I've been learning on a shavette for a couple of weeks now, using some older blades and cheap cream. By old,I just mean the blades have sat in a cabinet for a few years, they're not rusty or dirty whatsoever; totally unused.
My problem is that the blades pull on my hair like crazy, even after using a pretty fair face wash and taking a hot shower. This leads to a lot of skin irritation.
I work in an environment of 125+ degrees every day, so the redness and sensitivity of skin is really getting out of hand.

I'm holding the blade at a good angle throughout, pulling the skin tight, and using a reparative facial cream after good cold water, but can't get a close shave at all without going XTG, which I want to avoid doing on the daily.

Will a better cream improve the experience or should I be looking for better quality blades/shavette?