I have been primarily using shaving brushes for about 50 years, but for the first time I have been getting "brush burn". It's only when I use my Duke 3 synthetic. I'm guessing it's the extra force I need to use to get it to splay when I face lather. Once I've whipped up the lather, I can use "painting strokes", and then it is very gentle on my face. Today I tried first rubbing some shaving cream onto my face so that the brush would glide more easily on those initial strokes, but it only helped very marginally. I would put the Duke 3 aside for now, except that I'm on a two week trip and it's the only brush I have taken along with me. I know that many folks think very highly of this brush, so what am I doing wrong?