Problem?

So my shaves have been going great. Only one small cut - otherwise been having some tremendous shaves. Still building up confidence to go ATG on my neck, but am slowly doing more and more with the straight.

Last night I stropped and prepped my face per usual. Put the blade and started making my swpies, starting at bottom of sideburn. It was super uncomfortable...it was tugging my hair, and a couple times even jumped a bit. So I finished up WTG, and finished ATG and XTG with a Mach 3.

So I am wondering if maybe I did something wrong stropping, or if its just time for honing. Its a Dovo 6/8 best quality from SRD. It has given nothing but super smooth shaves. The last shave was smooth and happened on Friday night. So if it really is just time for honing, there was no real warning...just went from smooth to tugging.

I have not even begun looking at honing, or even using pastes, as I have focused solely on building my shaving techniques.

It makes me sad, but I'm going to send it off to SRD for my free honing. Did get about 20 solid shaves out if it, but I'm gonna miss my razor!

I have a new Astral coming (should have it today). I also picked up a DD Golden edge. And I have a Crown ans Swords that is going to be mailed out to Stimpy for honing. I am going to have to send him an email, because now iI have two more that need honing lol!

I'm going to have to really start going through here to readup on Stropping with paste (iI'm thinking that might actually be all the dovo needs at this point, but gonna send it out to SRD anyway). Then will have to go through honing threads and videos. I have to issues with SRD or members here honing...because I know it will be done right by trusted members of this community. I have no problem paying the money even....but I'm going to MISS MY RAZOR. It has quickly become a friend!

I usually notice a gradual decline in performance when its time to rehone, so it is possible it happened during stropping. They is the greatness of the SRD free rehoning. Using pastes are pretty easy it is basically like stropping and will keep your razor going for a while. Hope you enjoy the new razors you have coming in, a good rotation will also help keep your razors sharp for longer. So buy more, more, more razors lol
-dan-

I was thinking it was my stropping. No nicks or irregularities in the strop, but I'm sure that doesnt tell the whole story.

I'm working on a rotation so that I can get more time out of the honing. But really its because razors are awesome and I want more!

I usually touch up with crox or slurry after 5 shaves. After 5-6 touchups the blade gets the 12k and up after about 30 shaves. I dont think your too far off. It will be less as your technique improves. My angle is the lowest that cuts, maybe 10-15 degrees. If you are at 30 degrees it will dull faster. But if you lost the edge quickly, your stropping might have had a hand in this.

My angle a bit less than one spine wtg, and even close XTG and ATG (although ATG is still a work in progress). I vary them a bit as I experiment to see what works best for me, and I'm sure that played a part too.

Thanks for all the insights.

Try stropping a whole lot more, add a little deflection, maybe a touch of pressure. No loss if you're sending it out for honing. Rule out ineffective stropping if you can!