[pmoriarty]

"The thing is it takes skill and time to get there."

This is what I fretted over to no end before I actually tried shaving with a double-edged razor.

Turns out I needn't have worried, as shaving with a double-edged razor turned out to be exactly the same as shaving with a cartridge razor.

No special techniques needed.

"Look at the reddit groups with everyone having some favorite brush or soap lather."

All that stuff is completely unnecessary.

I just lather up some ordinary soap with my hands and smear it on my face before shaving with my double-edged razor and it works great. No need for any fancy equipment, creams, brushes, pre/after-shave, etc.