In my early days of reloading, I had only steel dies. I hated the lube process. What a sticky, horrid mess. When carbide dies became available, I jumped on that wagon like a rooster on a worm. I retired all of my old steel sizing dies and have never looked back.
My case prep involves dry tumbling in crushed walnut, with a couple of dryer sheets and some Dillon brass polish added to the mix. After tumbling, I dump all of the cases into a big container and wipe each one down individually with an old T-shirt, to clear any fine dust from the outside of the cases prior to resizing. I never need excessive force to resize a case by just running it through a carbide die.
I don't load any bottleneck cases, so that's not a problem for me. I do load 8 calibers from .380 to .45 Colt, and I haven't had to lube a case in 30 years.