To death.

The showering before the shave and conditioner suggestions are good ones; I've done both at various times but found that neither works better than what I do now, which is just splashing my face with water every minute or so while I brush my teeth, strop, and make my lather. That gives the water five minutes or so to soak in. Then I lather on my face for a couple of minutes.

I might give up on the DE thing and go back to the straight, though, because I'm a little out of practice with it. The whole point is to let my skin rest, but the DE feels a little harsher than the straight. I might just do a one-pass shave for a couple of days until I can't feel any residual soreness.

Josh