Originally Posted by
ladykate
I'm not an expert - far from it - but I do hone my own blades and own a good range of straights from Gold Dollars to Grelots. I also work with metals quite a bit in my other life. I will comment but cede any emotive issues to the old heads who may contribute.
If the razor isn't shaving (but was), the chances are that it is simply dull. The spots are most likely corrosion. Edit: It is also possible the blade edge was rolled when stropping which caused the sudden loss of sharpness (as was posted by others).
The fix for the dull edge is to have it honed - or stropped with a pasted strop. You can also try stropping it carefully quite a few times - be sure you are using a tight strop and not lifting the blade.
The fix for the spots - if they aren't on the edge - is to polish the blade with MAAS or similar mild polishing paste. Then oil the blade with light oil of some sort. I have a stable of about 40 razors (which really means I'm a newbie compared to some on here) and I use oil on them regularly to prevent corrosion. I might not get back to a blade for a couple of months so I want to protect it.
Your post seems to imply that you didn't strop it between each shave - forgive me if I read that wrong. I would always strop before shaving - always. My beard is tough and even with some very expensive and high-end razors I may end up stropping during the shave (I shave both my face and my head so there is a lot of territory - fat head ;-}).
Depending on your desires, you might look into getting a pasted strop and touching up the edge every 30 days or so. Myself, I don't hesitate to use a pasted strop - I do it much more frequently than is recommended. I want the blade to be sharp and I can easily forget if a blade has been tuned up - so I strop it with paste, wipe it, and then linen and then leather before putting it away. Most on here would say that is completely unnecessary and it probably is. However, I never worry about whether the next razor in the rotation is sharp - it is always sharp. I'm leaving metal behind with the procedure but I figure I won't wear any of my razors out since I only use a specific razor about seven times a year.