Lube difficulty, masturbating before?

Hello all,

I am new here and to PE.
During my routine, I only use my saliva as lube, and when I try to slide my hand on my penis while keeping a grip strong enough to pressure the blood, my hand starts to pull my skin around the middle of my shaft, like it’s not moist enough.
The only workaround I’ve found for this (I don’t want to buy a personal lubricant) is to masturbate before doing my routine. That is getting fully erect, masturbating a little without cumming, then letting my penis go soft enough for doing the jelq. When I do this, my penis gets slippery enough I can do the jelq just fine.

Is this normal?

I guess my saliva mixes with precum and it gets more lubricated. Or maybe when my skin is stretched due to a full erection, there is more surface area for moisturising.

I’ve had good results using olive oil. It’s a little harder to clean up than water based lube, but last longer. Keep paper towel close.