out). Ever since I started making sure I throughly soaked my skin I haven't had the drying lather issue (I figured this out because I noticed that I never had the drying issue when I shaved directly after a shower). But I haven't mastered the perfect lather yet.