It's certainly easy to apply a lot of soap especially with a stick, you could try this as an experiment...
Face lather as you normally do with soap or stick, with that loaded brush take it to a warm bowl and start mixing until a thick cream starts to emerge then start adding a little more water to further hydrate. You should hopefully see the transition to a more glossy hydrated lather, you can then rinse off and re-lather, see if that makes any difference.
This way you get the benefit and face prep of pre lather and face lathering combined with the consistency and pleasure of using a fully hydrated warm lather created in a bowl.