Sticky fingers when skin stretching

I am just starting out straight shaving and wanted to know what you gent's use to keep your fingertips tacky when skin stretching. Any secrets?

Have a block of alum handy. Wipe your fingers with it between passes before you stretch. It usually dries out the fingers quickly for a good grip

I usually have a towel warped around me as I'm coming out of the shower so I dry my fingers and it's fine!

A convenient towel after the shower, not a problem after that.

Stretching is just a term. You don't really need to stretch your skin. A more accurate term would be skin holding. You just need to hold your skin in place so the blade does not distort your skin during the stroke. With this in mind you just have to have a little more fingertip pressure than blade pressure. If you need to use a lot of finger pressure for stretching you may be using too much pressure on the razor or your blade may be in need of honing.

Alum is great for this, just wipe your fingers over the block & you will have nice traction on the skin, even if there is some lather residue.

Alum here too, works great.

I have a deodorant stick that is a type of alum, that I use to keep my fingers sticky, if needed, as well as for a deodorant. Razorroc is also quite good and I think they are one of our supporting vendors.

Thanks for the tips gents, It looks like I'll have to try using my alum block once my straight's come in the mail...