Here's my business card–>

I shave in the shower. I happen to shower in the
hottest possible water I can stand. Wash off your body,
wash your hair, brush your teeth ( ya I brush em
in the shower too ) and get ready to shave.

By this time the heat and steam should have worked
it's magic on that facial hair.

Use a decent shaving cream and you're already on the
right path. No you don't need a gold plated, ivory
inlaid, tungstun bladed shaver of wonder. . . a decent
razor will do. ( No the battery powered quad blade
of useless product does not qualify ) It does, however,
need to be sharp. If it's dragging, toss that blade and
pop in another one.

Anyhoo, you've been steaming for about 10-20 minutes
now depending on how long it takes you to wake up.
You've got your razor, you've got your shaving cream,
you're ready to rumble.

Simple matter of rubbing the shaving cream in and. .
well. . . shaving.

I find the smoothest ( and least painful ) method is
( as stated above ) to do it in passes.

Go with the grain on pass one. Across the grain with
pass two and, if necessary, against it with the final
pass. Usually some odd spots around my jawline that
take a final pass to get properly. Slow and short
strokes seem to do best for me. It's not a race.

I typically don't use any type of aftershave but then
my skin is somewhat oily on my face. Thus, dryness
has never been an issue for me.

I do, however, rinse my face off with cold water
to close the pores after being in the steam.