consideration for shaving longer hair?
I'm still fairly new to straight razor shaving. Well, I picked it back up recently after having learned as a kid. So far so good for the most part, but I do have one question for all of you more experienced folks out there. I shaved recently with almost a week's worth of growth instead of the usual day's worth. I found that I needed to strop my razor about halfway through to keep it running smooth. After I did that, it was fine. The shave was fine, but it did raise a question or two in my mind.
First of all, should I give consideration for shaving my face when the hairs are longer? I guess another way to put it would be this: Is it harder on the razor to shave longer face hair? The reason I ask is because I had never needed to strop halfway through the shave until this time. I didn't know if there was something about shaving longer hair that makes it dull the blade a bit faster. Any insight would be appreciated.
Secondly, I was wondering if the razor I have is in need of honing because I needed to strop halfway through. Maybe the problem wasn't with the length of my hair, it was with the shape of my blade. It has been about 2 months since I started shaving with it. The blade had been sent in somewhere to be honed before my dad gave it to me, so it was definitely shave ready when I got it. I've read stuff that indicates that you need to get the edge honed again every few months, and I'm wondering if that time has come. Also, I didn't know if there was an intermediate step I could take, like honing it just on a 12k stone or something like that just to touch it up. I guess I'm curious to know what a good sign would be to tell me that it's time to get my razor honed. Thanks in advance!