How does a newbie know when his is no longer sharp? I purchases a honed, stropped, and all-around shave-ready razor from the SRP classifieds from a reliable mentor. I am confident that it was sharp when received, but my first few shaves were so poor that I hardly have a good baseline for comparison.

I've been stropping on linen and leather (pretty sure I'm doing it correctly) and have had about a month's worth of shaves at this point. But I'm still not getting a really smooth shave and am wondering if I have inadvertently dulled my edge (poor stropping, etc). I tried the hanging hair test the other day and the razor definitely did not pass. Regrettably, I didn't try this when first received so I have no baseline. Many fellow shavers have said the HHT is a good measure to test sharpness... even holding a hair in your fingers and cutting it with a down-swooping motion of the razor works well. Mine doesn't pass either of these tests.

But looking at the wiki, it seems that the HHT isn't 100% reliable.... thoughts? Suggestions on other ways I can tell if my razor is sharp?

I'm 90% confident that it's my technique.....but there's 10% of me that worries I may have dulled the razor.