Quote Originally Posted by jgthomas11 View Post
perhaps one of the problems is that having about 4 or 5 other soaps/creams means I have not been able to get to know any one of them really well.
Yes, that could be an issue. I would highly recommend sticking with one soap or cream exclusively for at least a week (depending on how often you shave) to get to know the soap well, learning the sweet spots and intricacies. Two weeks might actually be better, which is what I did when I was learning. Nowadays I still do a week until I feel I have it down pat. If you have more than one brush try to use only one as well (a top performer).

As well, it is possible to get a bad batch of soap every now and then, but if you're new I daresay it's not the soap...