I'd like to share my thoughts after one year of shaving with the straight.
When straight razor has become an everyday life routine like having coffee, I got lazy on doing all the steps in a shave. This happened the most when I have to go out in a hurry, I always skip the preparation like hot towel and even hot shower as they cost time and I thought a sharp razor can pass though anything.
Apparently, I was wrong. One day when I was doing my simplified routine, ( tap water to moist face, strop, lather and shave!) I gave myself several cuts and a bad shave worse then doing the job with my Braun. I first suspected it was my razor, I horn it the next shave and the result still not good, I began to realize how tough the mens' beard can be.
After the punishments, I'd only shave after shower and that really makes huge difference. The essential thing is hot water. I lather the cream with water at around 50c, that really give a smooth ride! A good facial cleansing scrub during shower on the beard help even more for a super close, super clean shave, but it should be a good scrub since I find bargain one like Biore and Gatsby don't work on me, Kiehl's is my favorite. A good shave prep gives you perfect shave even without a freshly horn razor, it saves yours razors life also.
I wonder how good does the pre shave cream work? Since I am in Hong Kong and it's hard to get products for straight razor shaving here.