The so called hanging hair test means dick squat all.....

5 months is an AWFUL long time for an edge to last... I'm lucky if I get 3 to 5 shaves out of an edge before it needs touching up... and I've shaved with the best of edges by many a honer. It's not because I don't know how to strop, and it's not because the edge wasn't honed properly, but rather just because.....

I have this awful beard, thin, but tough, like copper wire. It's downright mean to straight razor edges.... Stropping makes the edge sharp again, but only to a point! A few licks on a 12K or barbers hone, followed by 5 to 10 round trips on a CrO2 pasted bench strop, and the razor is right back to wicked sharp, just where I need it.

It's not that an older edge can't shave me, it's just that it's not comfortable for me. It's not the norm, but it's the way it is, and I just have to live with it. You might be in the same boat... I don't know of course, but the fact you are not happy with your current shaves means you need to try a refreshed blade and perhaps you may need to tweak your refresh rate to make things work for you. It's neither right nor wrong.... it's just the way it is.

I can take a razor and strop the edge where it once would not catch a hair, and then it promptly catches near every hair it touches... It still will not shave me comfortably! I need to tweak the edge gently with a hone/paste every few shaves.. but that's me, not the razor(s). Once I accepted that fact, I have not had a bad shave since... OK, maybe a few rough shaves cuz I didn't feel like tweaking the edge, but that's on me... not the razor!

So... have the edge restored, if you get a comfy shave out of it when you get it back... and it perhaps lasts 3 or 5 more shaves... tops, then perhaps you are like me and just have to accept that you need to tweak the edge every few shaves.... there's no shame in that, it's just the way it is.

Regards

Christian