I'm no champ or expert, but I have been wet shaving for 42 years and I can tell you the comment above about not scrubbing your face too hard in the shower is a very good one. In fact, you might find that rather than shaving after the shower, you'll do better before showering by holding a hot wet towel on your face for at least couple of minutes, and also after lathering your face, letting your beard soak in the lather for a couple of minutes, as another poster above suggests. (Notice how pro barbers use those hot towels?) Most bath soaps are designed to rinse off pretty completely and can leave you with dry skin, so after a shower you may want to use pre-shave lotion. I learned these things from experience before finding online sites like this. Here, there are people who know vastly more about pre-shave lotions and creams and shaving generally than I could ever dream of knowing, so look here for more answers.