I shaved with a razor from another one of our great mentors here the other night, and it was a terrific shave for a newbie like myself! The razor is an extra hollow ground 5/8". I finished up the shave, dried off the razor, and put it away outside of the bathroom to get it away from humidity. Because I question my stropping skills at this part of my shaving journey, I decided to not strop this razor unless the shave quality diminished. Well, last night, I decided to try to take this razor for a 2nd spin. Same pre-shave prep and everthing, but this time it tugged/pulled a fair bit. My stubble wasn't as long last night as it was the first time I used this razor - would that make any difference? Did the razor lose it's edge after that first shave, due to it being an extra hollow ground, or possibly micro-corrosion? Maybe all razors lose their edge after a single shave?

I've been going pretty slow with my stropping, both on the canvas side and the leather side, but I don't feel any improvement from stropping yet. I try to do 20 passes on the canvas, and 50 on the leather. If the leather isn't broken in yet (brand new Illinois #127 strop), is it possible it isn't doing it's job? I've just started rubbing the leather side with my palm before stropping.